Hunting cameras are becoming more popular every year among sportsmen. The more popular these cameras become the more makes and models are produced by hunting camera manufactures. So how does a first time buyer make sense of it all? Like any hunting equipment you buy, there are decisions to be made all based on finding the best balance between price and functionality. The biggest decision to make is whether you want a traditional film camera that takes photos that need to be developed, which can be costly, or digital images that can be easily erased and stored in a database.

Digital Hunting Camera Mega-pixels:

To understand this lets first define mega-pixels and how they relate to the hunting camera.

A pixel is one of the many tiny dots that make up the complete picture in a computer's memory. In a simple sense pixels are dots in a square that can be either Red, Green and Blue, or Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. The more pixels used to represent an image, the closer the result can resemble the original. Pixels in relation to hunting cameras are usually expressed as a single number, as in a "three-megapixel digital hunting camera" which means when the camera takes a picture it stores three million pixels to make up one picture.

So with that said, bigger is always better right? No, it is really a trade off. Yes, you can get a much higher quality picture with a higher mega pixel camera but it costs much more for the camera and then you need a bigger computer and better quality printer to work with the larger images. With that said, lets say you capture that hugh buck of a life time with your trail camera and you want to print a poster size version then the high mega-pixels will make a difference.

This table contains a reference for mega pixels and the average size of a picture that you can print with good quality:

Digital Hunting Camera Batteries:

Basically you have two choices when it comes to hunting camera batteries, rechargeable or disposable batteries. In most cases it will be cheaper to use rechargeable's, keeping another spare set in your pocket. Therefore a free charger and/or rechargeable batteries bundled with your camera is a bonus. You may need to buy an extra set, though. Some cameras use proprietary rechargeable cells that are built into the camera, this is a great feature for regular cameras but when it comes to a hunting camera it really doesn't make sense to remove the camera to recharge it on a regular basis so make sure your batteries are removable and interchangeable.

Remember that battery life is effected greatly as outside temperatures rise and fall. Spend the extra money on a good batteries to ensure that your camera works all the time. Extreme cold drain batteries quickly we recommend lithium batteries for extreme climates