Bushnell Natureview HD Cam + Live View

We used it for the first time last night. Worked like a charm. We have a summer cabin in the middle of a lot of forest. We were always curious what passed by in the night. So far, a raccoon, a skunk and lots and lots of squirrels. I am setting it up again tonight. The field of view is plenty wide enough and the pictures were clear. It was easy to download the images to my computer and it was easy to operate. And easy to set up. You can put it anywhere and move it around. We love it. We look forward to seeing what comes by tonight.

Finally, a Bushnell CAM that I can see what it's going to get before finishing the setup AND one that gets extreme closeups of wildlife.What drew me to this model Bushnell Wildlife Camera was the ability to get it in close to very small animals such as mice, squirrels, moles, voles, and shrews.I do a lot of small animal studies and need to be able to view their habits primarily at night. I have several of the Bushnell Trophy Cameras and they work great for larger animals that are several feet away minimum.This Camera provides full 1080p video sequences that are at 24 fps... 24 fps makes the action appear a little choppy when compared to the industry norm of 29.9 fps. BUT, having the illumination on LOW and the shutter speed on HIGH, I have been able to get extremely close and extremely clear small mammal video sequences that are detailed enough for viable study and behavior observation as well as discerning the health of the animal.There are two included lenses, one is for a 46 cm focal distance which is roughly 18" between camera and subject. This is my preferred lens. The lenses are solid metal that is very nicely machined, the lens is of very good quality that shows up in the images.Still images by daylight are fantastic. Still images of subjects which are 18" away are blown out even by the lowest LED light setting... as night stills are not why I purchased it, this doesn't bother me, but it may bother others. Night Video is VERY good at close range.The second lens option which is also included is 60 cm which is roughly 23" from face of the lens to the subject. Without the closeup lenses attached, it is basically like the other trophy cam line, with a HD video setting.FAST CARD... you will want to get a large and fast card for this camera, I used a SanDisk 64 gb Class 10 that transfers at 80 mbs. If you place this cam in a high traffic or high activity area, the card will fill up fast if you capture video at the 1080p setting. Batteries can run down fast when videoing at night, so weekly check-ins will be mandatory. But then, I use it with the full 60 second video setting with a 1 second delay between stills and video.THE BEST aspect to this camera is the remote (tethered) color screen that plugs into the bottom front of the camera. When the camera is ON and running, you can attach the color screen for seeing exactly what it being photographed or videoed and you won't have to guess at the framing or focus, I didn't even know that detachable screen was with the unit until I received mine. BONUSYou should understand that when using the closeup lenses, the depth of field is greatly reduced. What's a depth of field?For example, if you have the 46cm (18") focal distance lens on, the subject is in focus at 18" but things fall out of focus at around 28", so anything beyond 28" is softening and distant objects are out of focus, what is commonly referred to as "bokeh". That is an effect that makes the video look very professional. The normal game cams focus several feet away to infinity, the close up lenses are not like that at all and will require some getting used to for focal distance that works for your chosen subject.I set the camera out and mounted it on a tripod so that I could aim it in any direction. The results are stunning and I could not be happier with this camera. I found out what was taking my mouse traps away and where they were being hidden... a pregnant deer mouse was eating the peanut butter out of the traps and dragging them off into various corners without getting trapped. Mystery Solved.I have absolutely no reservations about recommending this camera, it's the only one of its kind on the market as far as I know. In the coming summer, I will be using two of them and enjoying this fabulous tool.

THANK YOU

I have a previous model (119440), of this camera. My original intention was to use it as a normal HD trail camera. Due to an unfortunate accident purely on my part... I was forced to use the close-up lenses supplied simply to keep water out of the unit. (I broke the tiny window protecting the internal photo sensor while removing a metal security box that didn't quite fit properly. I'm a klutz... hehe!) Anyway... this particular camera has become my favorite since relegating it to monitor a hummingbird feeder at a rural family hunting camp. I use the camera strictly in 1920 x 1080p wide screen video mode... and the close-up clarity is stunning.

I was extremely disappointed with the camera. I have tried a few other cameras and was looking for a higher end one. I found that there was no way to control the exposure, so all of my pictures come out too dark, and are barely usable. The other issue is the design of the viewer. There is no way to mount the camera on a tripod and then use the viewer to aim the camera. The viewer connector protrudes from the bottom of the unit and interferes with the tripod mount.The setup was also very cryptic and hard to use.

Camera gives acceptable results only in direct sunlight. Low and even medium light performance is nothing short of dismal. Even in the middle of of a cloudless day the images captured in moderate shade are several exposure brackets under exposed.If light is low or heavy shade, forget it. Images are too dark and full of noise that obliterate detail. Even in the largest resolution.Night time photos are a joke regardless of the LED settings.Battery insertion is an absolute nightmare since battery compartment is too snug. Requires large dexterous hands. Took me 15 minutes to get the 12 AA batteries remain in place the battery retaining strap could be attached. Extremely frustrating and likely impossible for small hands.Has option to set video and still photos as wide screen or full screen. Viewing attachment is ostensibly to preview what camera is capturing. This is NOT the case when full screen option is set. Viewer always shows the wide angle view but when capturing crops the view to full screen when on full screen setting. So it is not representative of what you will be photographing.I expected a higher level of product performance given the Bushnell name and the price point of this camera.I purchased this unit for closeup photos and video of birds and small animals.Results very well may be different for those needing a hunting game camera. I can't speak to that use.

It takes clear sharp pictures of my feeder birds and other critters. My only complaint is that is doesn't do well unless there is full sun. It would be nice to have an adjustment for cloudy days.5/2020 UPDATE: I have been using this on a tripod. The small plastic square at the bottom where the tripod attaches broke off. Downgraded review due to this

The main problem I have found with this new camera is that the PIR sensor is not very sensitive nor responsive when compared side by side with the older Natureview HD Max which I've had for the past 5 years.I set both cameras identically My results were that the new Natureview live had 36 captures on the card and the older Natureview HDmax had 128 captures. So that means Natureview live only picks up 28% of what the HD Max will.