NO to Cheap Memory in Your Game Camera!

If you aren't getting the quality you want out of your game camera video, it might not be the fault of your game cam. Take a look at your memory card first. Most game camera manufacturers will recommend memory cards from specific manufacturers, like Kingston or PNY. They don't do this because they are showing any special favoritism to these manufacturers. They do it because some cheap memory cards are known to cause issues with image or video quality in their cameras.

I personally had this experience with some Dane-Elec memory cards I was using in my Scoutguard SG550. The video would appear to pause periodically, and was just not smooth. Replacing the Dane-Elec memory with a Kingston card resolved my issues.

But before you run out and buy new memory cards, try this little trick. If your game camera comes with internal memory, then remove your memory card and and capture some images on the internal memory. If the quality of the pictures is good on internal memory, then your issue is most likely related to the external memory card you have selected. You should always format your memory card from your game camera to ensure that it is using the most compatible format.

Extra memory for your digital trail camera is a must for pre-season scouting.  There are many digital devices on the market now that use the same SD cards and CF cards that digital game cameras used.  Over the years, the capacity of these memory cards has increased, while the prices have decreased.  Cheap memory is everywhere.

I started picking up extra memory cards a while back.  When I go in the woods to check my digital game cameras, I always take extra batteries, and extra memory cards.  When you get to your camera, just swap out the used memory card with an empty one.  Make sure to check your battery indicator, and install new batteries if necessary.  There is nothing worse than returning to your game camera to find dead batteries, no pictures, and deer tracks all over your trail.

Swapping out the game camera memory card allows you to get in and out of the hunting area quickly, so you don't disturb it any more than necessary.  When you get home, you can view the pictures at your leisure.