The Camera Bag: Beam stealth photos of wildlife to your phone with this cellular trail camera
posted Monday, September 3, 2012 at 2:59 PM EDT
Most wild animals are shy and cagey creatures, which is what makes photographing them so darn difficult. The new Scoutguard SG580M cellular trail camera though, gives you a leg up on these elusive critters by surreptitiously snapping images in the wild and then beaming them back to your cell phone.
As long as there's a GSM-based cellular network near the Scoutguard SG580M, the camera can send photos to your phone anywhere in the world. (This is something so-called Android cameras such as the recently announced WiFi-only Nikon Coolpix S800c can't even do.)
The Scoutguard SG580M features a 5-megapixel CMOS sensor, a motion-sensitive shutter, and slots for a mobile SIM card and an SD card. The cellular camera has extremely low power consumption, allowing you to strap it to a tree and leave it running for up to three months on just four AA batteries.
Images from the camera are sent wirelessly to your cell phone either by text message or to a general email account. So just kick your feet up on your couch, and images of lions, tigers, and bears will be zapped to your iPhone as they stroll by the camera. (The Scoutguard SG580M can also be used for security purposes to photograph potential human intruders.)
The Scoutguard camera features night-vision, with 34 powerful infrared LEDs for capturing images in the dark. You can also set the device to record audio.
There are some caveats, however. Since the Scoutguard SG580M is a GSM-based cellular camera, it will only work on the AT&T or T-Mobile networks and you have to buy a SIM card from your local carrier.
Set-up is also rather complicated. There is, however, a good walk-through video (see below), which shows you additional features of the device.
You can buy the Scoutguard SG580M here for $328.95.
(Via Red Ferret)