Trail camera colour balance, sharpness and dynamic range

Fig 1. Acorn full frame

Fig 2. Acorn centre frame

All these images are shot at the same time so conditions for each camera are identical.

I deliberately included a fair amount of sky in the frame to push the dynamic range.
Click an image to open in a new window.

Fig 3. Bushnell full frame

Fig 4. Bushnell centre frame

Colour balance.

The Bushnell is warmer than natural, while the Acorn is slightly cool and the Prostalk much cooler than natural.

Fig 5. Prostalk full frame

Fig 6. Prostalk centre frame

Dynamic range.

The Bushnell dynamic range is by far the best but darker than I would prefer.
The Acorn looses some sky detail and the Prostalk performs poorly with noticeable blue fringing.

Sharpness and clarity.

The Bushnell again performs best while the Acorn is soft in the centre frame image (fig 2). The Prostalk looks sharp in the full frame image (fig 5) but shows the pixels significantly breaking down in the centre frame image (fig 6).

Overall performance.


1 Bushnell   2 Acorn   3 Prostalk

Cameras under test are
 Acorn 5210A 940nm, Bushnell Trophy Cam 2010 model 119445 and Hawke ProStalk PC2000