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2010 Little Acorn LTL-5210A 12 MP 24
count IR red flash Camera Review
We have already gone through most of this camera with the pre production
version of this camera. We now have the final version
which has been upgraded to 12 MP and fine tuned over the
past several months. We have had our hands on this one
for the past three weeks and have had things on hold
getting ready for our visit to some of the out of town
events that we are researching this year.
From what we know the new distributor
Old Boys Outdoors for the US has termed this version
the 5210A. In appearance it is a very good looking
camouflaged earth green looking pattern that blends in
well to a tree. The box includes the backer pad for use
without the extra battery holder and the strap and
cables. During the getting ready time in the past few weeks,
the new distributor has managed to get a few into the
hands of some new really great dealers and gone are the
shill folks that originally had things messed up. We
feel much better and know that the support is there and
field reports are flooding some areas of the forums. The
few that are out have now gained a following because of
the very excellent pictures and function that has been
shown and talked about. I have been itching to get hold
of this camera and today Anthony dropped it off and I
immediately got started. I pulled it out of the box and
the battery door hinge was broken at the hinge. I
searched the box and found the pin and a small piece of
plastic. I grabbed the glue and went to work and I hope
it holds after it dries. I did my battery trick and
cleaned a card and headed out the door while punching in
a few programming buttons. I caught a few 5 MP samples
and pulled the card and zoomed them up to over 200% just to
verify the quality. It was there, and I am impressed so
far. The factory folks say "we interpolated to 12 MP but
we are different from most". When asked what they meant
they just stated that "we do interpolation the right way
and do not fudge". I think most will agree that they may
have something going on here. Our first few cameras were
3 MP to 5 MP but this camera is 5 and 12 MP only with
the video coming in at 640X480 and 320X240. Please refer
to the first review for all the size and dimension
specifications because they have not changed.
The designers have done a good job with the programming and it is just
very simple straight forward to do. I could almost say
that if I were to pick a favorite camera this year I
might consider naming this one because as we found
faults they got fixed and “they stayed fixed”. It has
been a steady climb to the positive since day one, which
has made working with the camera a pleasure.
We will do a quick trigger check and flash range but the majority of the
review is going to be looking at picture quality both
day and night. The basic camera is very much the same as
the original we tested so what we are looking at is the
degree of refinements that have been made and though the
photo
file size is large we will also look at the 12 MP
captures. So it is to to the trigger table and then to
the hill.
12-25-2010 update: Yea,
its Christmas day and I am still playing around with
this camera. This new push to have time lapse
incorporated into the program has been here on this
camera since they started. We watched the attention to
the shill proponents push their products and still they
were having some issues with low resolution and very
short battery life. I know this camera will go all the
way to 12 MP through interpolation, but the full 5 MP
sensor gives good enough picture quality in time lapse
at that setting that even the distant pictures can be
zoomed for more detail. This is now making this camera
fit yet into another slot that was only occupied by a
much more expensive camera that is being produced right
here in the
US. This next year you
will see this feature being more accepted and the
popularity of the units that just only do time lapse
slide away with this competition. Being able to do both
the trail camera function and time lapse will become
commonplace in the upcoming new market. It just happens
that these folks are doing it now for a much smaller
price.
12-30-2010 update: Some
of the changes we have noted are that there is an
improvement in the picture quality that was discussed
above and a new zoom feature on the view screen that
allows the user to zoom up to 16 times the original.
With the increased definition the user can get some good
detail in the field by just using the view screen and a
little zoom to areas in the picture that are of
interest. Yet untested by us they say that the camera
will first take a picture then go into the video mode
when selected, giving the best of both features. Once we
look at this we will report. There are new operating
parameters for cold weather function which is now stated
to function down to about -22 degrees without any
problems in function. I have seen even more good
comments by field users on the forums this week so the
popularity in now gaining a following.
We hit the hill and did the day
range/8 plate tests and later did the flash range and it
gave us good sensing out to about 60 feet at 40 degrees.
You can view the range pictures and make up your own
mind but we find very little fault with them. If our
herd returns to gobble up some of the free corn from
the feeders we will capture some field samples and maybe
go ahead and get the trigger test done also.
A
late note about the day/night range pictures: please
notice that one is in Fahrenheit and the other is in
centigrade so now with a recent firmware upgrade this
can be selected through programming.
01-01-11 update: The
new year is here and we are now showing some of what
this camera is going to do for us during the next few
months. The sample pictures for the most part are very
good both day and night and the flash range are staying
in tune with the sensing zone. The transition periods
are being held tight with some slightly dark pictures
but no white out pictures showing up yet. We are very
happy with the results so far including the second and a
half trigger times.
We explained our dilemma to the
manufacture and distributor with the broken door which
was felt to be caused by some rough handling during its
trip to us by the shipping facility. The thumb hold that
sticks out to aid in the door being opened had taken a
sharp blow from the marks on the box. This was the
second camera that we heard of being shook-up in
shipping where the other one just had the light pipe
from the sensor LED shook loose inside the case. Our
patch job with the glue is holding even through the
weather and constant handling. The seasonal increase in
the volume of material being shipped for the holidays
may also have played a small part in these things
happening.
Another pleasant surprise is our
herd has returned to the area to assist us in having
loyal subjects strutting across allowing the cameras to
capture their movement. This may also be because of the
snow and turn to much lower temperatures during the past
two weeks. The season is winding down and will be over
soon so pressure will be off again. Our largest set of
horns has yet to re appear though. Our last set of
pictures of him he had a hurt knee.
02-10-2011 update: Well after 40 days we
finally went back and gathered a few more pictures. As
you can see by the new sample pictures this camera is
still doing a good job. Everything has worked as it
should and no issues so far have stood out. We have now
changed over to video and will catch a few prior to
pulling the plug on this camera.
There is one thing that
we need to mention and that is that one of the original
outfits that was trying to spoof its way into selling
these cameras has found their way back as a posing as a
dealer. It was our understanding that they had been
banned. Their site uses the namesake as part of the
title so if you have suspicions about someone that maybe
selling the knockoff versions, it would probably be very
wise that you first check with the good people at Old
Boys Outdoors prior making a deal. There are also
vendors that frequent our forum and site that sell this
camera and even if you choose not to buy from them they
are good enough people that they will steer you in the
right direction should you have a question.
02-14-2010 update: Spent a good long time
going over a few of the videos we captured and I think I
am going to have to say that the video feature on this
camera is not its best feature. My first thought is that
Anthony had the camera set on a very low setting but
that was not the case. The sharpness that we see in the
still pictures have given away to some pretty fuzzy
videos, at least on this test camera that we are using.
03-01-2011
update: We had another outing and collected a
bunch more of video time. This time we did minor aim
adjustments and it seemed to help because the video
quality was up somewhat. Please view the samples to see
what I mean. Though they are not as sharp and clear as
many we have seen they are not too bad. The reflective
environment has a lot to do with how well this camera
does in the quality department. Open spaces may not
produce these same results.
03-7-2011 update: Still in the video mode we
fired up one of our Uway XtendIR black flash converters
and covered the array so only the black flash from the
XtendIR flash would be going down range. The results
were pretty good (view sample) so if you are one of the
proud owners of an XtendIR you can also use it with good
results with this camera which now enters the list of
the cameras that function well with this converter.
Another reason to have one of these in your inventory.
04-02-2011 update: Well we now have 3618
pictures and 682 ten second videos and this camera is
still going. Most people should be very pleased with the
operation and function of this little camera. So far we
have heard of good support as long as you stay away from
the knock-off dealers and deal with authorized dealers.
04-16-2011 update: Well we have the final
closing figures and they are three months and five days
with 5478 pictures and 682 ten second videos. This has
been a great little camera to work with and it has
served us well. We really liked this camera. We will now
close this review.
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