Penn's Woods Camera Review Page

Please keep in mind that even though we make recommendations for game scouting cameras, they are based on the results obtained from the particular cameras we tested with.  Our main focus is to perform the testing, thus we urge you to make your own decision on a camera purchase.

Penn's Woods 3.2 Megapixel Digital-Scout™ Camera Model DS-04


 February 13, 2006: This camera arrived today and out of the box impressions were good. It appeared to be very well constructed and simple to operate. The instructions were very well written and easy to follow. The programming for this camera is very straight forward and no one should have a problem in this area. Features are such things as an automatic shutdown when temps are above 95 degrees to prevent false triggering (keep this cam in the shade). Light and temp will automatically control the PIR sensor to prevent the sensor from detecting outside the flash range and photo range. A walk test feature is also incorporated to aid in setup. It appears that the PIR sensing cone is very narrow. This is probably to prevent the cam from triggering when the animal is not dead centered. On a lot of the cams we test the LEDs that show sensing and such can not be turned off and like in the Moultrie cameras, this light is very bright and can scare the hell out of a deer. The Penn's folks have switches to turn these off to prevent this. When the 4 C cell batteries are getting low the green LED will flash letting you know it is time to charge up the batteries. This camera uses a Sony DSC p32 camera at 3.2 MP. The instructions for this camera is like reading an encyclopedia because of all the details. It will be off to the field with this cam on Wednesday for a short field test after I get the trigger time and flash tests done. Trigger time proved to be in the 2.5 second range. One thing that I noticed while doing this test was the amount of audible noise from the camera. It sounded like small servos running but even with my old ears it was very audible. This could be a problem when the target animal is very close. This cam will do movies but my tests will only be still photos to keep this review short. A home brew camera using the “Pixcontroller” components is the same as this camera, the layout and instructions to build a duplicate are on www.pixcontroller.com. Battery life for the 4 C cells should be in the one year area and for the two AA batteries in the Sony camera, these will last for approximately 300 pictures. This camera is off until the PIR sensor wakes up the camera (thus the noise) and takes a picture. If this camera was placed on an active feeder it could easily eat up 300 pictures unless you switch in a lot of delay. A short field test in an area where we have always had deer but this week only the crows decided to show up. These small target animals easily triggered the cam and produced very sharp and clear pictures. This is a quality camera and functions very well. It is a bit pricey but when you consider that you have a quality removable digital cam that you can use outside the game camera it is of value. This concludes this review.

02-25-06 Update: We moved this camera to another area to see if we could get some deer pictures. This location had produced over 60 pictures the previous week. For some reason we just could not find a deer with this camera. The turkey population  managed to move in and take over the area. As you can see this camera takes really superb pictures. Judging from the pictures is was sensing turkey sized animals at a pretty good distance. Just having to turn on one switch and close the door prior to hanging it out in the field was also a pleasure. If you like really quality pictures, simple operation, and good sensing distance this camera would be a good choice.


 

Trigger time is 2 plus seconds
Flash Tests
Sample Photos
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