Brand new Sleathcam that was a gift. New batteries, programmed it and set it up on my ranch. Great day pics but really grainy night pics. Any ideas why the night pics are so bad?

Can you adjust the resolution to max? Most all of my noncell cams take great daytime pics but horrible nighttime. Even on the highest megapixels most are still grainy at night. Part of it is slow trigger time and most of it is the lower resolution settings. Some of the cams will adjust megapix down at night when going from color to B&W. I bought 2 of SpyPoint Cell link to attach to my cams and tested them on several different brands. They work best on the cheaper cams that take the worst nighttime pics but they reccomend lower resolution setting to keep from eating up the batteries. One thing I also found put is what is around or above the camera to deflect or blowback the IR can effect pic quality....maybe not the grainy part but it will make the pics look bad.

Tomorrow I will adjust the anti-blur setting from advanced to standard and see what that does. I already have it set to the highest MP setting. Same spot with a 9 year old camera just days before and it's much clearer.

One of my cameras requires a certain level sd card and I knew nothing of SD cards until I read up.

The browning strike force pro xd has a lens for day and another for night. But it costs nearly $200 I think I'd take the free stealthcam and not worry about the night pics.

Does it downgrade the megabites on the camera from day to night. One of my newer cheap cams for example will take 1.6 MB daytime but drops off 50% at night to about 900kb. They look decent in daytime but horrible at night.

Here is an example from that camera. I have hooked this cam up to Cell-Link but not at the moment.

I set it on custom and set it at the highest MP setting. The manual doesn't say anything about dropping the resolution at night but I just got it so I'm new to it.

Can you check the resolution or kb/MB on the day vs night photos. That will tell you if it is dropping image quality. I know almost every one of the older model TC would drop resolution from color to black and white nighttime photos. I do not know about newer cell or regular models though.

I saved your two photos to my computer to check resolution. The day pic is only 173kb and the nighttime is 123kb compared to the 2 pics I posted at 923kb at night and 1.9 MB during the daytime. Higher resolution can make a difference. The IR illuminator can also be part of the grainy look. Not as strong as it could be because is hitting the cedar limb to the left. Might try trimming that limb out of the way completely and then move the camera up a bit higher. Then angle it downward a bit so it does not have to illuminate such far distance. Try to center it on the larger pig that after the sow with the little pigs behind her.

Here are some pics from a Wildgame camera that I was given in a mixed group of camera brands. The night pics are about 50% quality of the daytime. The IR is not very strong and the trigger speed is really slow...so they are blurry and grainy on the highest resolution on this older cam. I have it set up on a tree trunk on the bank of that drainage and then angled downward. It automatically changes resolution from day to night pics.
2.2 MB daytime

1.1 to 1.2 MB

I'll definitely cut the limb tomorrow. The original file on my computer it 4.14MB for the night pic and 6.73 for the day pic. I think the THF cuts them down to save space, but the camera is definitely taking lower resolution pics at night. I think that anti-blur setting may be the biggest issue though after looking at the manual again.

I thought they might be smaller file sizes on here when posting....mine are also. Be interested to see more pics after your adjustments and trimming that limb. My cams never take good pics of moving animals at night. They are just to slow of trigger speed for IR lower resolution cams I have.

I cut the limb, moved the camera to where the crossing is more centered and adjusted the settings to no anti blur. I will let it run for a few nights and then update with hopefully better pics.

Dang, it bothers me knowing yall know so much more than me. I could never or would never want to figure out those kind of details. I actually enjoy "details" when I can understand and control them, but cameras, computers and tech type stuff is just too daunting for me to want to try. Maybe if my life ever slows down so I have time to smell the roses then maybe ill take time to learn. Keep the good info coming guys.

Usually run mine of video mode.

Changing the anti blur setting to standard and some trimming really helped. I still have some light trimming to do after centering the camera on the gap I'm set up on.