Research overview: white-flash versus infrared cameras and image quality trade-offs

Camera traps illuminate night scenes either with a bright white (xenon or LED) flash that yields full-color images or with infrared illumination that produces monochrome photos invisible to most animals. This overview weighs the trade-offs: white flash captures coat colors and fine pattern detail valuable for individual identification and aesthetic wildlife photography but may startle animals and reveal the camera, while infrared is discreet and battery-efficient but loses color and can blur fast movement. It discusses how flash type affects detectability of stripe and rosette patterns crucial for identifying tigers, leopards, and jaguars, and considerations of animal welfare and trap-shyness. For photographers prioritizing image quality versus minimal disturbance, the choice materially shapes both data and pictures, and influences study comparability when mixing camera types.