Tactacam 6.0

When it comes to recording and sharing our shooting experiences, action cameras let us go beyond snaps of our venues, kit, companions, and successes to capture the dynamism and excitement of the sport itself. Nothing gets that across with more impact than a dedicated gun camera. And beyond that buzz, replaying what the gun ‘sees’ as we track and shoot at a moving target can be a valuable aid to recognising errors and building solid skills.

US brand Tactacam is probably the biggest name in this sector, with products specifically designed for shooting and hunting with bows, shotguns, and rifles. However, due to somewhat patchy UK marketing, Tactacam’s products are probably less familiar here than competing products from AimCam, ShotKam or Triggercam. With distribution now in the hands of Thomas Jacks, however, show-goers and reviewers are finally getting the chance to see what Tactacam has to offer UK shooters.

What’s what

The principal product on test here is the Tactacam 6.0, a brand-new 4K camera with touch-screen controls and a maximum 8x magnification, but I’ll also be looking at some value-adding accessories.

I have two Tactacams of my own: the 5.0 camera and Spotter LR. The latter is a handy eyepiece add-on for spotting scopes that enables you to record shots and relay them via WiFi to a tablet or smartphone. I find it particularly useful for solo rifle practice, since it lets me instantly replay each shot from my firing position and is more consistently eagle-eyed than any human spotter, thereby ensuring every round sent downrange is a reliable source of information.

As for the 5.0 camera (now succeeded by the Solo Xtreme model), I mostly use it with Tactacam’s Film-Through-Scope (FTS) adapter, a prismatic splitter that maintains your normal sight picture while diverting a duplicate to the camera. In this configuration, it’s equivalent to a Triggercam, although the fact that the 5.0 is separate from the FTS and thus available for use in other roles, makes Tactacam’s solution more versatile. You can read my review on gunmart.net.

In large part, the 6.0 camera is an evolution of the 5.0, but at present there is no compatible FTS adapter, so in the gun camera role, its primary appeal is to shotgunners, as an alternative to a Shotkam. As it happens, I’ve been running a Shotkam for several years, too, so will say more about that later.

Inspection

The Tactacam 6.0 is 107mm long, slightly scalloped at the sides, curved at the bottom, and wider at the top to accommodate a 30 x 30mm full-colour display containing a 24 x 13mm (16:9) widescreen picture. The rugged polymer body has a soft-touch coating, with grippier inserts in the sides and around the top-mounted power button. Both the screen and the lens are protected by clear polycarbonate panels. Under the lens is a pinhole microphone, while at the rear, a twist-lock cap covers a Micro SD slot, USB-C charging port, a red/green LED charging indicator, and the battery compartment. Batteries are proprietary, with a distinctive semi-cylindrical shape, a small tab to aid extraction, and an impressive run-time for their size. With a battery installed, the 6.0 weighs 110-grams.

Complementing the camera is Tactacam’s new Connect smartphone app (Android or iOS). As well as remote-viewing and image replay functions, Tactacam Connect lets you set every parameter on the camera, extending its versatility. Connecting involves turning on the camera, using the touch-screen to activate its WiFi, and then linking to the ‘TACAM’ network listed in your phone’s WiFi screen. As with many such apps, I had to turn off my SIM before it would connect, which is tiresome, but once connected, the app was 100% stable, reliable, and intuitive to use.

On camera, the only controls are the power/record button and the touch-screen. A single press of the button powers up the camera and automatically starts recording (unless you disable this feature). Once active, the button illuminates in the signature colour of the pre-set mode selected (green, light-blue or dark-blue), and blinks to indicate recording is ongoing. A second button press stops the recording, and a long press shuts down the camera. Each of these operations also generates double or single, longer or shorter vibrations, so you can track the camera’s status even if you have the illumination disabled (blackout mode).

The touch-screen provides access to a wider range of functions. Specifically, you can start and stop recording, switch between recording modes, replay and delete recordings, activate/deactivate the WiFi or wireless remote, or reformat the SD card. The display also shows the battery and recording status, the remaining card capacity, the recording mode and the corresponding resolution, fps and magnification. The display is impressively sharp, but also very small, with tiny text that was hard to read, plus a “do you want to stop recording” prompt was a challenge to confirm with fat fingers. Fortunately, you can control recording via the button only.

From a distance

The remote control is useful here, too. It has just one button, and once paired with the camera via the screen, a single press will wake the remote and the camera, then start recording, then stop recording. A long press will shut down both the camera and the remote. The range is over 20m, so you can also set up the 6.0 at a distance (perhaps in Tactacam’s ‘bendy clamp mount’) to film yourself in action.

Modelled on the 5.0/Solo camera body, the remote conveniently uses the same battery as the 6.0. At 95 x 30mm, it’s easy to find pocket space for it, and it can be hung from a lanyard. Still, I’d rather have a smaller CR2032-powered design that could be attached to a handy spot on the gun.

The view

Of course, controls and configuration matter little if image quality is lacking, and this is where the 6.0 impresses most. Results are crisp and contrasty, with rich, natural-looking colours. To complement their 4K sensor, Tactacam has chosen a high-quality lens that emulates the natural vision of the human eye. Compared to the fish-eye designs used in other action cameras, this limits the field of view, but is ideal for looking downrange at a target, especially as you apply the 1x-8x digital zoom. Also welcome is the new image-stabilisation feature, which allows the 6.0 to deliver a noticeably smoother image through the shot than the 5.0.

All three of the standard modes: green (Video 4K/30fps/1.0x), dark-blue (Zoom 1080/60fps/8.0x), and light-blue (Slo-mo 1080/120fps/1.0x) perform very well. However, as you gain experience with the camera you will come to appreciate the extensive settings menu, where you can adjust the zoom, resolution, and frame rate for each setting, activate a low-light mode, flip (invert) the video, and add a central red dot (in any mode).

The red-dot feature was present on the 5.0, but for the 6.0, Tactacam has made it adjustable. To zero the dot, simply put your gun in a clamp and align it with a target. Next, connect the camera to the app, then switch between live view and the settings menu, tweaking the X/Y coordinates as you go until the dot is bob-on. Just remember to zero on the magnification you plan to use, since changing magnification alters the relative position of the dot.

Getting fitted

So, the 6.0 is a great camera, offering impressive optical performance in a rugged, connected, and versatile package. It’s a pity therefore that the barrel mount isn’t better. Weight-wise, the Tactacam 6.0 is on a par with the Shotkam, but its mount weighs 85-grams more. Moreover, while you can put a gun in a slip with a Shotkam mounted, the dimensions of the Tactacam mount make this impossible. I mean, who wants to remove/re-mount the camera for every stand or drive? (Not me.)

The mystery is why Tactacam didn’t configure the mount to point the screen away from the barrel, instead of towards it, avoiding the need for a stand-off design, thereby saving weight, achieving a lower (gun-slip-friendly) profile, and making the record button easier to reach quickly, and the screen easier to view. Perhaps they wanted to guard against scratching the screen or inadvertently activating the camera, but the latter is already so easy to do that I’d recommend keeping the battery in one of their neat twin-battery caddy/chargers while in transit.

Verdict

In conclusion, I really like the Tactacam 6.0 as an action camera that’s both versatile and specifically optimised for hunting scenarios, but would also like to see a Mk2 barrel mount without the drawbacks of the current model. If these don’t bother you, then the Tactacam makes a great alternative to the more-expensive Shotkam. If they do, then consider getting the Tactacam Solo Xtreme. It lacks a screen and isn’t 4K, but it has the same image stabilisation and adjustable red dot as the 6.0, fits in Shotkam mounts (if you remove Shotkam’s rubber liners), and costs £135 less.