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Motion-triggered cameras are useful in wildlife investigations but quantitative metrics derived from photographs potentially include substantial error. We compared six models of cameras placed side-by-side at a small spring in Mojave National Preserve, California, for 63 days in the spring of 2006, and for 40 days in the fall of 2007. Total number of different species detected varied by camera from 2 to 14 in the first trial and from 1 to 6 in the second. Total number of wildlife photographs taken by each camera ranged from 18 to 348 in the first trial and from 0 to 95 in the second. Photographic rates of a single species, mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), differed by as much as 100% between two units of the same camera model. We did find, however, that the distribution of time intervals between photographs of mule deer was similar for different cameras. These results indicate that photographic rates and number of species detected by motion-triggered cameras can vary significantly even for identical models placed side by side, and have important implications regarding the interpretation of such data across areas.