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FosCam IP Camera Review


I recently purchased a Foscam FI8905W Outdoor Wireless/Wired IP Camera with 30 Meter Night Vision and 12mm Lens (22° Viewing Angle) - Silver.   It looked like a pretty good deal through Amazon at only $122 plus shipping.  

When I got the camera, I immediately put it up under the eves of my house looking into the driveway.  It was night when I put it up, but even though the camera says it has a 60 degree viewing angle, I was surprised to see that it looked very zoomed in.   It also seemed to not work out of the box with adjusting the light.  Here is a picture:


I left it up all night, and in the morning I was surprised to see a solid white screen!  Apparently the light adjustment was worse than I thought.  I messed with it a bit, and found an "outdoor" mode, per below:


After I adjusted the mode (there is Outdoor, 50Hz, and 60Hz), the camera worked a lot better.   Then I played with the sensitivity of the camera.  Their English is not that good, and they call that 'Sensibility."   I'm still trying to figure out the optimal settings with this.  

I then wanted to see if it would email a photo of motion detected, since it has motion detection, and email.  I'm used to this, as I have three models of D-Link IP cameras.  The system will email you to notify you of motion, but it won't send a photo.   It simply sends you a link with the camera ID and its IP.  Lame, Lame, Lame!  I also noticed that when you set the email server, you have to hit 'submit' prior to hitting 'test' or it won't use the new settings.  Here's a screenshot:


On the Wireless card, I had brought it over to a friends to see if it could close the wireless link from his barn to his house, and in taking off the antenna the inside nut came off, and the SMA connector kept spinning around.  In order to tighten it up, I had to take it apart (there went the Warranty), and I noticed that the antenna had come disconnected from the board.  Note, per the below, that this is the connection it has to be on.


Overall, I'd rate the camera as OK.  It works well at night, is weatherproof, and the wireless seems to be rock-solid.  However, the lame light adjustment, and the poor email notification, are not its strongpoints.   Also, I am looking around my house, so the lens angle is too narrow for my taste.  After some troubleshooting, and observing a friend's camera, I noticed on the box that I have the 12mm lens.   I would opt for the 3.6mm lens, or at the very MOST the 6mm lens next time.   However, the CMOS 300K Pixel IR is GREAT.  This works very well, even with no light (pitch black).    

Comments

  1. ViktorOctober 15, 2014 at 4:57 AM

    I recently purchased a Foscam FI8905W Outdoor Wireless/Wired IP Camera with 30 Meter Night Vision and 12mm Lens (22° Viewing Angle) ... ipoutdoor.blogspot.de

    ReplyDelete

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