Amcrest UltraHD 5MP Outdoor POE Camera 2592 x 1944p Bullet IP Security Camera, Outdoor IP67 Waterproof, 103° Viewing Angle, 2.8mm Lens, 98.4ft Night Vision, 5-Megapixel, IP5M-B1186EW-28MM (White)

My first impressions opening the box were good. The actual device feels solid and of good quality. It feels well made. The mounting bracket and the camera unit are made of metal. It came with some small papers for getting started as well as a reminder to change the default password (good to see this suggested right away for security). Mounting hardware was included as well as a waterproof enclosure for the ethernet plug. There are a few options for how you can set it up depending on your needs. I wanted to use it with my existing 3rd party app so I did a manual setup. I logged into the web interface, was prompted to set a new password for security purposes (good on them for forcing this), and was immediately shown a realtime live view of the camera. The web interface is an insane upgrade from my previous cameras that required Windows and Internet Explorer. It's clean, fast, and works with modern browsers cross-platform. I was especially impressed with how low-latency the video is. From other reviews I read I was hopeful for good video quality but I was pretty blown away. It's completely dark out yet this thing's sensor is sensitive enough to be lit up enough to look like it's dawn. With a little bit of light pollution bouncing off some clouds tonight it's able to operate at night in full color. When it's even darker its night vision infrared lights illuminate the area really well, much better than my older cameras. I've attached a comparison picture of my old vs this new camera, installed just a couple feet apart, taken at the same time tonight. About 15 minutes later it got a little darker and it switched to nightvision mode (also shown). The nightvision is so sharp and bright too. Overall I'm pretty impressed by the quality I got for a great price. Both the hardware and software are well beyond my other cameras. I'm probably going to be replacing a bunch of cameras soon and this camera and/or the 4K version are my top contenders most likely. I'm very happy with this so far.

I have set up over 20 Amcrest installations, and about 10 installations of other types. I prefer the Amcrest for picture quality, build, and durability. I have included some pictures taken with the UltraHD 5MP Outdoor POE Camera 2592 x 1944p during both day and night, in an environment that showcases the camera's quality. Both the day and night footage is exceptional. These camera support native POE, with the ability to get power using a wall-wart. They include necessary hardware to water-protect the cat5 cable. The Camera case and base are made of cast metal, and has a single Allen bolt that allows easy positioning of the camera. Once the bolt is tightened, the camera will not move, even in 40mph winds. (no vibration) The NIGHT Floodlight does not have a red glow, like my older "Vandal Proof" Amcrest; so it is invisible at night unless you know where to look. The lens and the light share a common optic, but the lens is against the glass which removes ghosting caused by internal reflection. Also, the wavelength of this light does not seem to attract insects. As the picture shows, the Night vision almost looks like far infra-red. Both pictures were taken from a screenshot of the video, night time, was taken in the rain. The Crispness of the video shows a solid 25fps to my NVR, and it also supports backup recording on the camera itself. This camera does not need the special Amcrest plugin to access making it much nicer then their older offerings. Motion Detection is also pretty standard, it is very sensitive which can be a pain in the butt, but if you are utilizing a NVR, you can set up zones, and adjust your own sensitivity. The camera may also have a way to set up zones, I did not check. Amcrest provides an app which allows you to view your camera on Android and Iphone at no extra cost. You will need to poke a hole through your firewall unless you use their cloud service. (Which I do not) I will be purchasing more of these cameras in the future as I believe their price and performance is unparalleled.

I got this camera for my use in the driveway so I could monitor people coming and going from our home based office. I also wanted to keep an eye on customer cars parking where they shouldn't. I was expecting the image to be similar to my other PTZ cameras. So, I was very pleasantly surprised when I found that not only was the image super clear, but I could zoom in (digitally) using the Amcrest Surveillance Pro software to about 300 feet away, and still recognize who people were. Because the camera uses the POE connection I did not have to run power supply wires along with old coax cable to the cameras. I simply hooked the camera to my Network switch with POE power, and not only did it send the power to the camera, but it delivered the video to my NVR recorder over the secure network. This means no cables run al over the house / office and no worrying about how I was going to route a cable across and down calls and ceilings. Another great thing about the POE system is that I don't have to worry about people outside of my private network hacking into WiFi Camera signals. The chassis of this camera is even more sturdy than I expected. From looking at the camera on the internet I just assumed the body would be all plastic. I was happy to see that there's some weight to the camera, and it felt like a solid build. Another advantage to this camera is the ball swivel mount bracket. The camera can be moved Up, Down, left and right or even rotated as necessary because the ball mount gives it a full 360 degree of movement. My other PTZ cameras and wifi fixed cameras can't do that. The only negatives about this camera would be, 1 - it doesn't have a microphone. I would have liked to been able to listen to the sounds around the camera and 2 - the sun shade hood on the top of the camera could stand to be a little longer, or move forward just slightly more. This way it could block a little bit more of the long sun sets during summer time. However, this is easily fixed with a little adjustment in placement. If you have a network and you want an excellent quality camera with a great picture, I would recommend this one for sure.

I don't know much about this type of camera technology, but I found this one easy to configure into my Synology system and so far, no complaints at all.

The picture quality is more than enough for me, and I even turn the resolution down a little to have more time stored on my nvr, but these cameras produce clear video at high or low settings. This camera definitely has a starlight image sensor as it continues to show perfectly clear color video until its completely dark outside. The nightmode (black and white with IR lights) is good but as this only has 2 IR lights it will probably only sufficiently illuminate 20-30 feet at night. The firmware for this is outstanding as well. It has HTML5 video playback when you access the camera directly through an internet browser (no plugin or flash is required). It has all the necessary settings that I was able to get the camera to communicate and work great with an outdated Grandstream NVR. So in other words it is very customizable and follows the onvif standards close enough to play well with other equipment. Amcrest is an American company but these cameras are made by companies in China that often are closely tied to the Chinese government. So I would advise using a firewall to prevent the cameras from accessing the internet. And use an NVR or NVR software like blue iris to view the video from cameras. Amcrest only releases a couple of firmwares per model which makes me believe that they spend a lot of time making sure their firmwares are stable and checking for any holes before distributing them. I don’t see the lack of firmware as an issue because their firmware are very stable and aren’t lacking any features. I cant speak to the long term quality which is often a problem with cheaper cameras, but in terms of hardware and features this will be the only camera I buy going forward.