Reolink RLC-411WS

Reolink 5MP HD 2.4/5Ghz Dual Band Wi-Fi Wireless Security IP Camera, Autofocus Bullet with 16GB Micro SD Card (RLC-411WS)

High points

• Resolution is 2560*1440 (Full 2K from a 5 MP sensor)
• 4X Optical Zoom, 2.8-12mm that yields a viewing angle: 100° in wide angle mode to 36° zoomed in. Note it does not reset to widest angle when rebooted like many do.
• Night Vision rated up to 100ft with 36pcs LED
• WiFi: 802.11a/b/g/n with both 2.4 and 5 Ghz radios
• Built-in 16GB Micro SD Card for storage
• Auto focus not fixed focus
• Does not require a plug in to view from a browser
• Android app finds camera

Mixed

• Audio seems a bit tough to get at.
• Auto focus can be a bit slow.

Downside 

The mount and the antennae interfere with each other if angled to the side.


Almost twice the length of the  Amcrest IP3M-943W and a bit wider and a bit more expensive but you get a 4 X motorized zoom, a 5 Ghz WiFi radio, auto focus and audio for the bit extra.

Reliability

From what others have posted this is generally a solid camera but as I posted 2 months in mine started completely losing its config every time it rebooted. This meant I had to use it as wide angle camera with no password. Not good but not a total deal breaker on a secured network. I just put a fixed telephoto with it for the combined very wide angle and gate views. I was even thinking I'd get another to replace the 2 cams near the creek but 6 months in and the zoom and focus motors are stopping working on a regular basis. This might not be a major issue except when they go out the camera also goes out of focus leaving me with rather worthless view.

This has gotten be at least a daily occurrence now. I went in and told it to reboot daily. (Oddly it seems to remember this is enabled and frequency but time seems to change to a diff one after reboot.) That seemed to help for a day or 2. Currently to fix I have to reboot the camera, log back in and kick the zoom a couple times to get the autofocus working again. This is of course making the camera almost worthless. So I'm divided on getting another one. This might be heat related as well given it is in full sun and it hit 100 degrees outside a while ago. I noticed the dome version of this is $20 cheaper plus there are some refurbs available for $25 below that so I ordered one to try.

Blue Iris Setup

Is pretty much straight forward but I have not found a way to get the audio stream yet.

The compare tests

All 3 camera were mounted next to each other on the same post with the IR flood so IR coverage is not a factor in image quality. Top to bottom Escam QD900 (Gate39) with a 16 mm lens installed, the Reolink RLC-411WS (IPcam61) and a Foscam FI9804 (IPcam44)

First off contrast with the sun out and the Reolink

 and Escam the look about the same when viewed at same size.

Similar with the night shots
The Reolink in wide angle mode

Though it has a wider view and more contrast than the Foscam

 The Reolink fully zoomed is still wider

 the Escam with the a 16 mm lens. The Escam looks a bit better for objects at the gate but closer in the Reolink is much better.

 If you zoom in it really comes home that the Escam wins on distance

The Reolink in zoomed actually does not look quite as well as the one from

The wide angle view depending on what you are looking for. This might be partly an auto focus issue. Given the foreground in the full shots is so clear it maybe focused wrong.

Funny the swing set is more visible in the wide angle shot but the wood grain is better in the zoomed shot. Note that corner of the building is 372 feet from the cameras and has its own security light on it.

Here are the shots for testing recognition at just over 100 feet. At first glance it might look like the Escam wins given its tighter angle making the subject larger in the pics

but if you zoom in to make them the same size the Reolink is much clearer on the face though about a draw on the plate. The last one is pulled from the wide angle shot from the Reolink which is almost as useless as a shot from the 720p Foscam.

Here are the shots for testing recognition at close to 200 feet with similar relative results.

Zoomed in they look like this for the Reolink zoomed, the Escam and the Reolink zoomed out.

Unfortunately reading plates at the gate is iffy at best with either cam BUT I'm thinking it will replace both the Escam and the Foscam in this instance.  To read plates at the gate looks like it will take either a higher resolution and or a higher magnification lens. Thinking maybe next trying USG Business Grade 4MP H.265 IP Bullet Security Camera : Telephoto MOTORIZED 5-50mm Auto-Focus Lens, Power Over Ethernet, 72x IR LEDs, 32GB microSD Card, Weatherproof, ONVIF 2.4

Review: QD900 with a 16 mm lens

Swapping the stock lens in a Escam QD900 with a 16 mm lens can add an almost 4 X optical zoom to your camera. A view from a stock Escam QD900 looks like this

You can zoom in about 4x before things start to get too blurry

with 16 mm lens the unzoomed view becomes

Again you can zoom in about 4x before things start to get too blurry but now that means you can read a license plate up to about 200 feet away.

If you have a bit of dexterity you can probably swap out the lenses easily. I did it and my fingers are on the stiff side. It does mean disassembling the camera though and focusing the lens while the camera is still apart and turned on so you will have to decide if you are comfortable with that. I suggest sliding business cards between the case and the boards to minimize the risk of shorting out the boards on the case. Also be careful to not disconnect any of the wires while you are in there.

My original Facebook overview.

I get asked about this a fair bit so here is my HD security cam 101. 

First things first 

Do not bother with analog cams or anything less than 720p. The video is almost useless and they will cost as much or more than HD cams.

The 2 trickiest bits are getting power to it and getting it connected to your network.

You can find these 720p Escam QD300s for as little as $27 on Amazon if you wait long enough. Generally they are $35-$40. I prefer these Escam QD900s today. Above pic is from one. They are 1080p which really makes a difference. I’ve seen them as low as $43 used. Been trending around $55. If mounting on or near the house, run an Ethernet cable to them and you can power them off the Ethernet cable by using some cheap POE adapters. Note this will not work with 5 volt cameras but fine for these 12 volt models. Away from the house just use WiFi. Do NOT run unshielded Ethernet outside for more than a few feet or a storm may fry your network! You can pick up cables for analog video cameras pretty cheap. For some reason they are cheaper and longer than the power only cables. My creek cam is on about 200 feet cable run, which is about the limit and probably is hurting the image quality a bit at night. Unless you have enterprise class WiFi or a repeater, you are not going to go much farther anyway through trees anyway. Waterproof any connections / unused connectors with duct tape or sticking in a waterproof outlet box. Be sure and change ALL the default passwords, user and P2P! I generally like to set up cams so each cam is visible to another so if someone, or more often something, messes with it I know what happened to avoid it happening again. Note the affordable 2k cameras are just starting to come out so you might want to keep that in mind when planning purchases. Check out Amcrest IP3M-941W and Amcrest IP3M-943W (Note I have not tried one of these yet but have eval coming.) Also if you feel comfortable taking electronics a part you can swap the lenses out on those QD cameras to get up to a 4x zoom from a 16 mm lens. That will help keep you camera closer to the house and less noticed.

There are all kinds of recording options.

The cameras above come with info on their cloud based service and there are lots of others but I generally find them pricey and you can easily swap your internet connection. There are also some nice looking DVR boxes now but I prefer a PC running Blue Iris. If you are just doing a cam or two, about any old (unfortunately has to be Windows) PC will run it just fine. For instance a used PC if you do not have an old one laying around. A single i7 class PC (as low as $600 new) can handle about 18 720p cameras recording continuously. (You can have them only record when they see motion but I would not suggest it.) After running a few days see how much space your recordings take with your settings and get a second hard drive for it. Given you might not notice or hear about something you want to review the video for right away I general suggest keeping at least a week’s worth. 8 TB drives are available now at a decent price per gigabyte. Just saying. I generally go with Western Digital Red or Purple. Blue is a bit cheaper but had some of those fail on me in less than a year. Your mileage may vary. For more on WD colors click here.

From there it depends on how wild you want to get.

Blue Iris is pretty easy to get running and has a ton of stuff you can get fancy with if you want to take the time. Definitely start by setting it up so you can view on your phone. Then setting motion alerts based on something above at least certain size moving between (up to 8 odd shaped) areas of the picture. Motion detection is something you will just have to play with till you get the sensitivity and screen zones right. Once you do, you can have it alert you to odd behavior in a bunch of ways. For instance one of mine says "driveway" over speakers and uploads a pic to my cloud if it sees something moving on the driveway, with a rectangle drawn around the thing it saw. I have that camera aimed at the gate at the street and I've told it to ignore anything beyond the gate and be extra sensitive to any motion near the UPS box out there. (UPS seems scared to drive in my driveway and used to just leave stuff sitting by the gate or random spots in the yard so now there is a box for them near the gate.) It is SO nice while I'm working to only have to glance at a monitor to see what is in the driveway or what the dogs are barking at. Especially lately if I had to go outside to check on them every time they get stirred up I'd never get anything done. Add to that seeing the wildlife you might not even know had in your yard and you will probably be adding more cams than you ever thought you would want for security. FYI for those that do not know, check out 3 camels price watch You can set it to email you when an item on Amazon falls below a price you are willing to pay! Also shows you historical prices for an item so you know what is a good price and right time to buy. Can save you BIG money!