The mobile application, firmware and hardware platform of this camera is significantly different from most Chinese cameras and much has been done here much better and more convenient.
Now Reolink RLC-820A camera costs 5450 rubles with express delivery from Russia.
The declared resolution is 4K 8MP 3840x2160 pixels and a frame rate of 25 fps, sound recording is supported (a microphone is built into the camera), motion detection, detection of a person and a car in the frame.
There is a time lapse mode that allows you to automatically shoot very long processes (building a house, changing seasons, sunsets and sunrises).
The camera can be used both with a video recorder (ONVIF supported), and autonomously, saving the video to its MicroSD card. Access to the camera via the Internet works through the manufacturer's own cloud.
The camera can be powered either from 12 volts or via a data cable (POE IEEE 802.3af 48V Active standard is supported).
The camera body is metal with full IP66 weather protection for outdoor use. Declared to work at temperatures from -10 to + 55 ° C.
This camera has a twin sister Reolink RLC-810A in a traditional "bullet" case.
The set includes a meter-long RJ-45 cable, a sealed Ethernet connector cap, a template for installation, dowels and screws, instructions.
The microSD card compartment is located under a sealed cover at the bottom of the camera.
The mounting platform is mounted on the surface, the camera is placed on it and rotated. There is no protection from vandals - to remove the camera, just turn it counterclockwise.
Three parts of the case are metal, and the base is plastic (it is in the lower left corner of the photo).
On the cable there is an RJ-45 connector, a 12V power connector and a reset button.
Night illumination is made on 18 IR LEDs.
Inside there is a large board labeled JBN N25C01-8M-P and a sensor module labeled S12D40.
I did not find any information about these modules on the Internet. The manufacturer does not indicate the sensor model, only "1 / 2.49 CMOS Sensor".
There is an IR illumination control (for most other cameras, the illumination is turned on from the light sensor and cannot be turned off).
I measured the consumption of the camera when powered from 12 volts. In normal mode, the camera consumes about 220 mA, in night mode with backlighting about 385 mA.
And now for the fun part.
Most of the small Chinese manufacturers make cameras and recorders based on the XM platform (XMEYE mobile app). Only a few large manufacturers write firmware for cameras and mobile applications themselves, and also contain a cloud for accessing their equipment via the Internet. Reolink is one of these manufacturers and everything they have done is in many ways more convenient than both XM and competitors' software.
What impressed me most was the process of adding a camera to the mobile app. It's completely automatic! It is enough to launch the mobile application and the camera, located in the same local network as the smartphone, appears in it itself. You don't even need to create an account. All you need to do is assign a password to the camera.
In XMEYE, to start viewing after launching the application, you must first select a device, then its channel (even if it is the only one). At Reolink, after launching the application, the video from the first camera immediately starts broadcasting automatically. It's convenient, of course.
Unlike the same XM, all settings are in the mobile application.
The application has the ability to shoot Timelapse, while the video, accelerated many times, is saved to the camera's memory card.
The camera interface in the browser is no less convenient and it works in any browsers without any add-ons (XM has an interface in the browser only works in IE with unsigned ActiveX add-on installed and make it all work in modern Windows versions not easy).
Unlike most cameras and recorders, there is a pre-recording (a few seconds of video is recorded before the start of movement). You can choose in which situations to record (any movement, the appearance of a person in the frame, the appearance of a car in the frame).
The camera has three main stream resolutions - 3840x2160, 2560x1440 and 2304x1296. This means that it cannot work with DVRs supporting only FullHD (1920x1080). More precisely, it can, but only in the mode of an additional stream with a single resolution of 640x360 pixels.
By default, the camera's picture is a bit dark.
You can improve the picture by adjusting the brightness, contrast and color.
So the camera shoots in night mode with its IR illumination (here and earlier, the distance from the camera to the cabinet is 5 meters).
Resolution test (the sheet occupies exactly one third of the frame in height). Distance from lens to sheet of paper 88 cm, illumination 50 lux.
Night mode.
Fragment of a resolution test image.
Night mode.
The Reolink RLC-820A camera left a double impression. On the one hand, it has almost perfect software - the firmware, the application, and the web interface. All this is much more convenient than the same XM and there are useful additional functions. On the other hand, the camera is equipped with a sensor that does not provide the same detailed picture as cameras with SONY sensors.
So far, Reolink has only two cameras with such capabilities. Previous generation cameras (e.g. 5MP RLC520 for 3340 rubles) no detection of people and cars, and no time lapse function.
Hopefully, Reolink will soon equip all its cameras and recorders with the same software as the RLC-820A / RLC-810A. Perhaps this is the most convenient thing that I have come across in video surveillance.
© 2021, Alexey Nadezhin
For ten years I have been writing every day about technology, discounts, places of interest and events. Read my blog on the site ammo1.ru, v LJ, Zen, Mirtesen, Telegram.
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