Five-megapixel IP-surveillance cameras on Sony sensors have fallen in price this year, breaking the $ 30 bar.
I ordered a dome camera Azishn AZ00416 for $ 29.28 and studied it.
A year ago, I bought twelve different IP cameras to find the best value for money. The most successful were Azishn cameras (aka Gadinan) with Sony matrices (https://ammo1.livejournal.com/1053037.html), then they cost about $ 25. For a year, these cameras almost did not fall in price, but five-megapixel cameras with sound and, it seems, with artificial intelligence, appeared only a little more expensive.
When ordering, you can choose three lens options - standard 3.6 mm (angle of view 72 °), 6 mm (47 °) and 8 mm (36 °) and two power options - 12 volts and POE 48V. In the same lot there are 2MP and 4MP options, but these are completely different cameras on cheap Chinese SC sensors. I ordered a 5MP camera with 3.6mm lens and 12V power.
The seller specifies the following parameters:
Sensor: 1 / 2.8 IMX335 5 MP back-illuminated CMOS, IR shutter;
Processor: Hi3516EV300, H.265AI / H.265 + / H.265 / H.264 encoding, 5MP 2592X1944 15fps, 3MP 2048X1440 25fps, 2MP 1920X1080 25fps;
Backlight: 15 LEDs, visibility up to 25 meters;
Case: metal, 107x89 mm, IP66;
Connection: RJ-45 and 12V power or RJ-45 powered by Ethernet cable (POE 48V);
Protocols: ONVIF / NETIP / RTSP / FTP / PPPOE / DHCP / DDNS / NTP / UPnP;
Working temperature: -25 ° - + 55 °;
Features: XMeye cloud support, built-in microphone, motion detection, person and face recognition.
The main purpose of this camera is for use with DVRs, however, it can be used also offline to view the picture through the XMeye cloud without recording and sending pictures by motion to Email or FTP.
Includes a template for wall mounting, a sealed cover for the RJ-45 connector, three dowels and a self-tapping screw, a hex wrench, instructions.
A microphone hole is visible on the side of the case.
The dome is attached through a rubber seal.
When I ordered this camera, I had concerns that such a large transparent dome could cause the illumination light to be reflected on the dome after rain in drops and to light up the lens, but it turned out that everything was done according to the mind: there is a dense opaque ring around the lens, isolating the section of the dome in front of the lens from everything else domes.
The microphone is thoroughly covered with sealant.
The disadvantage of such a dome is that for any adjustment of the position of the camera, it must be disassembled by unscrewing three long screws. In addition, the mounting holes must be sealed after outdoor installation.
The camera uses the XiongMaiTech (XM) module IVG-85HG50PYA-S.
Module characteristics from the manufacturer's website.
The default camera address is 192.168.1.10, username is admin, password is blank. At the second start, the camera changes the address to the one received from the router via DHCP. The camera can be configured using Internet Explorer (an ActiveX plug-in is installed at the first access) or via the CMS program.
The setup interface is typical of XM cameras and recorders.
By default, the mode is 5MP, 20 frames per second (although the module supports no higher than 15), H.265.
You can select three resolutions - 5MP, 4MP, FullHD (in the last two up to 25 frames per second) and four encoding modes - H.264, H.264 +, H.265, H.265 +.
Motion detection is enabled by default. No mention of human and face recognition was found.
Configuring sensor parameters.
Firmware version.
I measured the consumption of the camera. In day mode, the camera with a 12 volt power supply consumes about 145 mA, in night mode with a backlight - 230 mA.
I checked the operation of motion detection with the Dahua DHI-XVR7108H recorder. Everything works, it will also work with Chinese registrars. As I wrote above, there are no signs of recognition of people and faces, but maybe this recognition is "somewhere inside" and simply reduces the number of false positives in motion detection.
The sound quality from the camera is average, but it sounds better than none of last year's cameras.
The video from the camera can be viewed through the cloud mobile application XMeye (real IP address on the network, to connected to the camera is not required, the smartphone can be located at least on the other side of the earth ball).
To assess the quality of the picture, the camera was placed over a window in the center of the room. The distance from the camera to the cabinet is 5 meters. To view the picture in full resolution, open the image in a new window. All images are captured at a maximum resolution of 5MP.
Artificial lighting.
In total darkness with IR-illuminated camera.
Resolution test (the sheet occupies exactly one third of the frame in height).
In the dark.
Fragment of an image of a resolution test under artificial light and in the dark.
Compared to last year's cameras, the progress is clearly visible, but only in good lighting.
The SONY IMX335 sensor has an aspect ratio of 4: 3, so the 5MP picture has a resolution of 2592x1944 pixels. In 4MP mode, the upper part is taken from this picture to get an aspect ratio of 16: 9 (resolution 2560x1440), in FullHD mode the 4-megapixel picture is reduced to 1920x1080 pixels.
Azishn produces cameras with the same modules in different cases, they have exactly the same capabilities and such the same picture, the only difference is in the number and power of the IR LEDs and the presence or absence microphone:
$27.30 Rectangular body, 4 high-power LEDs;
$27.45 Cylindrical body, 6 high-power LEDs;
$30.24 Cylindrical body, 6 high-power LEDs;
$30.38 Dark cylindrical body, 6 powerful LEDs;
$29.40 Black dome, small LEDs, no microphone.
The camera gives an excellent picture in daylight, and in my opinion the improvement of the picture and the presence of a microphone costs an additional $ 5, for which this camera is more expensive than last year.
© 2020, Alexey Nadezhin
The main topic of my blog is technology in human life. I write reviews, share experiences, talk about all sorts of interesting things. My second project - lamptest.ru. I test LED bulbs and help figure out which ones are good and which are not so good.