Foscam FI9826W (Black) 1.3 Megapixel (1280x960p) 3x Optical Zoom H.264 Pan/Tilt Wireless IP Camera

**********************************February 2015 update:I just ordered another one and placed my first one outside for a test. So far, GREAT! The low lumen CCD is great and also, the IR lights and filter work even better than I expected. One caveat I noticed was that it was highly reflective off of reflective things like brick; white paint. So, aim it slightly off of them and you are set; not a huge problem. I am going to give it two more weeks of testing, as it's the "change" time of year around here and it will be seeing huge changes in humidity and temperature. If this one stands tall, as I know it will, I will be replacing all of my cams with this model. The image is great and the, though small, zoom is a good improvement.**********************************... but I took the plunge and bought this camera. I've owned 10 Foscam cameras now, and so far this is the best. The 3x optical zoom is really great. It will not zoom in on a licenses plate from 30 feet, but then nothing with only 3x zoom will. If the software you use has digital zoom, then it is really possible to read something as small as a licenses plate from this distance. This though, was not why I purchased this camera. I wanted ultra clear/sharp images from 20 feet or less and this camera fits the bill. Keep in mind that my testing is indoors, so the distance may increase when used outdoors with natural lighting. Lighting is everything when it comes to cameras.If Foscam is reading this, what we need is the ability to control the focus with software.... Sometimes we want to zoom in on something really close, and sometimes we what to zoom in on something really far away. The fixed focal length is ok for medium focal points but we need/deserve more control.This camera works really well with Blue Iris. If you have Blue Iris, and the Android/IOS app for your smart phone, you don't need to worry about port forwarding a camera that uses both an IP address and a Media port. This can be a headache for novices.Plus, if you use a client like Blue Iris for streaming, you don't have as much to worry about with snoops hacking into your IP camera since it's not broadcast.Also Foscam, if you are reading this, we need the ability to use the IR filter while not using the IR lights supplied with the camera. If I want to point this out a window, and use IR illuminators placed outside, I can't because the IR lights on the camera will reflect off the glass and cause unusable video. With the older/cheaper cameras I just painted the IR lights over so they would not reflect in the glass, but this camera cost too much to do that to it for outdoor monitoring.If anyone reading this knows of a safe/efficient remedy, let me know.

Needed a good camera to keep tabs of my front yard. Wanted it to be able to record to local storage which makes the camera independent of any computer. The reviews of the Foscam 9826W were pretty decent so I decided to give it a try. It arrived and the packaging was in good shape so I doubt it was mishandled in transit. Obviously since I gave it a 1-star review, it goes downhill from here.First off, in taking the cam out of the package it felt wrong. I've never had a PZT cam before so I'm not sure if this is typical but for me when the U-Housing of the cam rattles on the base, that ain't what I paid for. The U-Housing didn't spin freely so it was gearing on something but it felt to me like it might make a grinding noise when it powered up and rotated. Luckily, it did not do this. It rotated smoothly on power up but still felt semi-broken when I'd move it. So, that was strike 1.Connecting the cam to my wifi was pretty straight forward with its WPS button. Saw the IP it grabbed in my router's DHCP log and tried to open a browser to it (I hate the dang junk manufacturers expect you to install just to make a web connections). Didn't work. Seemed odd. IP was right for the cam's MAC address. So, as my laptop has no CDROM I decided to bite the bullet and download the Foscam cam tool app and see if it would connect. It found the cam and opened a web page to it for me. Huh. Defaults to port 88, not 80. To me, that's pointless. Why???? Strike 2.After installing the plugin (expected this so no worse than other cam web interfaces), I got the video feed. UTTERLY OUT OF FOCUS. Looked like vaseline was smeared on the lens. No manual focus on this cam at all. Updated firmware just in case. No change. If I held it up to my hand about 4 inches away, the picture was in focus. No idea what was going on. Strike 3 (don't worry, I kept swinging at the ball so there are more strikes).Called Foscam tech support. 25 minute hold time. Not too bad and their system did keep updating me with what number in the queue I was (started out at 22). Explained problem to tech guy. Was told, "Just rotate the focus ring." My reply, "uh, what? This is a fix focus model." His reply, "One second please." On hold another 5 minutes. "Sir, I'll have to ask hardware support to call you within 24 hours. I'm sending a request to the manufacturer in China." Me: "What? Didn't I just call the manufacturer?" Him: "No sir, we're just the distributors." Me: "Thank you, goodbye." Strike 4.Me to Google: foscam 9826 blurryGoogle to me: Here's a bunch of forum posts from people with this exact problem.Forum posts to me: Eh, you're horked.Me to Amazon: Please issue refund.Strike 5.So, it goes back. I ran out to our local Fry's and picked up a DLink 5222L and so far am much more please. Solid housing, ok software, good picture, compression recording. Does NOT have an optical zoom like the Foscan 9826W supposedly has. I tried the optical zoom several times on the 9826W hoping it would calibrate the focus and it did not. From what I could tell from the image change during zoom, the optical zoom wasn't all that impressive. The digital zoom on the DLink 5222L is quite good and a acceptable alternative. On top of all that, the DLink 5222L is 90 bucks cheaper than the Foscam 9826WOh, one thing in the Foscam's favor.... It did have a tripod mount screw hole on the bottom of the base. The DLink does not. I think I'll be ok with double sided tape if I ever need to sick it down somewhere.

Wieviele Sternchen soll man da nur geben? Für den Preis finde ich die Bildqualität auch im IR Modus recht gut. Zoom, drehen, schwenken, Audio in/Out, alles wunderbar! Da das die Hauptfunktionen sind habe ich mich mal zu 3 hinreißen lassen.Nun das "aber", wie man im Internet recherchieren kann will FOSCAM ziemlich energisch nach Hause "telefonieren". Die Updates mit Riesen Warnung, nur in richtiger Reihenfolge manuell einzuspielen. Die Versionsangaben auf die zu achten ist sind auch eher "kryptisch". Ohne die Updates die eigentlich mit "nur für Nordamerika" markiert sind kann man die Reihenfolge nicht einhalten. Die AVI Files auf der SD Karte habe ich nicht getestet. Die MKVs die die Kamera auf einen FTP Server spielt, werden weder vom Standard Player bei WP8.1 noch bei Android abgespielt. VLC kann es aber. Bei der Konvertierung in ein anderes Format stürzt VLC ab. FFMpeg bricht ab und MKVInfo sagt "Es wurde kein EBML-Kopf gefunden". Dafür läuft die Kamera gut mit der SrveillanceStation von Synology. Mit dem letzten Update der Kamera funktioniert die Kamera auch gut mit dem ONVIF Protokoll (Apps auf WP8.1 und Android), Mit der alten Software gab es öfters Abbrüche! Einmal eingerichtet läuft sie jetzt bei mir Problemlos. Das nächste mal würde ich wahrscheinlich doch mehr Geld in die Hand nehmen und einen anderen Hersteller wählen.

Software it not good

Too hard to set up. I'm not a computer expert and this was very complicated. The user manual is not easy to navigate and additional settings on you computer need to be added or disabled. You need to enable settings that should already be enabled on their software, making more steps to navigate. I'm returning it.

100 % Genuine ..100 % Full Quality Product ...Fully Support ! Fully Satisfied ....

No funccione correctemente el software - he contacto con la fabrica pero no me han ayudado o contestado!Hay problemas de compatibilidad con Windows - y nadie de la fabrica me han consejado como arreglarla.La camera funccioner pero no puede grabar por el ordinadora ni el SD card! Util como un tetera de chocolate!Un fallo bastante carro!