I missed the last prototype program but here's my 4MP review & video

Mark

Here's my blog post and video of my first Reolink camera:

Blog Post: https://www.improdia.com/reviews/reolink-rlc420-ip-camera/

YouTube video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vZcR8PQ5RE

Looking forward to adding some more Reolink magic to my network!

wictod

Hi Mark,

What a great video, really explains your setup well, love the production and use of the inserted zoom windows to highlight the points. Only wish you had put this together around six months ago when I spent a lot of time researching how to install these cameras properly. Coincidentally, I'm using the same PoE source as you and the junction box which seemed the most sensible way to deal with the bunch of cables coming from the camera.

A couple of points I'd like to make:

1. I noticed inside the junction box you didn't use the locking protective boot on the Ethernet cable connecting to the camera. It may not be necessary where you live if moisture isn't a problem but here in Southern England it's very damp. I read that over time moisture can possibly penetrate the junction box even though its probably IP66/67 rated and this in turn can possibly corrode the pins on both the Ethernet connector and the camera connector. Apparently you'll start to notice data loss if they start to corrode. Putting another end on the cable is not so much of a hassle but Camera side is. To be double sure I used the locking boot and sprayed WD-40 in the box to negate that issue as much as I could just as a precaution as I'm no good up ladders and didn't fancy revisiting the job

2. You mentioned the night vision possibly opening up the shutter. I had to do a lot of trial and error tuning to get it working right for me. From what I can make out the shutter speed doesn't make any difference to day vision but at night it can affect picture quality. One thing I found using a video analysis app was that the FPS in default settings mode fell back from 25FPS to around 8FPS at night when I checked it. I started messing with the shutter speed and found that if you reduce the shutter speed you can get the FPS back up to around 16FPS which helps reduce motion blur and clarity. However, you have to play with some of the other settings because reducing the shutter reduces the light coming into the camera and can increase the noise which is evident by the grainy images.

I was looking at using an external light source but haven't got round to it. If you do go that way please share your experience as I think this is the way to go in some situations. Hopefully the spiders that cause me problems hanging out on the camera will be attracted to the secondary source.

Cheers.

Bob

Love the video. Thanks for sharing.