Argus PT 4MP BLACK VERSION - First Impressions

[pdownes2001_384636162646205]

Setting up the camera using my iPhone was reasonably simple. The only slight difficulty was getting the camera to read the QR code on my phone but I managed to do it eventually. That was more likely to have been caused by my old, shaking hands than anything else. (I'm 67!)

The next difficulty was wi-fi configuration. Several attempts and resets later, I suspected that the camera was being confused by my universal wi-fi repeater (TP-Link TL-WA901ND). I turned the repeater off and the link to my router was made successfully. Perhaps users should be advised to disable any repeaters during the setup process.

I am very familiar with Reolink's user-friendly interface and it presented no difficulty.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a new (to me) option; separate detection zones for Person, Vehicle and Others. 

That is an excellent and very practical function however, if the PTZ function had a user-defined 'Home Position' to which it returns on command, the detection zones would be more easily maintained.

Regarding the hardware, the camera is solid. Its high quality construction is hard to criticise however, the power switch cover has no lanyard and can easily be lost if dropped. That is my only criticism of the hardware.

I have not deployed the camera outdoors in a real-world surveillance position yet. I will be doing that in as many situations as I can invent, so please watch this space.

[Reolink Fiona]

@pdownes2001_384636162646205
Thank you for your detailed review！

When you install the camera to the positions, you can post any great pictures or videos like the installation of the camera, captures, time-lapse, and so on.

[pdownes2001_384636162646205]

Can you spot it?
This is its first deployment and I expect its captures will only be of a very mundane nature. You never know though.


And this is its field of view. Like I said. Boring stuff.
You never know though.
Such a shame that this camera does not support FTP. If it is stolen, the SD card will be gone with it.
It's just as well I have another camera covering the area which DOES send its files to my NAS drive via FTP.

[Reolink Fiona]

@pdownes2001_384636162646205 News: We will add the FTP function to the Argus PT 4MP in the future!

[pdownes2001_384636162646205]

@reolink-fiona
Excellent. It's a must-have for security cameras.

I lost a camera to a thief a few years ago who later confessed to throwing the camera away. He just wanted its SD card.

[Reolink Fiona]

@pdownes2001_384636162646205 Stay tuned with us to know the latest news for the new firmware!

[pdownes2001_384636162646205]

The camera has performed well so far but being strapped to a tree in the front garden was a bit too boring. Nothing of any significance happened.
Onto another location where I can test its performance and also connect the solar panel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25y93bfp-Js

A quick look at the Client app for Windows shows its status...


And its field of view ...



This should be a more taxing examination. The camera is more open to the English weather and is on a west-facing wall where it will encounter the best that the Atlantic can throw at it.

I wish it luck.

[pdownes2001_384636162646205]

So far so good but ... I've just had its first false event.
It was a PIR initiated event. Person detection is enabled but this event was not tagged as a person. (Vehicle detection is disabled.)

Its PIR sensitivity is 90.


Here's a link to the video file. I can't see anything moving.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ceOmD6e9ik

[Reolink Fiona]

@pdownes2001_384636162646205 Thank you for your video. You can also send me the video in clear mode via email.

[pdownes2001_384636162646205]

@reolink-fiona

I have found the cause of the false event. It was a real event caused by a neighbour's cat.

If you listen to the video carefully, at 02:00:15, there are some noises that I recognised as the sound of a cat jumping onto a storage box that I keep in the garden. It's just out of shot on the left.

To be sure, I checked the front door camera and, sure enough, the cat walked past on his way to our back garden just a few seconds before the Argus recorded its event.

It seems that the PIR field of view is wider than the lens field of view. A PIR event can be triggered but not captured on video if the event is outside the camera's field of view. That's not necessarily a bad thing if you think about it.

[pdownes2001_384636162646205]

A very useful feature of the Argus is the way it allows you to adjust the brightness of shaded areas. Many Reolink cameras have this feature and I think it is not praised enough. It can make a big difference.

Look at these two images. They show the difference between auto shadow brightness and manually adjusted.

Hats off to your tech guys & girls.

[pdownes2001_384636162646205]

Some local wildlife doing their morning exercises. That squirrel loves chasing blackbirds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DgzFXH6DR4

[Rob Vallone]

@pdownes2001_384636162646205 Cute!

[pdownes2001_384636162646205]

What did I say earlier about the English weather?

We've not had a drop of rain or even a light breeze since I secured the camera to a west-facing wall.

There is one thing you can predict about our weather, though. You can't predict it.

[Folly]

@pdownes2001_384636162646205 Can't predict the weather in the UK. lol

[faasio82_480971996033257]

@pdownes2001_384636162646205 : Sorry to interrupt your topic.
But i see your camera is black. All Reolink camera's are white.
Is this a special one?

[pdownes2001_384636162646205]

@faasio82_480971996033257

New product trial.

[faasio82_480971996033257]

This post is deleted!

[pdownes2001_384636162646205]

An issue for your tech people to consider...

At 03:15 this morning, a PIR motion event was triggered by a cat (bottom right next to the bench), however a push notification for 'Person Detected' was sent.

The video was tagged as motion but not person. (The siren is set only for 'Person' events and did not sound.)

It should not have created a push notification.

Settings:
Motion = 90
Person = 90
Vehicle = 0

@Reolink-Fiona : I've emailed the video to you.
It is also on YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8g0k7iff90U

[pdownes2001_384636162646205]

I rebooted the camera. That darned cat has returned a few times but no false Person Detected events have happened since the reboot.

Maybe there was some glitch that was resolved by rebooting the camera.

I will let you know if it happens again.

By the way, there is no option for a scheduled auto-reboot in the firmware. That's an easy fix, I'm sure.

[Reolink Fiona]

@pdownes2001_384636162646205 Thank you for your video and your update. I have given this video to our tech to check. For the battery camera, it doesn't have the auto-reboot function now.

[pdownes2001_384636162646205]

I really like this camera. So far, it has performed very well.
To be honest, it wouldn't have been my camera of choice but I am very pleased that I was given the chance to try it. Knowing what I know now, I would happily recommend it to anyone considering a purchase.

Here is a recent capture. One of our local squirrels has had a litter of kits and here are two of them chasing each other around the garden this morning. Cuteness overload.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwCjrLwTL-w

[pdownes2001_384636162646205]

I have just found a serious omission in Alarm Settings / Detection Zones / Others.

The controls that enable zones to be defined are missing from the 'Others' screen.

They are present in the 'Persons' and 'Vehicles' screens.

Please see the image below.

Without the controls, zones cannot be created for 'Others'.

[Reolink Fiona]

@pdownes2001_384636162646205 Because the camera uses the PIR to detect any motions. The PIR sensor (passive infrared sensor) detects changes in the amount of infrared radiation impinging upon it, which varies depending on the temperature and surface characteristics of the objects in front of the sensor. So the detection zone can just set for all.

After PIR detection, the algorithm will recognize the person/vehicle. This can realize the partial detection zone settings.

[pdownes2001_384636162646205]

@reolink-fiona

Understood. Thanks.