Foscam F18908W - works

[buellwinkle]

Finally got my Foscam (real deal, $90 shipped) working. For those that don't know this camera, it's available on ebay, there's clones so be careful and get the real deal.

The camera has the following features and these are my impressions -

- wifi (works well, not great, but good enough). Set it up with a fixed IP addres, then set up port forwarding on my router as well as ddns service to access it remotely. Nothing difficult, took maybe 30 minutes. No PC is need to make this camera work, it stands alone and with wifi, I can move it around at will.

- ir illuminators for night viewing (works OK, can overpower a very close subject or not light up a wide enough area but a nice feature in this price point)

- cheap lens, about 4mm - ended replacing with 2.1mm lens from DX that was sharper and covered a nice wide area

- ability to email jpg images on a video motion event. I use this feature to send me an email when it detects motion. False positives are pretty low. Theres' no option to specify how many pictures, just sends 6

- ability to ftp to remote site - have not used this feature with this camera

- ability to write video files - this is weird. Other cameras allow you define an SMB or CIF mount so you can write to a NAS or PC. This one only writes to a PC when you are connected via their built in web app. So if you connect remotely, and you start the live view app, motion events are sent to the PC running the app. They are well compressed. About a 10 second video used about 500K, compared to the Foscam clone, the same length video took 25MB.

- built in app - This is typical of most chinese cameras, they must all share the base set of code. It's realatively easy to navigate and works from Firefox or Safari or IE (most competitors only work with IE, frustrating when you have a Macbook).

- picture quality - color accuracy is not this camera's strong point. It's good enough for home or SOHO surveillance. Sharpness is medicore, even after you spend time focusing it. It's very soft around the edges, OK in the middle. The lens from DX did make it more sharper across a larger part of the frame.

- viewing live video remotely across the internet works. Frame rate is acceptable for it's intended purpose. There's quite a lag when using the PT controls, so you have to nudge them, wait to see what happened and make adjustments.

- support - actually pretty good. Understand that it's China, so don't expect a response until the next day. They sent me the latest firmware files that fixed some bugs I had and it works well now. The only thing I can't do is look at live video through my Blackberry. I have not asked them about it yet, so it may be doable.

I would recomend this for people that want an inexpensive home surveillence camera, are not afraid to spend a good half hour at least configuring everything. It's very impressive to friends and family to show them that you can have a camera 100 miles away, control it and view it from anywhere in the world and it's only $90.

Here's a screenshot of their app that I've accessed remotely -

[balexey]

Here is surveillance software that supports FOSCAM IP cameras:
http://eng.vkartinke.ru/

Features:

* It supports different types of WEB-cameras, IP cameras.
* Records as many cameras as you want.
* Records with motion detector or not.
* You can control many cameras simultaneously.
* Extract your records to flash drive.

[buellwinkle]

I hate software or any camera that requires it. That's why I like IP cameras that cam operator autonomously without being tethered to a PC and software and the Foscam fits that bill.

[jennytram]

Hi,
can you let me know where do you get the software as your image posting.
I really need to set up for all 4 my FosCams. Or anyone experts can help me.
Thankyou.

[buellwinkle]

The software on any of these IP cameras is built into the camera itself. You access Foscam from any browser, preferably IE, but works with Safari or Firefox. I believe the built in software will work with up to 8 cameras.

[Eighmy]

There is a program called Mobiscope that allows you to add the ip cams and view with the blackberry. I am on the trial now but will buy it after the trial is up.

Also I foind another program that doesn't require you to have the base program running on the PC. It is called total control (www.totalcontrolapp.com)

Both allow you to use the PTZ and easy to set up.

OK, let me ask you a question. With the Fosom, what is the base URL for the cam image?

I currently have like 7 regular cams, and want to embed these ip cams into my page. BUT I cannot get the base url to the stream. I am using Dydns and can get them to work on the 2 programs for the phone, but unable to get the stream address.

Hope you can help.

[jennytram]

With the FosCam, they get Mpeg4 Video streaming and jpeg pic.

I am using WebCam 7 Software to do webcam server, now I can view on iPhone and any PDA phone, Faster and Clearly.... Try it.

http://www.webcamxp.com/download.aspx

[Eighmy]

THANK YOU!

I have been using the webcamXP other version for years, but never tried the 7. It is compatable with the foscam. I am going to try this.

I was trying that mobiscope and it works awesome from the Blackberry! It has sound and everything, but not able to embed like the webcamXP.

Thanks for your help.

[vallesj]

I bought the foscam model that is not PTZ, but is for outdorrs. I think is the model FI8903W, but i am not sure because I supposed to receive a cam with 18 IR leds, and the one I received have 24. I can guess is the original, because I used an ebay seller that was on foscam verified seller, also the firmware is the latest that foscam have on their website.
Anyway, this is my first experience with an IP camera, and I am some how satisfy, because it has a good image, streaming, and night vision. However when I opt for the motion detection to send me pictures by e-mail, if the subject is moving, the image is fuzzy, they look like a ghost and the moving subject can not be identify correctly.

1.- Is this ghost/moving thing happening also with more expensive cameras?
2.- Is there something I can move on the setup to fix this issue?
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[Eighmy]

I just bought 2 of the PTZ and 1 of the wireless outdoor cams (it is like a pinkis color). Love the cams and finally got them all on with a bit of a learning experience.

My non PTZ has a super clear pic, but it stopped working wirelessly and I can not get it back on the network. But for what it was doing, I tried it inside and in pure darkness it looked like daylight. I may just buy another one and see if that works. BUt I didnt have any prob with a fuzzy pic.

[buellwinkle]

What happens with cheap cameras is they post very impressive low lux numbers, but to acheive this, they jus slow the shutter speed to something that's ridiculous, so anything moving is just a blur. All I can tell you is that it is what it is for a $100 camera. They try and make up with it with a lot of IR leds which works indoors, but still, they have long shutter speeds that cause the blur regardless.

If you are willing to go up to $1,600, I use Mobotox M12-SEC that have a day sensor and lens and a night sensor and lens. The b&w night sensor is very good at night, very sharp picture and pretty good with motion unless you are walking very fast but you can set the maximum shutter speed to minimize this.

I also have a cheaper camera, a Arecont AV3100DN. It uses a IR cut filter to switch from day to night mode, not as good as the Mobotix but fairly close. They have a "midnight mode" which is really cool at night if everyone would just stand perfectly still, hahaha.

[buellwinkle]

My Foscam died, so much for that. I'll see if I can bring it back to life, but I don't hold much hope. Maybe I can send it back to Shenzshen so they can bury it for me.

[buellwinkle]

Foscam is back alive. The problem was the aftermarket lens I got from DX. I like the lens, wider angle, sharper and better color saturation, but it's a different shape and that doesn't allow the camera to turn on, probably a sensor somewhere that senses the presense of a lens..

[vallesj]

I did have problems with my foscam cam to get it connected wireless.. It worked nice outside for more than 1 week, but suddently it stopped its connections to my router. I took it inside and it could connect on my desk wireless... so it is like the problem is on the wifi module of the camera that does not have good power to receive/transmit signals as before. I am annoying because this is an outdoor camera, and now I can not let it work as it was originally

[buellwinkle]

Yeah, I thought it was the lens, but it goes in an out. Time to make a contribution to the landfill. I picked up an Axis M1031-W to replace it. Not pan/tilt but gets the job done.