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One of my cameras looked in-focus during the day, but appeared to be out of focus at night. Basically you attach the mounting base ring to your surface, and then attach the camera base to the mounting ring using the included allen screws (an allen wrench is also included in the box). The camera has a zoom ring, and a focus ring. I remounted the camera using the base ring and believe me, installing the base ring first makes for a much easier installation.
I like the mounting system for this camera. I thought the camera was defective, but I found that making slight focus adjustments at night (while someone watches the monitor inside), gave me perfect focus in both daylight and nighttime conditions. First turn the zoom ring to get the zoom level you want, and then turn the focus ring to focus the image. Very solid and easy to install.
Second, don't give up on the focus. I went back and tweaked the focus on my other camera at night and saw a huge improvement in a camera that I thought was already in focus. The instructions in the box are not very good, so here's a few tips: Be sure to use the mounting ring that comes with the camera. The first camera I installed without the mounting ring (I just screwed the camera base to the surface) and I realized my error after the camera was installed.
So I needed a camera that would work at distances to around 200ft. So I built my own remote for this camera and permanently connected it to the camera. 5.0 out of 5 stars Professional quality hidden under the hood, March 2, 2008By HMMWV "(the real thing)"Reading his review I found that the camera had some hidden features. The selection of cameras in the mid range was very limited. One little down fall for this camera and probably the only reason I did not give it 5 stars is because If you focus the camera for daytime pictures then the night vision pictures will be a little fuzzy, or vice versa.
Again my email address is on my web page. The IR LED's are very bright if you look at my web page at night you can see how they light up the area. But in order to use these features you need to play with some wires. After ordering the camera I found a review for the camera I just bought that was incredibly helpful. At the time I bought this camera there were no reviews for it that I could find.
Another down fall was that the mount did not have a double knuckle so it was limited to up - down, OR left - right where a double knuckle would provide both up - down and left - right adjustments. There is a lot of snow on the ground which really lets you see the illumination circle. The camera gives really good daytime pictures, it has both a focus and a zoom control. I was very disappointed in the cheap cameras because I could not get one to fit my need. The noise reduction setting really helps remove the noise for much clearer night vision.
But with the zoom I was able to get close enough to what I wanted to look at. The wire for my web cam was too close to the fence, she found it and severed it. The zoom is really nice too. But it is amazing you can see the sky and full tree line in the background. The night vision is the best part of this camera to me. Well last year I decided get my own pet deer. You need that remote to make changes to this setting as well.
Two small improvements would really make this a great camera, 1 ship it with a remote and 2 add a double knuckle to the mount.Feel free to email me questions if you want. This camera was large and solid. My last camera was a little bullet camera about an inch in diameter. Due to where I had to mount the camera I was not able to move it and get the exact look I wanted.
I run a weather web page "http://roboweather.info" and I had a web cam for watching the weather and the wild life on this page. It was hard to find a camera that would work for the distances I was looking at. You can see my pet deer when she is out there but you have to look for her she blends in pretty good sometimes. I did not realize how obsessive deer can be. Finally I bit the bullet and bought this camera because the description matched what I was looking for. I live in the country and I have some deer feeders out so deer will come around and I wanted to be able to watch them when I was at work. I have the camera focused for daytime pictures.
My deer's kennel is 145 ft long and the feeder for the wild deer is on the outside of that. I did some searching and there were cheap cameras and expensive cameras. because I am not hosting my own web page, I do not have streaming video. When you go out you are in the dark if you look at the camera you will see the IR LED's illuminated red but they do nothing for you vision. So I put up a kennel where the web cam would also show me my pet deer. If your considering this camera I would suggest you look at my web page both day and night to see how it looks, and I would be prepared to get a hold of a remote.
Pictures are uploaded about every 2 minutes. You can find my email address on my web page listed above. I really like the camera and all the features. I think this is good because it will allow me to set different settings as the seasons changes. The camera is up and working on my web page now at http://roboweather.info where you can see both day and night pictures. I really wanted to get a night vision camera so I could see the wild deer that come around at night, right after installing the other camera, but I could not justify it since I had just installed this camera. I used the information provided in the review above and I actually emailed the reviewer and he was again very helpful. I have not found them on the web but you can make your own, and it will really enhance your experience with this camera.
I thought that this is a great time to upgrade. I could build a remote for you if you really want. I have a long cord so I can sit at my computer and look at the input from the camera and use the remote right there to configure it. I had to rule out the expensive because I simply could not afford them. I received the camera and found it to be quite a bit larger then I was expecting.
Calling Q-See's support line is hard to get to someone and when you do they usual don't know anything about it. There are many setting you can change from what the documentation shows, but doesn't tell you how to set them. This camera comes with Very little documentation. The picture is fuzzy, even after using the focus knob.
That stopped my DVR from making false recordings due to noise. It turns out this model has an undocumented noise reduction chip inside it (noise is a pain for DVR usage because it causes false triggers on the recorder). Want to watch your front yard from your back yard fence. In macro mode with the IR leds you can see the veins under the skin placing your hand in front of it.Second, the LEDs are the high end jumbo high output type and have a tight focus to shoot a long distance.
I'll be sure to get a side by side photo uploaded so you can see the difference.Comparing the 520 to the 550 is like comparing a nerf office football to a regulation NFL superbowl football. If anyone finds a remote for sale please let me know and I'll update the review. Out of the box it is set with reasonable factory defaults, but it is infinitely customizable to your exact monitoring needs.Other negatives. They are extremely bright. BUT if you want to go the distance, this model is meant for it out of the box.First, it inludes a high end 5-50 mm zoom lens (Yes, thats 10X zoom instead of 2x zoom on the 520 - I run my 520 at about 7mm zoom to see my backyard driveway).
You can even decide if you want a 540 line color image (factory default) at night or a 560 line black and white image at night (I opted to switch to B&W at night and get the extra 20 lines of resolution - I view it on a HD display's composite input so that extra resolution does not go to waste.This camera can go head to head with the high end pelco and sony fixed mount cameras and beat them with its powerful LED illuminator. Then I worked on the next most problematic issue for CCTV - HEADLIGHTS.Anyone working in surveilance knows that headlights are murder when you have a sensitve camera (like either of the 520 or 550 models) - the image blooms and you loose all detail due to the light. (now you need to see the side by side photos) - there's a reason for its size.The 520 has a 4-9 mm typical home cctv lens (about 2x zoom - decent wide area coverage) and the multiple normal leds illuminate a wide area to match the lens - thus it is evenly illuminated. The size of the optics is what made the camera so big. To counter this, you need to make a diffuser (anything from a ring made from a broken florescent light cover to a piece of wax paper) - put the ring around the leds and then they can be used up close (0-39 feet) without a hotspot in the middle.
This is its weakest point and its strongest point. It's called the backlight effect. Q-see doesn't sell a remote (which is just a PC keyboard cable with 4 switches at the end) but they do include a 10 page pamphlet telling you about the features and hinting about how you can make a remote control. Also they don't tell you what each pin does - trial and error is the only way to discover it. I settled on 5 stars because this is the "high end" camera series from q-see and you expect to pay more.
Q-see makes 2 versions of this camera - the qsb520SR Q-See QSB520SR Weatherproof Color High-Res Day/Night Camera Kit (540TVL) with 65-Feet Night Vision which is about $100 cheaper and only goes out 65 feet, and uses a smaller led with more of them.NOWHERE DOES Q-SEE nor amazon show the two cameras side by side. The camera features a.0006 lux rating w/o the leds, or 0 lux with them so it is a really sensitive combination (which needs to be tamed - more on that below)Third, the imager in this is definitely top of the line - it is using a 1/3" sony super had cctv imager with a beautiful day picture and tons of options for night viewing gain and control. When you get it, you'll find a ps-2 mouse mini-din connector like on the back of your PC along with the power and video out connectors. Finally, it's user configurable with an on screen display. Thanks.You are getting a $590 professional grade camera for $318 which is a good deal in my book.
And headlights no longer ruin the picture.In fact there are so many menus, I'll have to take photos of them and put them with the camera comparison because you just can't believe the features packed into the camera and lens system they used in this package.It's definitely a professional camera.NegativesOk - now that you know the undocumented surprise and why it's $100 more than the 520 which is a fine camera in and of itself - you can see that the 550 was meant for long distance surveilance. Once again I'm wavering 5 or 4 stars. Well there's another menu to setup how you want the camera to deal with backlighting. You will end up loving this camera after you spend a few hours customizing it even though it works fine out of the box. If all the hidden features were not there it would be 4 stars, but they put a 10 page manual with it to explain the customization options this unit has and it earns the 5 star rating.Let me say, PLEASE take a look at my photos (I will upload them after the review). The professional lens is a very nice surprise. The reason again is price.
This camera is for the do it yourself type of person. All the photos are scaled to the same size which hides the massive 550. This thing is a monster. I'd much rather pay 318 dollars for the camera w/o the remote and make one than pay another $100 for a remote I'm going to use once during setup and install then have to store it somewhere - so I can't fault q-see here at all - but I want to warn you that to take advantage of all those neat features you will have to hunt down a remote on the internet for this camera's clones or else cut a keyboard cable off an old machine and solder one up for yourself. You need 4 momentary switches and a cable off a ps/2 keyboard to build one yourself (or do what I did and just short the wires with a test lead - even a paperclip will work).
As it turns out you get alot more than you pay for so it got the 5 star rating. When it arrived I really felt I got a good deal -here's why.Without having both a 520 and 550 you dont realize this camera is HUGE. By shorting different pins to ground with my test lead, I was able to turn on the noise filter, and set it to HIGH (possible settings are HIGH, MED, LOW, OFF). But if you mount the camera in the back yard to watch the back door and adjust the lens to 5mm (widest angle) you're going to get a hot spot at night in the center where the LEDs are focused up close. If you need help email me (my address is in my profile) for a fast response. Assuming the shield was ground, I found 4 pins which were at a ttl high level (4.8 vdc) - when I grounded them to the shield I found that one pin was left, one was right, one was down, and one was select which allowed me to make my way through the maze of menus this camera offers during setup on the screen. You can program an on screen name, use its internal motion detector (no image except when there is motion), adjust the gain of the camera, adjust the lens control, and on and on and on.Now I'm happy about paying the extra 100 bucks. It is a little DIYish if you want to use all the features or use it up close - but the rewards in the image will justify the work.
Q-see doesn't tell you nor do they sell the remote control that plugs into the camera to let you configure it. Even if you don't you will still be satisfied with the factory defaults.Summary -Even considering the fact I had to make my own remote I still like the image this camera produces. I ordered this one (the 550) when the price dropped below $320 which was my threshold of pain. No problem. That houses the remote control wires which are completely undocumented except for the manual which tells you what they do but not which one does what function.I went to the computer store and bought a male to male ps/2 6-pin extension for $5 and put one end into the camera and held the other in my hand, then grabbed the voltmeter. I still recommend the 520 if your camera is close to where you are trying to watch (0-39 feet lets say). We'll get to that next.
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