Amcrest UltraHD 4K (8MP) IP PoE AI Camera, 49ft Nightcolor, Security Outdoor Turret Camera, Built-in Microphone, Human Detection, Active Deterrent, 129° FOV, 4K@15fps IP8M-2779EW-AI (White)

I purchased two of these cameras so far, and have been extremely happy with the quality of the product as well as the video and images that they produce. The initial setup was fairly easy, with the most difficult part being to install the SD card into the camera. You have to physically disassemble the camera to install the SD card. It wasn't a difficult process for me; but for some, I could see that being a challenge. That being said, I feel this is a much better system for SD cards than other cameras that I looked at prior to buying these. All the other cameras made the SD card easy to get to and install; however, the downside of that is that it also would be easy for someone else will ill intentions to get access to and remove it as well.Once the SD card is installed, the remainder of the setup process goes very quickly. I recommend doing a "test setup" prior to actually mounting the cameras in their desired locations. I ran a short network cable from my switch to the camera, and it immediately booted up with no problems. The next step was to setup up the app, and associate your camera(s) with your account in the app. This is the only hiccup I had in the setup process.. You actually use the camera on your phone to scan a QR code on the camera to perform this process.. My confusion was that after reading the instructions, I thought the bar code on the exterior of the box is what needed to be scanned. There is actually a QR code on the cable attached to the camera that needs to be scanned in order to add the camera to the app.. After a few minutes to figure this out, the remainder was very easy to complete. The app asks a few other basic setup questions(name of camera, etc) and then you are fairly quickly viewing live video from the camera. While the app is rich in features and adjustments that can be made to the camera setting to finetune the image, I ultimately decided to go with the setup as it was out of the box. Somewhat because I was a little afraid that I would make it worse if I started messing with the settings, but, mainly because the picture and video quality are awesome as they were. In addition to the app, the cameras can also be viewed and adjusted on the computer. This process was also painless and straight forward.Installation in their final position was pretty simple. You just need to find a way to get an ethernet cable from the camera to your NVR and or POE network switch. It's really just that simple. I had a professional install mine just because I wanted the backyard camera mounted on my back fence, and I didn't want to dig the trench to bury the cable to that camera. After they were both installed and re-connected, I just fine-tuned the direction that the camera was pointed, and they were ready for use.One more thing to think about prior to purchasing this camera. Where will you store your video / pictures. I personally, for now, am using the SD card in the camera. I installed a 128gb(the biggest they say the camera will support), and have it recording 24/7 and it holds about 2.5 days worth of video. Eventually, I will probably go to only recording motion events, but want to keep an eye on it for the first 30 days and just make sure it's capturing all events prior to switching. I will say, so far, it has performed above expectations in that area as well. But, if you didn't want to use the on board SD card, you can also use a FTP service, a NAS, or any number of cloud based services to store your video. Amcrest also offers a cloud option, which I believe you get a free trial of. However, I knew that long term I did not want to pay for a service so I opted not to even take advantage of the free trial, so I can't speak to the functionality of that.Overall, I would highly recommend the product. It's simple to setup and use.

I currently own several cameras, but I keep on transitioning away from cloud-based solutions in favor of locally controlled cameras, especially Amcrest cameras. The Amcrest camera's I have gotten have been great and this one continues to be great. The price on it for the features especially the NightColor and AI based features, plus the 4K is great. Honestly it is a great package, especially for the price.The build quality of the camera is solid and feels good. It is very sturdy to the touch with a metal like material for the exterior. This to me is important as the camera is to be located outside in weathering, so not feeling ‘plastically’ is a great pro. The only plastic I could tell is around the IR and white light, while the area around the actual camera lens feels like glass.I appreciate that the wrench to open the camera is included this is especially useful to be able to add the microSD card for the camera. It was also a nice touch to open it up and see a nice rubber gourmet to help keep that area try and avoid future issues within the microSD slot.Once the camera was connected via POE it was able to grab an IP from my camera network. I was then able to find the camera via the app and get it setup easily. I appreciated that the camera enforced changing the password from the default ‘admin’, this is a great security feature. Amcrest could go further to enforce a different username as well, but I am happy to see IoT manufacturers slowly moving away from admin/admin!My first item to do was to make sure I had the latest firmware on the camera. There is an option to do an Online Upgrade, which is unchecked by default. I think for many people this is an option that should be checked off so that the camera is on a safe firmware. Personally, I give limited network access to my camers, so I have to do it manually. One item of improvement would be to include the model number in the upgrade or system tabs. I had to come back to my Amazon purchase to get the exact model number to find the firmware to download. It seems like a simple field that could be added to the web interface to make the life of the end user better. After the firmware update, I did another reset of the camera. This is HIGHLY recommended, so be sure to update the firmware before you do lots of changes/settings on the camera.With that said, I was impressed by the picture quality of the camera. The 4K looked good and the IR for the night vision did a great job! The spotlight on the camera was also a nice feature and gives the "NightColor" for the video. The bright light makes everything clearer!I do feel like it could be easier to activate some of the Smart Illumination features. Some of the settings do require a bit of digging around to activate so it's an area where a user guided process would make it more user friendly for the masses. Though overall it isn't to difficult to figure out where the items are, it's pretty logically set.Another interesting feature to me was the TripWire. The AI can help identify objects and it did a pretty good job.With everything said, I truly think this is a great camera especially for the price. I appreciate having the option to keep my recordings all locally stored.I recommend this for anyone that needs a camera with flexibility, great quality and a great price.