ELP 1080P Night Vision USB Camera with Wide Angle Fisheye Lens for Computer 2mp Mini Infrared UVC Infrared Webcam USB2.0 High Speed 100fps Industrial PC Camera

If you are looking for a normal web cam for video conferencing / work / school this is not what you are looking for. This is a specialized camera with a very high quality image sensor, heavy duty case and IR emitters. I got this for use on a Raspberry PI computer vision project to detect cows, sheep and goats on my farm road (to send an alert if they get out) and ignore other animals that are around. The sensor resolution at 30 FPS is great, you have a very high level of control over all the camera settings and there is even a high speed (100 FSP) mode at 480P if your trying to do some "slow-mo" photography. This is the fisheye version, you get nearly 180 degrees of coverage with this camera so if you are planning on using it as a security camera it would be great for that. If you are trying to do facial recognition with this camera do not get the fish eye version as it will not be as effective because of the warping "bubble" effect you get with fish eye, but you will be able to see a good number of detailed features at 1080p resolution. This should be a plug and play camera for most operating systems, it is has a standard TWAIN interface that Apple, Windows, Android and Linux has support for. If you want to be able to adjust all the settings for the camera you have to have software that is capable of showing the advanced settings for the camera. Overall this is a very high quality camera for projects, be sure to check the lens type for the project you are working on.

I am working on a new enclosure for a 3D printer or two. I want to be able to connect a web cam to monitor progress. I thought having night vision capability would be helpful, so I got this one from ELP. It is small and black, smaller than a 2 inch cube, with a metallic housing. I will probably run this connected to a raspberry pi, but for now I tested it only on a Windows 10 machine using the standard Camera app. I did not install their Amcap testing software. My computer immediately recognized it and worked with it just fine. Well, once I realized it came with a lens cap and took that off. :) The manual shows a varifocal lens which is not part of this model. I don't know if that is a potential add-on or just part of a different version. This one doesn't have any variable focus capability. The lens is definitely a fisheye type lens, which should work for what I'm planning. It has a really long and thick cable (almost 10 feet) which is really helpful for my planned arrangement. It doesn't really have any kind of mounting bracket, only a threaded bottom. So, I will have to make some sort of holder for it. It makes an audible "click" when switching into and out of night vision mode. I'm not sure why, whether that's a physical switch inside the unit or just the IR LEDs turning on and off. Unfortunately when in NV, it tended to wash out anything that is close--it just created a white glow. I can't see any way so far to dial back the IR strength. Perhaps I can just lower the overall brightness through software. My plan has been to mount it to a 3D printer gantry so it can be close to the printer hot end. I am not sure how it's going to work to see details in the print, but hopefully it will be clear enough to see if something has gone wrong. One odd thing I noticed when the camera is in night vision mode is that it shows a flash of tiny dots around the field of view once every second. I presume it's using those for focus purposes. It's strange, but not too distracting. This could be useful for remote security monitoring. It wouldn't be ideal where you need high levels of detail, but good enough to keep an eye out for major activity happening. It is USB powered and not able to send signals otherwise, so it would have to be connected to some sort of computer or security system with USB capability. I'm going to work on mounting this on my 3D printer and seeing how it works. While it won't have amazing resolution in the dark, I think it will give me what I want for remote monitoring, which is what I'm after.

The quality of this camera image is pretty good. the fisheye lens is for sure a fisheye lens as if you are looking at something close up it looks like you're looking through a bubble. but if you're using it for objects or an area that are further away you really don't notice too much. the auto infrared is pretty loud when it clicks on and off so if it's anywhere near where you will be you are going to hear it. also if it's pointed at a area that the sensor has mixed feelings about it will turn on and off constantly which is rather annoying. and I'm sure if it does that often it won't last too long. I'm going to try and set this up with a Raspberry Pi as a camera for my 3D printers to watch while they are printing if needed. other than that you would have to have some kind of 3D printed enclosure as the infrared LEDs are exposed. you also don't get any kind of Mount it just has three holes in the bottom of the camera so I am not sure exactly what you would connect that to unless you get some kind of screws that would be self tapping into the three holes. this definitely has a very specific use case.

Currently using with VLC. At the highest resolution (1080p) at 30fps the motion is a bit choppy, but 720p at 60fps is smooth. It's a fish-eye lens, so you you will lose some resolution at the edges and after more than about 6-8 feet. You can still get the general idea around 20 feet away, but it will be harder to make out identifying details after 8 or so feet. Also using with an old powered USB cable. I don't know if it would work with a non-powered USB extension cable, but it's worth asking the seller if that will be your use case. As with most IR cameras, if you're shooting through a window in low light/after dark, the lights around the camera come on automatically and reflect in the glass, making it impossible to see anything but the lights. It confuses the automatic switching and it clicks back and forth, eventually stopping in night mode, but, as I said, through glass you're only seeing bright lights. It doesn't look like there is a way to control the lights - at least through VLC, and probably not at all. Having a way to defeat the IR lights or manually toggle them off and on would be an improvement. I'm going to eventually try to cover them up at see if I can get a night image; otherwise, at the moment, shooting through a window only works during the day. Overall, great little camera. Will update review if anything changes.

The item came Dead on Arrival. Never posted any video. Attempted to use several programs even went to the extent of using a capture card. It was registering voltage to the camera but never posted a return. I may have received a defective unit.