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Technical Details
- Image Sensor: 1/4" Color CMOS Sensor
- Display Resolution: 640 x 480 Pixels(300k Pixels)
- Lens: f: 6mm, F: 1.2 (IR Lens)
- Mini. Illumination: 0.5Lux
- Lens Type: Glass Lens
Product Details
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Product Description
The Foscam FI8905 is a wireless or wired IP camera solution for outdoor use. It combines a high quality digital video camera with network connectivity and a powerful web server to bring clear video to your desktop or smartphone from anywhere on your local network or over the Internet. The high quality video image is transmitted with 30fps speed on the LAN/WAN by using MJPEG hardware compression technology. The image resultion is 640 x 480 (300k Pixels). The Foscam FI8905 camera is based on the TCP/IP standard. The control, management and maintenance of the camera is done simply by using your browser to remotely configure and upgrade the firmware. The Foscam FI8905W IP camera can reach up to 30 meters of visibility in absolute darkness with 60 infrared LED's.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
199 of 206 people found the following review helpful
By Eric Ripley
Amazon Verified Purchase
First off. I purchased one of these cameras to make sure it meet my needs before getting another and then finally 4 more. I have a total of 6 cameras protecting my property and am using the blueiris software to record and manage the cameras. It is the best software but this review is not for the software ,which is excellent, but for the camera.
Camera construction:
Robust. Perfect for outdoors. In fact all my cameras are outdoors but under overhanging eves. The shell is waterproof and cord out of the camera is waterproof as well.
Wiring the cameras:
These are wireless cameras but i will inform you that you will have to run a wire of some sort as these cameras will need wired power. so i went ahead and wired the cameras via ethernet as well since i had to run power. one suggestion is you can use what i did and run cat6 for the ethernet and POWER. that is if you are technically inclined. I used 4 wires for the ethernet (orange, orange white, green, green white) and the blue and blue white for power and the brown and brown white for ground. I physically cut the power cord that comes with the cameras in half and soldered one end to the ethernet cable extra wires and the other end. the cameras are really low wattage so you can easily get away with this. I ran 40 feet of cable this way and the cameras work fine.
Software on the cameras:
If you get a real foscam then the software built in to the cameras is very good and will do everything you want to do except record video stream. The cameras will do time delay snapshots but for advanced features such as stream captures etc i recommend blue iris software. Make sure you get real foscams as there are unofficial clones with a different interface.
The camera picture quality:
Here is where the camera is both a blessing and a curse. Curse first. The cameras during the daytime show everything as washed out. Grass is white and not green. Trees are a purple hue. But you can see and makeout everything fine. At night everything is of course white as well but the camera has extremely good night vision. The infrared LEDS are so good that if you switch out lenses to a smaller focal you will get a "hot spot" or "ghost ring" of overbright led power. there is a solution for this, see the next section on lenses. Blessing, the camera does night vision perfect and daytime good. what other camera for 100$ has this cameras abilities and build quality? Can you get a better quality camera for daytime..YES. This washed out look is inherent to any IR cameras as the way the infrared filters work. So a camera that doesnt have night vision will look very good during the day but dont let that fool you that this is an inferior camera. Do robbers come during the day? Some do i guess.
Lenses:
The 12mm lense is unusable for me. the quality of the lense is excellent but 12mm shows you a 10 foot by 10 foot area 100 feet down the block. Not good for home surveillance. But good for a radio tower or traffic camera.
You can use CCTV lenses. they just unscrew. lenses are cheap on amazon or ebay. Figure out the focal length you need using online calculator. Im using 1 8mm lense 2 6mm lenses, and 3 2.8mm lenses.
To avoid the ghosting from the overbright LEDs when using smaller lenses....use wax paper. yes the stuff you cook with. cut a ring out that fits over the leds and cut the center section out for the lense and install behind the glass. this filters the infrared, or blurs it if you will, and produces a good night vision without the hotspot.
Networking setup:
The camera is a nightmare. im a IT guy and hate to admit i had a bit of trouble with it. I have it using wired ethernet with wireless as a backup. Im using gmx for my email setup as that provider works with the foscam software for email. I have my cameras accessible over the internet. i suggest you get one camera, dont mount it and configure it in front of your computer and test to make sure its working on your network before mounting it. once you figure out how to network one of the cameras the others are a simple cut and paste and change a few settings such as IP address if you use a static like i did.
Summary:
Almost all the cameras shortcomings can be overcome. the cost of the camera is exceptional for what you get. the networking setup is where most people fail the camera or give it low reviews. its not really the fact that the camera is the problem. there is just alot of configuring to do...email alerts, ftp, web access, wired dhcp static or dynamic, wireless setup and security...etc.
These cameras are alot of bang for the buck. Dont regret my purchases 1%.
Camera construction:
Robust. Perfect for outdoors. In fact all my cameras are outdoors but under overhanging eves. The shell is waterproof and cord out of the camera is waterproof as well.
Wiring the cameras:
These are wireless cameras but i will inform you that you will have to run a wire of some sort as these cameras will need wired power. so i went ahead and wired the cameras via ethernet as well since i had to run power. one suggestion is you can use what i did and run cat6 for the ethernet and POWER. that is if you are technically inclined. I used 4 wires for the ethernet (orange, orange white, green, green white) and the blue and blue white for power and the brown and brown white for ground. I physically cut the power cord that comes with the cameras in half and soldered one end to the ethernet cable extra wires and the other end. the cameras are really low wattage so you can easily get away with this. I ran 40 feet of cable this way and the cameras work fine.
Software on the cameras:
If you get a real foscam then the software built in to the cameras is very good and will do everything you want to do except record video stream. The cameras will do time delay snapshots but for advanced features such as stream captures etc i recommend blue iris software. Make sure you get real foscams as there are unofficial clones with a different interface.
The camera picture quality:
Here is where the camera is both a blessing and a curse. Curse first. The cameras during the daytime show everything as washed out. Grass is white and not green. Trees are a purple hue. But you can see and makeout everything fine. At night everything is of course white as well but the camera has extremely good night vision. The infrared LEDS are so good that if you switch out lenses to a smaller focal you will get a "hot spot" or "ghost ring" of overbright led power. there is a solution for this, see the next section on lenses. Blessing, the camera does night vision perfect and daytime good. what other camera for 100$ has this cameras abilities and build quality? Can you get a better quality camera for daytime..YES. This washed out look is inherent to any IR cameras as the way the infrared filters work. So a camera that doesnt have night vision will look very good during the day but dont let that fool you that this is an inferior camera. Do robbers come during the day? Some do i guess.
Lenses:
The 12mm lense is unusable for me. the quality of the lense is excellent but 12mm shows you a 10 foot by 10 foot area 100 feet down the block. Not good for home surveillance. But good for a radio tower or traffic camera.
You can use CCTV lenses. they just unscrew. lenses are cheap on amazon or ebay. Figure out the focal length you need using online calculator. Im using 1 8mm lense 2 6mm lenses, and 3 2.8mm lenses.
To avoid the ghosting from the overbright LEDs when using smaller lenses....use wax paper. yes the stuff you cook with. cut a ring out that fits over the leds and cut the center section out for the lense and install behind the glass. this filters the infrared, or blurs it if you will, and produces a good night vision without the hotspot.
Networking setup:
The camera is a nightmare. im a IT guy and hate to admit i had a bit of trouble with it. I have it using wired ethernet with wireless as a backup. Im using gmx for my email setup as that provider works with the foscam software for email. I have my cameras accessible over the internet. i suggest you get one camera, dont mount it and configure it in front of your computer and test to make sure its working on your network before mounting it. once you figure out how to network one of the cameras the others are a simple cut and paste and change a few settings such as IP address if you use a static like i did.
Summary:
Almost all the cameras shortcomings can be overcome. the cost of the camera is exceptional for what you get. the networking setup is where most people fail the camera or give it low reviews. its not really the fact that the camera is the problem. there is just alot of configuring to do...email alerts, ftp, web access, wired dhcp static or dynamic, wireless setup and security...etc.
These cameras are alot of bang for the buck. Dont regret my purchases 1%.
166 of 176 people found the following review helpful
By Mokona
Amazon Verified Purchase
|
Length:
2:51
Mins
(for this video review, the USB webcam is on the Left and the Foscam is on the right)
I have had this camera for a few months now, early on, I noticed that there was no auto gain or exposure. (it somewhat has it but there is a but that keeps it from working, (if you change the modes, eg from outdoor mode to 50Hz mode then back to auto mode, the auto gain kicks in for about 5 seconds then stops working)
I have contacted the company and they said they are working on a firmware update to fix this issue. then upon checking on forums, users basically said forget waiting on a firmware update as they have been saying that for over 3 years now and have never released an update for this issue.
For a rundown on the issues of this camera:
1, Lens is not IR corrected so you will get a black and white image outdoors when ever sunlight is present. (color is fine indoors)
2, No autogain or exposure. This means when ever there is a slight change in the light levels outside, your camera image will either become completely white (overexposed) or black (underexposed), this means you have to constantly monitor it and manually adjust the exposure by switching modes (the software controls for brightness and contrast are post processing so they do not work when the image is over or under exposed)
3, Email notifications use very old standards so most modern email services will not support it. (I had to create an email at gmx.com in order to get email notifications working)
4, While the camera is advertised as 15FPS, even in a bright day, I have never gotten over 8FPS and at night, the framerate drops to 2-3 FPS (the firmware does not allow for adjusting the sensor sensitivity so the way it increases exposure is by lowering the shutter speed.
5, The bolt around the antenna jack was not tightened properly, most users who reported failures, had them because water got into the bolt around the antenna jack when the camera was place outdoors. To fix this, you need to double check that all screws nuts and bolts are tight and if any are loose, then tighten them.
6, While the camera advertises multiple users but it is software crippled to make this an avoidable experience for users. It seems that the company has plans or are already releasing a higher end line of camera that will have more or less the same hardware, so these cameras are software crippled. By this I mean, if more than 1 user connects to the camera, the framerate is reduced by about 75% regardless of if that user is actually requesting data (if you have any DOS tools that can create a pending connection then you connect to the video stream with it but not actually use any bandwidth, the famerate drops.
7, The camera uses a CMOS sensor instead of a CCD, this causes a video problem known as rolling shutter. this means moving objects will appear stretched or slanted as the image is updated by rows instead of all at once like in a CCD
If you have a computer near where you want to monitor, I recommend getting an old webcam and taping it to the window, you will get better picture quality and a higher FPS since even the cheapest webcams have auto gain and exposure which actually prioritize motion so the frame rate is not reduced until max sensor sensitivity is reached.
8, The stock 12mm lens is crap, it is only useful for long range (well over 100 feet (beyond the range of the IR LED's, I had to get a 4mm lens for mine It also did not have a IR cut filter as the ones with them cost 3 times as much, and I only had $4 left in my paypal.
9, The camera has really bad dynamic range, meaning if you are monitoring a location where there if anything that can be considered a shadow, it shows up almost completely black, and if you aim the camera to the shadow then do the mode switch trick to get it exposed, then the non shadow areas are completely white. The camera lacks the ability to average the exposure to handle both the shadow and highlight.
Pros:
1, The camera allows for you to connect it over WiFi or Ethernet, so it can be mounted almost anywhere there's a power outlet near by.
2, It works great for bring mounted at a front door to monitor for package deliveries (this has fixed the problem I had where amazon would use USPS to deliver packages and USPS will just leave the package outside, and those people who walk around sticking those ads on your door will help them self to any packages laying by the door. (I lost a few books and electronics this way)
Additional notes
Cameras with IR light will not work behind a window if you plan to use the IR lights (the glass of the window will reflect the light back at the camera and you will get a completely white image).
I have had this camera for a few months now, early on, I noticed that there was no auto gain or exposure. (it somewhat has it but there is a but that keeps it from working, (if you change the modes, eg from outdoor mode to 50Hz mode then back to auto mode, the auto gain kicks in for about 5 seconds then stops working)
I have contacted the company and they said they are working on a firmware update to fix this issue. then upon checking on forums, users basically said forget waiting on a firmware update as they have been saying that for over 3 years now and have never released an update for this issue.
For a rundown on the issues of this camera:
1, Lens is not IR corrected so you will get a black and white image outdoors when ever sunlight is present. (color is fine indoors)
2, No autogain or exposure. This means when ever there is a slight change in the light levels outside, your camera image will either become completely white (overexposed) or black (underexposed), this means you have to constantly monitor it and manually adjust the exposure by switching modes (the software controls for brightness and contrast are post processing so they do not work when the image is over or under exposed)
3, Email notifications use very old standards so most modern email services will not support it. (I had to create an email at gmx.com in order to get email notifications working)
4, While the camera is advertised as 15FPS, even in a bright day, I have never gotten over 8FPS and at night, the framerate drops to 2-3 FPS (the firmware does not allow for adjusting the sensor sensitivity so the way it increases exposure is by lowering the shutter speed.
5, The bolt around the antenna jack was not tightened properly, most users who reported failures, had them because water got into the bolt around the antenna jack when the camera was place outdoors. To fix this, you need to double check that all screws nuts and bolts are tight and if any are loose, then tighten them.
6, While the camera advertises multiple users but it is software crippled to make this an avoidable experience for users. It seems that the company has plans or are already releasing a higher end line of camera that will have more or less the same hardware, so these cameras are software crippled. By this I mean, if more than 1 user connects to the camera, the framerate is reduced by about 75% regardless of if that user is actually requesting data (if you have any DOS tools that can create a pending connection then you connect to the video stream with it but not actually use any bandwidth, the famerate drops.
7, The camera uses a CMOS sensor instead of a CCD, this causes a video problem known as rolling shutter. this means moving objects will appear stretched or slanted as the image is updated by rows instead of all at once like in a CCD
If you have a computer near where you want to monitor, I recommend getting an old webcam and taping it to the window, you will get better picture quality and a higher FPS since even the cheapest webcams have auto gain and exposure which actually prioritize motion so the frame rate is not reduced until max sensor sensitivity is reached.
8, The stock 12mm lens is crap, it is only useful for long range (well over 100 feet (beyond the range of the IR LED's, I had to get a 4mm lens for mine It also did not have a IR cut filter as the ones with them cost 3 times as much, and I only had $4 left in my paypal.
9, The camera has really bad dynamic range, meaning if you are monitoring a location where there if anything that can be considered a shadow, it shows up almost completely black, and if you aim the camera to the shadow then do the mode switch trick to get it exposed, then the non shadow areas are completely white. The camera lacks the ability to average the exposure to handle both the shadow and highlight.
Pros:
1, The camera allows for you to connect it over WiFi or Ethernet, so it can be mounted almost anywhere there's a power outlet near by.
2, It works great for bring mounted at a front door to monitor for package deliveries (this has fixed the problem I had where amazon would use USPS to deliver packages and USPS will just leave the package outside, and those people who walk around sticking those ads on your door will help them self to any packages laying by the door. (I lost a few books and electronics this way)
Additional notes
Cameras with IR light will not work behind a window if you plan to use the IR lights (the glass of the window will reflect the light back at the camera and you will get a completely white image).
34 of 41 people found the following review helpful
By schmendrick
Amazon Verified Purchase
State of the art hardware as well as software.
Great pictures, long range with Auto-Infrared at night.
Although the English in the manual is not the best, you definitely will be able to set up the camera, IF YOU FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS STEP BY STEP.
Internet access gets more complicated for the average user, since one has to do "port-forwarding".
I recommend [...], click on your router and follow the steps. SHOULD be easy.
I also have the FI8918W Foscam FI8918W Wireless/Wired Pan & Tilt IP Camera with 8 Meter Night Vision and 3.6mm Lens (67° Viewing Angle) for indoors.
I installed IP Cam Viewer Lite ([...]) on my Sprint EVO 4G, easy setup; now I am able to monitor both cameras on my EVO.
In summary:
This camera as well as the FI8918W are highly recommended for the computer savvy. The average computer user should consider asking the neighbor's Computer Wiz Kid for help.
Great pictures, long range with Auto-Infrared at night.
Although the English in the manual is not the best, you definitely will be able to set up the camera, IF YOU FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS STEP BY STEP.
Internet access gets more complicated for the average user, since one has to do "port-forwarding".
I recommend [...], click on your router and follow the steps. SHOULD be easy.
I also have the FI8918W Foscam FI8918W Wireless/Wired Pan & Tilt IP Camera with 8 Meter Night Vision and 3.6mm Lens (67° Viewing Angle) for indoors.
I installed IP Cam Viewer Lite ([...]) on my Sprint EVO 4G, easy setup; now I am able to monitor both cameras on my EVO.
In summary:
This camera as well as the FI8918W are highly recommended for the computer savvy. The average computer user should consider asking the neighbor's Computer Wiz Kid for help.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
great fixed cam for the money
well built wireless security cam for fixed use.
Similar quality to other inexpensive Foscam models.
Multiple mounting options supplied on top and bottom.
Similar quality to other inexpensive Foscam models.
Multiple mounting options supplied on top and bottom.
Published 1 day ago by gene
4.0 out of 5 stars
Camera does a good job, functions well
I have one of these cameras attached to a tree outside of my house. Even the 6mm lens does seem slightly long if you plan on using it close up. Read more
Published 7 days ago by Michael Laferriere
4.0 out of 5 stars
A very good budget cam
Exactley as published.
Really good IR
pretty narrow view field at 23 deg.
I also have the 932L DCAM that is a better pic but not much IR range
Really good IR
pretty narrow view field at 23 deg.
I also have the 932L DCAM that is a better pic but not much IR range
Published 10 days ago by Woof
5.0 out of 5 stars
Foscam Best Buy, Best Product, Best Customer Service
I have 2 Webcams connected Wireless to my home IP Network. Both work excellently and when I have IP connectivity problems I call Customer Service and they are EXCELLENT.
Published 10 days ago by Joel R Klein
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good camera but viewing angle is limited
I purchased a variety of indoor/outdoor Foscam cameras for my home. The 8905W is a great camera for outdoor use with pretty decent night vision. Read more
Published 10 days ago by ECC444
5.0 out of 5 stars
Foscam FI9821w IP Cameras and Technical Support
I purchased FI9821w cameras from Foscam and used their Technical Support to help me get the cameras functioning correctly. Calvin was very helpful. Read more
Published 11 days ago by CT Maddox
4.0 out of 5 stars
FOSCAM SECURITY CAMERA
JUST GOT A FOSCAM SECURITY CAMERA IN AND IT WORKS PERFECTLY!!!! I LIKE HOW YOU CAN HOOK IT UP TO THE CAMERA AND VIEW IT FROM ANYWHERE!.. Read more
Published 11 days ago by MARYANNE MARKIEWICZ
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is a GREAT camera !!
I bought 2 of these for a project for my neighbor and I. I installed one pointing at his house across the street and then I installed one pointing at my house. Read more
Published 11 days ago by Brad Foster
5.0 out of 5 stars
technical support
I bought my second foscam camera from you.The camera is terrific and the technical support to install the camera was perfect. Felix was great and very helpful and professional. Read more
Published 11 days ago by brugby
1.0 out of 5 stars
Customer service is wonderful; cameras defective
Christina spent two hours with me working on how to get the camera up and running. The camera works with Internet Explorer, not so well with Firefox. Read more
Published 12 days ago by Chaplin
