Amcrest Fisheye POE Camera, 360° Panoramic 5-Megapixel POE IP Camera, Fish Eye Security Indoor Camera, 33ft Nightvision, Cloud, NVR and MicroSD Recording, IP5M-F1180EW (White)

Packaging: Packaging was sufficient. The camera was well protected. The package looked small for a $200 camera but there was no excess packaging. I appreciate the smaller packaging as it leaves a smaller environmental footprint. Instructions: The instruction manual lists 5 different ways with several different apps to connect to this camera. It also provides a comparison of the different apps on the first page to help users select which method works best. Personally I did my own research online as well, as I wanted a free option (Amcrest View Pro) vs the paid option (Amcrest Cloud). The View Pro is free despite the "Pro" in the name. On the Amcrest View Pro app, the instruction manual asked me to set up a P2P connection. However, I deviated from these instructions and chose the IP connection which I configured on my home router. This is naturally a little more involved but still relatively straightforward for anyone that is remotely familiar with IP addressing and how Wi-Fi works. Bottom line, the instructions are a guide intended for someone who is relatively tech-savvy. If you are not familiar at all with how IP cameras work or the term "Internet Protocol" frightens you, then hire a professional to set this up or be prepared to spend a few hours on your own to figure it out. Functionality: The camera must be connected to an Ethernet cable (and power, if you do not have Power Over Ethernet (PoE) through your cable). That is the biggest hindrance - and this is not unexpected. If you want a camera that does not need a wired connection, Amcrest offers other options including a PTZ camera for example that is completely wireless and only requires power. This camera covers a larger area and is intended for permanent, hardwired installation. As far as storage goes, the free option stores footage in an onboard microSD card slot, which is accessible through the Amcrest View Pro app. You can view historical footage saved on the card through the app. Note that this is less secure if anything were to happen to the physical camera (theft/ fire/ damage). Also, if you want to remove the microSD card the camera will need to be physically accessible (which also makes it accessible to thieves). If you do not have a card in the camera, the app only displays the Live View. The solution to this is to subscribe to the Amcrest Cloud service. Amcrest Cloud requires a subscription but saves data to Amcrest's servers that can be viewed later. I stuck with the free option. There is also another option which I did not explore but is to save the footage to your own NVR server. Amcrest sells its own NVR solution, albeit poorly rated, but it should work with all the features of this camera. Of course Amcrest Cloud is the most secure, since your NVR server will need to be on-prem. The night vision on this camera is good, but a lot of times if the room was even remotely dim the night vision would stay on. Small point, the camera view in the View Pro app on the iPad was horizontally stretched when the iPad was in a vertical configuration. I had to turn the iPad horizontally for the camera view to show up properly in the round configuration. The app experience offers a lot of features. This was definitely designed by engineers for engineers, and in my opinion this is generally a hallmark of all of Amcrest's products. Lots of features but potentially not as user friendly. The desktop browser experience connecting to the camera directly through the IP was perfect. Full features, good view, password protected. Customer service: Amcrest customer experience is legendary. They immediately provided me with a power cable when my router did not offer PoE. They are extremely responsive to email. They are always asking for feedback. Now - whether that translates into new products or features is debatable, as many of their apps have poor reviews but have not been improved in a timely fashion by Amcrest developers. Overall experience: As a tech-savvy engineer with relatively limited expectations, I approve this product. It does what it says it does and offers many different options to connect and save footage. If you are considering this product vs a competitor, make sure the competition has similar megapixel resolution and can save the footage to the cloud or to an on prem server. Bonus points for the Amcrest app which is accessible on my iPad or iPhone any time of day. Potential improvements: As mentioned above the night vision can be improved to turn off if it becomes bright enough in the room. Right now the night vision stays on if the room is even remotely dim. It would also be great if the Amcrest View Pro app could display the video image properly when the device is in a vertical configuration. I empathize with the developers and Amcrest on the difficulties of marketing an IP camera. It is challenging to write instructions that will work for both the layman and the tech-savvy user. Perhaps an online manual would help with options of "I don't know what I am doing" and "I am a tech professional" with corresponding instructions for each.

This is a review of the Amcrest Fisheye POE Camera and it was reviewed against Wyze Cams, Ubiquiti Unifi Security Cameras, and 4k Amcrest outdoor camera. Things to note: This is an *indoor only* camera. It is ONVIF compatible which means it is compatible with your software DVR (including Synology, BlueIris, and more). It is a 5mp lens with a 1/2.7in sensor. It supports up to 25 frames per second and H.265 video compression (smaller file sizes). It has a MicroSD card for local back up in case something happens to your DVR storage. The Lens is 1.4mm Compared to other cameras, this is wonderful to have as it solves the need for 4 cameras to watch a room. I saw some other comments at problems de-warping the image but I used my own software DVR on Windows 10 and haven't run into issues. The videos are high quality, and the image color is good. If you need extremely high resolution videos looking at a specific area (say the cashier register) you may need a 4k camera with a narrower field of view. That will provide you with a more detailed image. However, this camera provides a great overview of what is going on in general. This camera is also significantly cheaper than other 360 degree view camera options. I would recommend this for the general area of a restaurant, a coffee shop, or how I use it: In the garage and the hallway. I don't see any specific shortcomings with this camera!

You may have a couple of burning questions before you buy, just like I did: Yes, you CAN remove the Amcrest overlay (Channel, date/time, and Amcrest logo). Despite lots of newer Amcrest models straight up-not allowing it. Yes, it does render its own local IP, and can be visited from a browser like a website. In fact, the only way to remove the overlays is by doing just that. And I'd recommend only ever using the 192.168.50.XX for all settings and tweaking going forward, because Amcrest Pro View 1/2 are both just awful. It IS threaded on the bottom, 1/4"-20 thread, in the camera itself. You can use the included plastic bracket to snap it on, but it is threaded if you are doing a serious mount. The permanently attached pigtail has (if I remember) an analogue output via RCA, as well as supplementary power for if you are not POE (just regular ethernet), and that supplementary power can be fed via either 5.5mm standard barrel, or with a lead that is bare wire black/red. Yes, you CAN take cutters and cut off all of the other connectors on that pigtail so you are left with just POE. Cutting them off is not technically recommended, but I did it, and the functionality is just fine. I took that risk for you, and it paid off. Yes, it is BlueIris friendly. BlueIris will even dewarp the footage (not live dewarping, just when you view the clips). What I don't like is that it is white. Not just any white, but a glossy reflective LOOK AT ME sort of eye catcher. Makes sense for a deterrent outdoor camera, not for an indoor. I started lining it with felt tape, but then realized I was starting to block the IR bulbs that are hidden somewhere. Don't want to cover the mic port either. My use case is on a black ceiling covered in black acoustic panels. I want it to fade into the darkness, and you'll have to get creative if you want it to disappear. It isn't a hidden camera, just a camera that I don't want to be the first thing I look at. Best setup routine: Power and connect to network via ethernet Look at the client list in your router page and note the newest joined IP Add Camera / Search in BI that IP with 'admin' and 'admin'. Done. Log into the browser of it Amcrest forces you to change the password from 'admin' to something else, do it Change settings, strip the overlay, set to static IP Back to BlueIris, update the new password you had to put in Click the box in BI that says '360?' to Yes for dewarp clips automagically. Good camera, just wish it wasn't such an eyecatcher. Avoid Amcrest Apps if at all possible. Frustrating and pointless endeavor. Can't even rotate 90° in the Amcrest apps, only 180°. It is a little overpriced. I'd expect to pay $120 for this thing. I trust Amcrest (but not their apps), so I took a risk. I'd post a picture, but my living room is my home. You'd see literally everything. Looks like a big glass marble in-frame in BlueIris.

I got this camera for my basement. I am planning to upgrade and finish my basement and want to have cameras there to see everything. My basement is completely unfinished currently. My upstairs is not so I Can't run wires as easily up there as down in the basement. This is my first experience with a fisheye camera and I was really surprised. You get a really good view all around. When testing it and having it hang from the cieling I could see basically the whole basement. This worked great and has decent color. This camera also had alarm in and out cables and some other features I have yet to get into. I have to say the quality and looks of this camera were great for what they are. I would definitely recommend this camera for a whole room view. You still may need other cameras to get faces and better image quality. But this gives the whole room view to see whats going on. A couple bullet or dome cameras in Corners may also be necesarry depending on what you are looking to do. I don't have any Pictures at the moment as I have taken the camera down as I start work on the basement. hopefuly this only takes a month or so. If I rememeber I will post pictures once the basement is finished.

This camera was an easy install and does provide a good picture. The problem is that outside the mobile app (they have dozens), there is little to no support for de-warping. This could be a great camera if they offered more support on that functionality.