Inside the Swawn Vairfocal Dome from costco

[zikronix 0]

Here are the first pictures of the dome. I have a few more but they are blurry so I will retake them.

 

I hooked it up, I don't think it has the issues that the other domes have.

 

Quick info:

4inch dome

3 axis

sdcard (not sure if enabled in firmware havnt got that far)

has audio and alarm headers but no cables.

comes with a bnc cable for plugging in and adjusting.

manual focus and zoom

comes with both ends of weather proof connector

 

Concerns (maybe some one can clear this up)

IR performance compared to the vairfocal bullet, and mini bullet. It seems to have les IR emitters. perhaps they are more powerful?

Not sure if I want to mount these to stucco or under eve, If I go under eve I would like them level vs at an angle

Comes with some ring that I have no idea what is for (maybe some one can clear that up too.)

 

 

Pics

 

http://imgur.com/a/Rfqn5#0

[thmaxxer 0]

It looks like the placement of the LED's and foam ring (if that's what it is) are much better then previous models and definitely the old style Lorex. I'm anxious to see how performance is being a dome and fewer LED's then some others.

[zikronix 0]

The ring is foam. What I will end up doing is making sure I don't have any finger prints on the dome. Ill connect it to 100ft cable and go in my back yard after I shut the lights off and take some videos.

 

Like I said earlier. I like how it looks. I am worried about the amount of LEDs but maybe some one can comment on that. Ill compare it to the other varifocal bullet....maybe ill do all three.

 

maybe maxicon or buellwinkle can give me some quick pointers that I can do as a test that arnt overly complicated.

[buellwinkle 0]

Less IR LEDs doesn't always mean less light as they can be brighter, more powerful ones. Would be cool to see if the SD card works because it's built in playback feature works well on the mini-domes.

[JoeyJoey 0]

Great!

 

I get one of these this week too. They're huge!

[rayt 0]

i have a few geovision varifocal domes, they all have a similar led config, and when you compare them side to side with the mini domes/bullets, you will see that the varifocal models have brighter and stronger IR leds!

[zikronix 0]

Ok so here is some info from the dome and a few free handed night shots. More shots to come. Picture was taken at 100% pure defaults @ 2.1MP zoomed all the way out. This is as wide as the camera gets. I focused it the best I could, Ill have to do some more tweaking in the day light.

 

I turned on WDR was very noisy, then turned it off, I turned on smart IR didn't see any difference. Turned it off I didn't mess with a whole bunch of settings, cause I just didn't have the time.

 

It looks like the SD card slot can be used on the camera, I doubt it translates to the Swann NVR software.

 

Any way there will be more to come, Im pretty happy with how these things look, so I will probably proceed replacing all the mini bullets out side with these.

 

Firmware:

 

 

 

 

Default settings:

 

 

 

 

 

Night shot in pretty much pure darkness, its pretty noisy but I think this can be cleared up a lot by tweaking the camera.

[buellwinkle 0]

Seems typical of varifocal cameras where the IR LEDs don't cover well when set to the max wide angle setting. On the Hikivision, I find it best to set noise reduction to 100%, doesn't seem to be a penalty for doing so. WDR does add noise, but I find about 6-10% setting to be a good compromise for me.

[rayt 0]

Seems typical of varifocal cameras where the IR LEDs don't cover well when set to the max wide angle setting. On the Hikivision, I find it best to set noise reduction to 100%, doesn't seem to be a penalty for doing so. WDR does add noise, but I find about 6-10% setting to be a good compromise for me.

 

 

i was going to suggest the exact same thing, the 100% setting seems to work great on hikvision, really clears most images up. don't notice any penalties on my 6 cameras either. Great feature, should be turned on to 100% by default hah.

[zikronix 0]

I will do that and take some more night shots and more pics of the camera interface. It might be the weekend before I get day shots but I'm pretty stoked about these domes.

 

It makes me want to buy exaqvision or bi and build a box instead

[buellwinkle 0]

BI & Milestone works with Hikvision. Exacq is more particular since it can't do software based motion detect so if that model is not supported, it may not work.

[shockwave199 0]

I just don't think they have enough IR in there.

[zikronix 0]

I just don't think they have enough IR in there.

 

 

Im going to make some adjustments tonight. Remember I was holding this with my HAND, tonight ill set it on a box and do an image flip. Ill try to test the full size bullet it as well. Ill take a couple shots of the dome zoomed in and then soomed out. Like I said it will be a few days before I get to do day shots. Sorry guys.

[MaxIcon 0]

The settings that worked well for me on my Hik bullets:

 

WDR = 21

Noise reduction = 100

Contrast = 25

 

This lightened up the shadows in the daytime nicely without too much noise at night. The noise reduction softens the daytime shots a bit, but the trade-off for reducing the night noise is worth it to me.

 

The IR looks pretty strong - it lights up the far end of the yard pretty well, but it's a spotlight. Most cameras do this, as you get better distance specs with a spot beam instead of a flood. With a zoom, it's especially problematic, since good coverage zoomed out means a lot of wasted IR when zoomed in.

 

This could be fixed with optics (like a lens) for the IR that could zoom along with the camera lens, or LEDs that could be turned on and off for different area coverage. I don't know anyone doing either of these things in the value camera range.

[SB_Jim 1]

Hey Buell,

 

When you say those settings work well for you on the Hiks - is that therefore applicable to my Swanns (Hik)?

 

I see some mention of mini-domes... but is my understanding correct that Swann just offers one dome (standard, a.k.a. large), and not a mini-dome? It's Hik that makes the mini-dome?

 

Thx,

 

Jim

[buellwinkle 0]

Those are Maxicon settings. I use about 6-10% for WDR, kick contrast up slightly to 55 and I agree on the 100% noise reduction, all personal tastes. I showed the Hikvision bullet to someone I setup 3 Mobotix cams and they like the image quality better on the $169 Hikvision over the $1,500 Mobotix.

 

Swann mainly sold the mini and large bullets and large dome at Costco. Lorex sold the mini bullets and mini domes, but things change quickly with Costco. My daughter sells Hikvision mini domes and bullets. These are all manufactured by Hikvision and have the same quality as I've tested the Swann and the Hikvision, same thing expect the Swann & Lorex are fixed at 1080P and the Hikvision is 5MP.

 

The mini bullet and mini dome perform equally, so the choice which form factor works for you. The mini dome is 2-axis so I have not been able to make it work for me at different locations I've tried it at, but it's a great camera, more even IR lighting than the big dome. Dahua actually does a better job with it's illuminators on its varifocal cameras, but side by side, Hikvision has a better image than Dahua.

 

So if it was me, if I want a wide angle, I would just get the fixed lens versions, save some dough. If I needed to use about the middle and up of the focal range, the varifocal makes sense.

[JoeyJoey 0]

Is that the swann firmware or did you flash the hikvision version?

 

What does the sd card slot software settings do, used for what capabilities?

uSD or SD? size max limitations?

[SB_Jim 1]

Hey, thanks for the thorough & informative reply! I kind of wanted a couple of domes for their vandal resilliance, but the full sized one are a bit too big for my interests (Swann I'm talking). I'm still very happy w/ my bullets - which are a really nice size. I can't say I have a good application for the V/F bullet vs the standard bullet - and the V/F is a bit pricey. If I needed it, I'd buy it. Ultimately I think I'll buy at least a 7th cam, which when sold in pairs, would give me one spare. If / when Swann sells a mini-dome (3 axis) I might have to break down & buy one.

[zikronix 0]

Is that the swann firmware or did you flash the hikvision version?

 

What does the sd card slot software settings do, used for what capabilities?

uSD or SD? size max limitations?

 

 

It allows local recoding to the card, This was the swann firmware, I dont know size limits or anything. I havnt got a chance to do any more testing.

[thmaxxer 0]

 

 

It allows local recoding to the card

 

 

Do you know if it is still images or motion detection clips?

[rayt 0]

 

 

It allows local recoding to the card

 

 

Do you know if it is still images or motion detection clips?

 

the cameras can record clips, they have a lot of settings for you to play with, i have the swann bullet with sd card installed, not using the sd card, but i've seen the options

[MaxIcon 0]

Those are Maxicon settings. I use about 6-10% for WDR, kick contrast up slightly to 55 and I agree on the 100% noise reduction, all personal tastes. I showed the Hikvision bullet to someone I setup 3 Mobotix cams and they like the image quality better on the $169 Hikvision over the $1,500 Mobotix.

 

Yeah, the best bet for these is to spend some time fiddling with the settings, and take a snapshot of each combination. I always rename the file immediately to help me remember which one has which settings.

 

I'm systematic about these things, so I'll start at the defaults, then move various settings in jumps of 25, which gives you a good feel for how they affect the image overall. After that, I'll set one that I care about (WDR or whatever) at a new setting, and play with the others to see how they combine. WDR really increases the low-light noise, so a lower setting like Buellwinkle uses might be better if you don't have deep shadows in the day or need lower night noise more.

 

There's a ton of combinations, but you'll find that you can ignore some of them. Once you're done, go back and flip through all the captured images and it'll soon be clear which ones you prefer and which ones you need to test more and fine-tune. Be sure to post whatever you decide on!

[JoeyJoey 0]

I received this Swann dome camera yesterday, will install it this weekend.

It can be adjusted on all 3 axis, has a micro SD card slot.

Some of the wiring inside does block the screw holes, so it'll take a little careful adjusting to mount.

 

I got it for the fixed zoom in capability, as I didn't want to risk the purchase from China on getting a Hikvision different sized lens camera, beside the site Aliexpress not allowing people from Washington state to purchase anything, must be a reason there.

[zikronix 0]

I received this Swann dome camera yesterday, will install it this weekend.

It can be adjusted on all 3 axis, has a micro SD card slot.

Some of the wiring inside does block the screw holes, so it'll take a little careful adjusting to mount.

 

I got it for the fixed zoom in capability, as I didn't want to risk the purchase from China on getting a Hikvision different sized lens camera, beside the site Aliexpress not allowing people from Washington state to purchase anything, must be a reason there.

 

 

Perhaps you can take the pictues I cant. Ive been so busy, with work and life I dont even know when I can mount this thing

[JoeyJoey 0]

What kind of pictures do you want?

 

I tested it tonight, works just like all the other Hikvision cameras.

 

I used a 4GB uSD card in the camera as internal storage. This is the largest size I have available right now.

 

I successfully setup local motion control on the camera, stored the motion videos to the uSD card.

 

Motion control was also setup on the Lorex LNR280, independent motion detection control.

 

Even though it came with version 5.0 firmware, the max resolution is 1080p, maybe that's the max.

 

I like this for data redundancy.

Any questions, let me know.