Foscam the best?

[ironeagleuk]

I was under the impression that of all the IP Tilt and Pan cams that FOSCam were the best, and that other tilt & pan IP cams were "clones" or "cheap copies" of Foscams

So finally I got round to buying one, to replace the Storage Options camera that I bought from Maplins, as I wanted to be able to turn off the IR feature due to reflections in the window.

I am quite shocked at the poor picture quality from the Foscam. It's no better than the DB Power camera I bought a couple of years ago for around £40...See this thread for the quality of the DB Power https://cumulus.hosiene.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=7788

As you can see from the option below, the image is blurred, and the greens of the bushes are pink.

The pictures below show the Maplins Storage Options cam on the left, and the Foscam on the right, capturing an image at the same time.

[Werk_AG]

...and the greens of the bushes are pink.

This is caused because your Foscam lens have a inbuilt IR filter.
If you don't want to use the IR features, you can try remove the filter yourself, normally is a small piece of redish glass placed on the lens side which faces the sensor.
Alternatively you can buy a new lens without IR filter.

[ironeagleuk]

Thanks for that info....grrrr...have had a go at taking it apart, but it's not easy, and I don't want to make it any worse. Have tried to prise the lense out, but it won't budge...managed to get the dial off around the lense, but that's about it

[AllyCat]

This is caused because your Foscam lens have a inbuilt IR filter.

Hi,

Are you sure that's the correct way around?

It's my understanding that silicon sensors are sensitive to both Visible and Infra Red light and thus it is necessary to fit an IR filter which removes the IR components that otherwise can upset the colour fidelity.

My guess is that Foscam (and others) have omitted the IR filter, either to give an IR "night vision" illumination capability, or just to save money. So you may be able to get an improvement by adding an IR (cut) filter to the front of the lens.

Cheers, Alan.

[mcrossley]

That doesn't sound quite right to me. Normally cameras have an IR blocking filter installed to get correct colour balance. Security cameras which work with IR illumination omit this filter, but the drawback is during the day things that reflect a lot of IR (such as foliage) will appear pink in colour shots, or abnormally bright in mono.

To fix the colour balance you need to add an IR blocking filter.

Edit: SNAP!

[ironeagleuk]

I see my error in purchase now.

The camera I bought doesn't have an " embedded IR-Cut filter", whereas other models do, which are about £15 more expensive.

My Storage Options camera does have the embedded IR-Cut filter.

If I had known what that actually mean to the picture quality, I wouldn't have ordered the wrong one

Building on the success of older models, the FI8910W distinguishes itself with an embedded IR-Cut filter providing enhanced picture and color quality

Source: http://foscam.co.uk/foscam-fi8910w-whit ... amera.html


Why have I not had this trouble with my webcam that points out the back?

[mcrossley]

Because webcam have IR cut filters installed. Us astronomers spend time removing those filters so we can use webcam as cheap planetary imaging cameras.

[Werk_AG]

AllyCat and Mcrosley, You are completely right .... The problem is caused by the lens does not have the IR filter.
I exposed the issue completely backwards.
I have a lot of surveilance cameras, but they have mecanical IR Cut Filters, so when I buy have to buy lenses without IR filter, then came my confusion ... My apologies.