Today, we are going to review the Zencam which I mentioned and you saw on my last video. This camera is actually under the Amcrest brand and it says that is powered by Amcrest. Amcrest has been in the security camera business for a while selling full NVR systems to wifi cameras and I really don’t know why the different name instead of just labeling it Amcrest.
So, this is model E2B and is a 1080p indoor Wifi camera.
It has a 115° FOV, full HD recording at 15 fps.
It has 2 way audio.
It has night vision up to 32 feet.
It doesn’t advertise how many Infrared LEDs it has but it has only 1 LED, I’ll tell you right now though, you have to see the night vision footage first before judging it because it will surprise you.
It stores footage locally using a micro SD card which supports up to 64 GB of storage. You can also have an optional cloud storage with subscription if you want.
It also has push notification for motion detection.
So, let’s open up the box…
We have the camera itself which already has an integrated base.
It has the speaker on the right side and the mic on the lower left.
Lens and infrared and light sensor in the front.
At the back we have the reset button.
On the bottom here we have the micro SD card slot and the micro USB slot for power supply.
The camera is connected to the base and pivots for adjustment using a ball joint socket type of mount.
So, what else is inside the box, we have a pretty short and sweet start up guide. Which basically says, download the app, setup the camera following the prompts and you should be good to go.
Then, we have the power adapter.
We have the mounting plate for wall or ceiling install
We have the mounting screws
and the micro USB cable which is around 6 feet in length
Time to set it up..
First download the app from the app store or google play.
Cick allow to notifications.
Then register, if you haven’s signed up yet.
Click the plus sign to add the camera.
Click ok.
Then scan the QR code at the back of the camera to add the camera to the app.
Click continue.
Click connect.
Type in the WiFi network and the password that you are going to use.
Then make sure the camera is plugged in.
Type in the device password which the default for now is admin. You will change this later.
Change your timezone.
Then click next..
and now you need to change the device password for security.
Click save.
You can then change the name of the camera if you want.
You will then see the live view footage from the camera if properly setup.
Let’s now check out the settings but we will put in the micro SD card first.
On the main screen we have the mic icon for two way talk, mute/unmute to listen, a pan/tilt which is not used in this camera, then a full screen option.
You can then swipe left to show the other settings.
We have quality..standard or high definition.
Then, we have the snapshot to take a screen shot and record to record the current footage.
On fullscreen, the menu will superimpose at the bottom.
Now, here at the bottom of the main screen, you will see that it is in live view…then there is an option for cloud recording if you subscribe to their service. They have the 7 day recording storage for motion events for 5 dollars a month, 14 day for 8 bucks and a 30 day for 13 dollars a month.
Then there is the micro SD card storage which you will see the current date and the timeline of motion events. There is a calandar where you can choose the date of the footage you are checking out.
It will default to the first recording after 12 am, so you need to scroll to the right for the time and you can also pinch out to expand the timeline and you will be able to pin point the exact second of the recording that you are trying to find. Grayed out areas means that there is a footage that has been recorded.
You will notice that the recording starts before the motion is detected and also will continue to record about a minute after the motion stops.
On the upper right corner is the gear icon for the settings of the camera.
Where there is the motion detection options like turning it on or off…scheduling, sensitivity, set regions or zones so that you can customize the areas that you want to monitor as to motion detection and clear off the areas that has a lot of movement that will cause false alarms.
You can also set if you want motion detection snapshots and email notifications.
Then, we have push notifications which is basically turning the motion detection on or off and alerts will be sent to your phone.
Then, we have the storage status where we have the cloud which I haven’t subscribed.
Then, device storage you will see the status of your micro SD card.
You can also format and delete all your recordings.
Cloud storage security if you need to change the password that you setup to access the cloud recordings if you have subscribed.
Then, we have time zone and sharing if you want to share the camera with family or friends. Just type in their email and they need to register for an account with zencam.
We have firmware updates the wifi settings.
Now here are the video settings.
In the bottom of the screen, you will have options to change HD or SD just like on the main screen…
Then, we can adjust the brightness, contrast, hue and the saturation of the camera. This is a good option because depending on where you are going to install this and how the ambient lighting is, you have an option to adjust these settings so that you can get the best possible picture quality from the camera.
Now, we are going to test the 2 way audio.
The audio from the camera is way too low to hear. You need to be very close to it just to be able to listen.
Now, we are going to test the alert notification speed. BTW, I like that Zencam also placed a toggle switch to turn on or off the motion detection in the main screen.
That’s pretty quick…the alerts are almost instantaneous.
I did several tests and the zencam’s cool off time is pretty short around a minute and it is ready to send an alert again.
With a little tweaking of color and brightness, this is now how I setup my Zencam. Thanks Amcrest for sending me this Wifi camera for review. My only complaint is that you could barely hear from the speaker on the camera. This is with the speaker setting set as loud as it can. Also, there is no setting for the camera to record 24/7. The Wyze Cam and the Yi which is in the same category of this camera has this option
. This can be updated by Zencam via firmware updates though..so hopefully they will be working on that. The good thing about this camera is the video quality. I like that you can adjust the color and brightness. As to night vision, it is way up there. It brigthens up the room with it’s 1 LED infrared.
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