EmpireTech Surveillance & Security Cameras 4K Full-Color Ultra Low Light 8MP 1/1.2" CMOS Smart AI Turret IP Camera 1/1.2" CMOS,Built-in Mic,Motion Detection,PoE and ePoE,IPC-Color4K-T-S2 2.8mm-Black

While these are 4x the price of Amcrest, the jump in quality is worth it (yes i know they're all Dahua). Color picture at pitch-black night is great, the noise reduction seems to have been improved (wildlife isn't just a smear across the picture anymore), and the illuminator is as bright as a floodlight, if you use it. I use Frigate for NVR, POE from a central house rack, and a VLAN that disallows WAN - and greatly appreciate that this is fully closed-circuit setup without any kind of vendor/app lock-in. RTMP, onvif, and a great admin UI. While I can't justify having _all_ my cameras be this expensive, these are excellent for sides of the house or driveway that don't have exterior lights - because these act as exterior lights if you want, or can see perfectly well in total darkness.

Simply the best surveillance camera I’ve ever owned. The nighttime color footage is unmatched due to the large sensor. Everything plays well with Frigate and Scrypted NVR software, with tons of customization options for the video feeds, something I can’t say for my Tapo or Wyze cams. The tiew angle works for my location, but YMMV. Microphone quality is pretty good too. I can’t comment on two-way audio as I don’t use that, but it seems to be recognized by my software. Support from Empire Tech is notoriously good compared to competitors like Hik, Amcrest, Dahua, etc. Just get this one, it’s well worth the price premium if you need good night footage!

These cameras work great one year later...they have excellent light in dark areas with minimal light..I use them with a dahua nvr.. not very sharp when zooming in on things

I've been running a bunch of cheap 8mp cams with 1/2.7" sensors. Holy cow what an upgrade moving to 8mp with a 1/1.2" sensor! Night time performance with even just a little ambient light is amazing. I'm able to run a 1/100 shutter and still get a decent usable picture without cranking up the gain or IR lighting that attracts bugs. Daytime performance is mindblowing comparing to a cheaper cam. The bigger sensor gives you that much more data per pixel. You will want to run a higher bitrate than you would with a cheaper cam, just because there is so much more detail. They are a bit bigger than I'm used to so I had to 3d print some different junction boxes to hide the wiring.

We have install 7 of these so far. They provide good features at a reasonable price. I like the web UI. It is quick to move around in. There is a file that some anti virus software may flag as infected. It is a false positive. I have tested it in a sandbox to confirm I didn't install infected cameras. It's just bad design and implementation of the browser web plug in. The web plug in is not really needed. The color at night in low light is mind blowing. I hear "WOW it's so clear!" from people who's system I installed it on. Works great on Blue Iris. Configure it with 2 streams and it will have very little impact on the overhead of Blue Iris.

Use a good NVR or NVR software or you won't get the full affect of these cameras.

Andy, the vendor, is a great asset to those that prefer to take the time to set up a surveillance system. He provides updated software that the manufacturer is slow to release, if at all, to the public. He is active on a very popular IP Cam Talk forum. As far as this model camera, it's a great addition for night use and is especially effective if some indirect lighting sources are in the area the camera will be pointed. It does have onboard lighting available if one wants or needs to go that route. I placed this particular camera above two garage doors to watch over the driveway and street area and it's doing fantastic during the day and impressively at night. Love the fact that the camera is available in black and hope that a varifocal model comes out.

Product will have very limited support, on the user guide the link for firmware download does not work, that is the replacement of a failed camera I got, I am buying because I do not have any other option as I want the 4 cameras to be the same. I recomend any other camera instead that you can have the proper customer support.