Camera for birdwatching

[frankred]

Hi,
Can anyone recommend a good camera for birdwatching? It would be a standalone camera and used to watch from a condo, so not necessarily massive distances.
This Dahua PTZ comes to mind. Dahua Mini Black Face PTZ (SD29204S-GN)

After selecting a camera, the standalone aspect may be challenging. My idea would be controlling it from a phone app or laptop on a browser, and then streaming on a TV via Tinycam and a Fire Stick.
This is for my mom's neighbor. I should learn more about their technical abilities soon.
Thanks,
John

 

[Kawboy12R]

Not enough zoom for open spaces, particularly from a height. Nice camera but not what I'd choose for birdwatching from more than maybe 50'. If they don't mind taking a moderate chance on a "cheap" birdwatching camera dying on them, try one of the Huisun 10x miniPTZs. They're available under $150 shipped with a max lens length of 51mm vs the 11mm of that Dahua. Very satisfying until they croak. I power mine via POE, but 12v is probably more reliable. If they've got a few dollars and want something nice that'll really last, look into one of the 2mp black face Dahuas. 20 or 30x will make them very happy. Verrry nice and reliable birdwatching cameras, but you're into about $600 at that point. 4mp would probably be nicer for security but overkill for watching birds on a 2mp 1080p TV.

 

[frankred]

Thanks for the suggestions! I will see which way they want to go with it.

 

[frankred]

I am going to help them setup a 20x Dahua. Tiny Cam Pro is listed in the Amazon App Store, so I am going to give a Fire TV a try.

 

[nayr]

might be worth the extra $200 to get the ultra-smart starlight model: 2016 Latest new 2MP 30x Starlight IR PTZ Network Camera Auto tracking SD59230U HNI,free DHL shipping-in Surveillance Cameras from Security & Protection on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

0.05 Lux vs 0.005 Lux; thats an order of magnitude better low light capabilities.. and auto tracking could be fun for a wildlife cam since they tend to track anything that moves.. wont be that big of a deal if it tracks wrong since its not security.

 

[Kawboy12R]

Sweet cam if they use it for stuff other than birdwatching.

 

[frankred]

I don't have any experience with auto tracking. However, I have read about it on here and it seems there are sometimes concerns about it being a gimmick. He mentioned his neighborhood is considering adding cameras on light poles that are at 180* 3-way intersections. Maybe a couple of 90* intersections. I did a little youtube research, does this video view represent what the 30x Dahua with auto tracking would offer? It looks like pretty tight fov to start with, but it seems to track car and foot traffic well. Maybe the 180* intersections could have occasional patrols setup during certain hours... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urz9Zwgh1o0

 

[nayr]

its a gimmick as in they dont work the way people imagine they do or even the way people want them too.. especially on cheaper cameras; here is a demo of dahua auto tracking which is better than most: Testing out a New BEAST

 

[frankred]

Funny, I didn't even consider that I found a video posted by a member here. Let alone 2 years old. I found that by searching youtube, not this site. Thanks for linking me back to the discussion thread. Pretty cool of @vector18 to have shared that and still leave it up! Not sure if this upgrade is something I should suggest to the birdwatcher (and potential neighborhood surveyor) or not.

 

[Tehnicni]

My homemade birdwatching project Connecting WiFi camera to Android without router

 

[dalepa]

I have a Dahua Mini Black Face PTZ (SD29204T-GN) 6 inches from the nest and 4x optical zoom. Gotta get close...