Looking for a setup to satisfy my wife's bird watching addiction

IggyCam

IggyCam

Getting the hang of it
Apr 18, 2024
17
51
Southeast Michigan
My wife bought some cheep bird feeder camera things a year or so ago , and she's become somewhat obsessed with it. She gets some decent pictures and video now and then and she's having fun however she's expressed interest in something better.

She's not all that tech savvy and it can be challenging to keep her from just buying something without her really understanding whether or not it's going to be a truly good setup. I'm a bit more tech savvy, but never tired to find a remote camera system that could capture photos and videos of wildlife in a high quality manner. I started looking into various WiFi cameras and such, eventually getting to the point where I noticed there are some security cameras with optical zoom and such. So, I started down this road of trying to see if maybe I should just buy a security camera system and add a camera or two to see what is possible. Now, any of you who are here already , know way more about this than I do, so I'm hoping to learn about things so I can potentially find a great solution for my wife's bird cam habbit.

I'm the type of guy, who would rather spend decent money to get a truly good solution, rather then trying to scrimp on funds and end up with gear that just doesn't really do as well as I want... having said that , funds aren't unlimited either. I was hoping to spend maybe $1000 or so, to get at least one really good camera and whatever it takes to record and/or view the photos/video from the camera. Ideally, with the ability to add cameras over time, maybe even doing some actual security footage unrelated to birds.

Anyway, I can already see, there's an overwhelming amount of information available , so I'm trying to find a good starting point.

Anyone who's gone down this road already , I'd be happy to hear your thoughts on such things.
 
:welcome:

You could set up a system for a lot less than your estimate budget of $1,000. Start by reading the cliff notes located in the wiki to get a basic familiarity of ip cameras. A Dahua (EmpireTech Rebrand) varifocal and Blue Iris Software would provide outstanding quality and results. This is assuming you have a modern PC for the Blue Iris Software. The added bonus is you can expand the system if you want.

Here is a solid starter system.

IPC-B54IR-Z4E-S3 $238

Blue Iris software from the IPCamtalk Store $63

TP Link POE Injector from Amazon about $20 (alternately you would but a POE Switch, $75ish for multiple cameras vs. one camera)

Since this is hardwired (you do not want wifi) you have to get the cable from the camera to the PC so think about this. I simply ran the cable into the house in my situation, drill a small 1/4" hole, all tacked down against trim with cable guides, looks very professional.

empiretech01.com

EmpireTech IPC-B54IR-Z4E-S3 1/1.8" CMOS 4MP WDR IR Built-in Mic AI Net

4-MP 1/1.8" CMOS image sensor, low luminance, and high definition image. Outputs max. 4MP (2688×1520) @25/30 fps. Built-in IR LED, and the max. illumination distance is 120 m. ROI, SVC, SMART H.264+/H.265+, AI H.264/H.265, encoding after filter, flexible coding, applicable to various bandwidth...
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Rob2020 said:
:welcome:

You could set up a system for a lot less than your estimate budget of $1,000. Start by reading the cliff notes located in the wiki to get a basic familiarity of ip cameras. A Dahua (EmpireTech Rebrand) varifocal and Blue Iris Software would provide outstanding quality and results. This is assuming you have a modern PC for the Blue Iris Software. The added bonus is you can expand the system if you want.

Here is a solid starter system.

IPC-B54IR-Z4E-S3 $238

Blue Iris software from the IPCamtalk Store $63

TP Link POE Injector from Amazon about $20 (alternately you would but a POE Switch, $75ish for multiple cameras vs. one camera)

Since this is hardwired (you do not want wifi) you have to get the cable from the camera to the PC so think about this. I simply ran the cable into the house in my situation, drill a small 1/4" hole, all tacked down against trim with cable guides, looks very professional.

empiretech01.com

EmpireTech IPC-B54IR-Z4E-S3 1/1.8" CMOS 4MP WDR IR Built-in Mic AI Net

4-MP 1/1.8" CMOS image sensor, low luminance, and high definition image. Outputs max. 4MP (2688×1520) @25/30 fps. Built-in IR LED, and the max. illumination distance is 120 m. ROI, SVC, SMART H.264+/H.265+, AI H.264/H.265, encoding after filter, flexible coding, applicable to various bandwidth...
empiretech01.com empiretech01.com
Click to expand...
Yeah, well when I first started looking, I was looking at an NVR for around $700 and a Camera for $300 , so that's where I came up with $1000. Obviously if I can do it cheaper that's all good.

I've been involved in computers and networking my entire adult life ( I mean like 38 years in my profession ), so I'm certainly capable of doing wiring and such, but thought if there was a WiFi solution I'd rather go with that if there was no major reason not to. However I certainly like the idea of powering the cameras with out batteries, so POE or some other wiring of cameras is not something I'm totally against either.

If I go with Blue Iris, then I'm likely going to need to buy a computer too, which if I can potentially use it as a network storage too that might be even more appealing , but would likely mean I need something a bit beyond a very basic computer, so I could potentially see eating up $700 or more on a computer alone. But then, maybe I'd be better off doing my storage long term storage on something separate .


Clearly I have more research to do before I start putting out any money.
 
Andy has refurb NVRs and cameras on his site quite often. They're good as new (most are actually still brand new) and carry the same? warranty. No reason to not save a few dollars.

Refurbished Products | EmpireTech

Refurbished products have been professionally serviced, verified, and certified for optimal quality while minimizing environmental damage. Buying refurbished is a cost-effective and ecologically responsible choice.
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Yeah, I'm able to get good focus with my 5842 much closer than what they're spec'ed at. Easy within 1' or so. That should be a good one for your purposes.
 
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Here's one from the IPC-5842
Mike A. said:
Yeah, I'm able to get good focus with my 5842 much closer than what they're spec'ed at. Easy within 1' or so. That should be a good one for your purposes.
Click to expand...
Absolutely. You can manually focus it on the glass that covers the lens/camera... and with some fiddling it will even auto focus at very short distances... these were taken 4" away from the 5842
This is what the full frame looked like ( zoomed in as far as it would go)
Screenshot 2024-04-26 120730.jpg
















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This is a crop of the eye area
Crop High 20240426_120553.jpg
and this is of the neck area.
Crop low 20240426_120553.jpg
 
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