Watching Grass Grow tests, reviews, & upgrades IP Camera
The Watching Grass Grow domain was registered on May 28th, 2005 and went
live sometime shortly after that. The whimsical website (yes, it broadcasts a live view of my ... uhhhh ... front lawn!) averages about 1/2 million unique IP visitors/year - more about it here.
The first camera was D-Link DCS-6620G wireless webcam (704x480 resolution!) that actually was mounted inside my
Master Bedroom ... looking out! In late/2011, it was upgraded to a Vivotek FD8362 dome (1920x1080 and much better IQ and low light capability) which was placed outside - see pics below. I maintained the 704x480 aspect ratio (cropped a 1408x960 image and then resized) for the website.
That webcam has worked pretty darn well for 7 years ... but it's time to upgrade to
newer technology and go HD on the website ... so I tested & reviewed
IP camera's for a replacement ... and ended up going with a
Hikvision DS-2CD5526G0-IZHS.
I switched over to test camera #5 on August 15th, 2018 and a 1280x720 images on the website.
There is a HUGE improvement in image quality and low light capability.
Maybe in a couple of years, I'll upgrade to 4K - or even 8K - so you can see individual blades of grass! ;-)
Neighbor's cat as seen on the new camera versus the 7+ year old camera
- fullres links for new and
old
Misc. Pictures of new webcam versus old webcam during the day
Removing the OLD Webcam and installing the NEW one!
Use the controls to play, step, pause, slow-down, and/or speed-up the animation.
Frame Rate
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First two camera's show up on July 3rd, 2018
I put a 4-port PoE injector outside for the cameras and just put them on a card table, propped up with rags so they have a decent field of view. Since these are evaluation units, I'm keeping them in good shape as they will go back when I'm done reviewing.
There clearly is no point in even bothering to compare images from the
7-year old camera to modern technology ... but lets compare
Camera "A" versus Camera "B" from two different vendors.
Both are top-of-the-line 3MP (2048x1536) domes with moderate zoom capability that have excellent low-light capability. I only modified a few default parameters.
On both cameras, I made the primary stream 1920x1080 so it is standard HD.
I disabled night mode (IR and the accompanying light) since I'd like to see colors and am
OK with the slowest shutter speed they allow me to set which was
1/5s on "A" and 1/3s on "B." Camera "A" was noticeably darker at night, so bumped the Automatic Gain Control to be somewhat close ... but that, of course,
introduces noise. I also
noticed that the white balance of "A" is a bit warmer than "B" ... so I ended
up just bumping the Saturation on "B" from 50 to 60 ... gotta make that
grass look green! ;-)
It's not possible to frame the camera's exactly, but the images
below (which should flip back-n-forth every two seconds), give you n way
to compare shots taken at almost exactly the same times. Note that these are
resized images - click on the fullres links to compare those.
Current 7+ year old Vivotek FD8362 at night -
- fullres links for color
& B&W
Camera A versus B just after the newspaper was dropped off
- fullres links for A
& B
& FD8362
Camera A versus B when I picked up the newspaper in the morning
- fullres links for A
& B
& FD8362
Camera A versus B in the late morning with shadows and traffic
- fullres links for A
& B
Camera A versus B as my son drives up in mid-afternoon
- fullres links for A
& B
& FD8362
Have returned Camera "A" and got two more cameras on July 21st ... plus have a couple of others coming in early August ... so stay tuned as MORE TO COME!!!
Image comparison while mowing the lawn
Links to images from
FD8362 -
camera
B -
C -
D
and videos from
FD8362 -
camera
B -
C -
D
camera
Use the controls to play, step, pause, slow-down, and/or speed-up the animation.
Frame Rate
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Image comparison at night - almost an hour after sunset
Use the controls to play, step, pause, slow-down, and/or speed-up the animation.
Frame Rate
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Camera "B" at different shutter speeds - more photons equals better image!
Links to images from
1/3s -
1/6s -
1/30s shutter speed
Use the controls to play, step, pause, slow-down, and/or speed-up the animation.
Frame Rate
... loading images ...
Fed Ex dropped off test camera "E" on August 10th as seen in this composite picture from Camera "B" I have high hopes for this one (especially in low light) ... so stay tuned! ;-)
From left to right, Camera's "B", "E", and "D" ready for testing!
Image comparison after midnight - check out Camera "E"! ;-)
