Foscam FI8905W Outdoor Wireless/Wired IP Camera with 4mm Lens (50 Viewing Angle) 100ft Nightvision - Silver

Before I go on any further, basic wireless skills are required. The more familiar you are with setting up wireless networks, the easier it will be to set up camera . It took me about 10 minutes to set up this camera. Set up goes as following:1) Set up the base of the camera in the location that you desire, don't mount the camera until the very end. This is the set you make sure the camera has all proper requirement such as power,setting up the the base etc. Once the basic tool set up is completed, move to the next step.2) Bring the camera inside your home and put it near your wireless router. The closer they are, the easier it will be to plug things together. Plug in the ac adapter from the camera to the outlet and wait for the camera to be fully on. It Should take less than 30 second to first turn on.3)Once the camera is on, plug the Ethernet cable from the camera and plug in behind the wireless router into one of the empty slots. Most router have a total of 5 slots.4). Leave the cables connected . With the cables connected, go ahead and install the CD that is provided in the box. Follow the instructions until it installs the software that will help you identify the cameras IP address. Once the software is installed, a window will pop up with the IP address of the camera. Select it and double click it. A blue window will pop up through your internet browser. It will take you to the cameras set up options. The standard password to log in is "admin". The password field should be left blank.5) Once you enter the cameras password, you will be take into the set up menu, click on Device management. Once the full menu is displayed click on Wireless LAN Settings. Press the scan button to locate your home network, enter your password and select submit. The camera will reboot it self within 30 seconds once you have successfully entered your wireless network passwords. Once the camera reboots, feel free disconnect the Ethernet cable that links the camera to the router. The hardest part is now over. The minute you hit submit both your network and the password will be saved in your cameras memory. Feel free to disconnect all cables, including the ac adapter.6) Go set install the cameras in the mount, either outside or inside your home. The minute you plug the ac adapter, the camera will automatically register to the network. You will be able to view the camera through the software that you installed in the beginning(IP camera tool.)I will be uploading pictures of the menu later on to help avoid confusion.Its not as hard as it looks, all you need is a little patience. The user has the option to use other programs to view their IP cameras. I use iSpy. The basic program is free and very great. They have a paid version that includes more features such as viewing your cameras on your phone etc. The basic version is free and will do just fine for many.

I have one of these cameras attached to a tree outside of my house. Even the 6mm lens does seem slightly long if you plan on using it close up. This camera would seem better suited to be mounted on a second floor eave or set back from the area you wish to view. This would also help keep it vandal proof.The 8905 seems to have an excellent wifi chip built in. Using the stock antenna it can pick up numerous wifi networks that even my strategically placed router (with 9db antennas) is not able to see. I have never had a dropped signal and it works fine at the other end of the house.I have an older WRT54GS router running dd-wrt (an EXCELLENT firmware upgrade for Linsksys/Ciso & other routers) which handles the camera perfectly. The pnp opens up a port from the outside as needed and using the DDNS I can connect from a device outside my network with ease.I believe Foscam has begun using inhouse coders to generate firmware. The 8910 and 8905's use a very stable and functional firmware which they contract out. There have been issues with Foscam.com and Foscam.us having separate versions. This contracted firmware has all the features you will likely need. These include using an NTP (to set the camera's time), remote FTP (to save pictures remotely in case your camera walks off), and of course the ability to view live over the Internet. One small bug note, the NTP servers do not seem to handle Daylight savings time very well. You may have to either sync to PC (likely the time will wind up being way off within a day or two) or you can use the advance time by 60 minutes to correct this.The Foscam cameras allow you to create eight separate user logins with three levels of access. Visitors can sign in to the camera and watch whatever it is pointed at, operators, can sign in & watch while administrators can get in and alter settings remotely.The alarm settings are a bit on the primitive side. You have options to either trigger an alarm based on motion sensitivity. They have a setting for "motion compensation" but this doesn't seem to do too much. If you had the ability to pick parts of the screen to watch and ignore others, it would be far better. IE, if you are watching your driveway and the road behind it is in view, you might have to put up with false alarms every time a car drives down your street. You also have the ability to set alarms on your own time & day schedule.The setup was not too bad at all, being a guy I skipped the directions and plugged an Ethernet cable directly between the camera and my router. Once I found the camera's IP address I was able to connect to it. Foscam provides a utility to do this which would have saved me a few minutes time as I went to my router to see what IP it gave the camera. Using the Foscam "IP Camera Tool" it will bring up a list of camera's on your local network. Once you see your new camera you can merely double click on it and it will open a browser window to your camera. It will handle the port (defaults to the generic port 80) numbers for you. This way you can cut & paste your wifi password into the camera and then setup your security, change your passwords etc. and your good to go!I had to send my original 8905 back as it was stuck in day mode. Others have had these cameras stuck in the night mode all day. If it stays in the night mode, the colors will be mostly grey and the image will be partially washed out. If it is stuck in the day mode, you will not see anything at night. The camera uses a small relay which seems to stick sometimes. Sometimes you can get it functioning again by shining a bright light in it at night. If you hear the click-click, it will be functioning, if it is sticking, it will be silent or very muffled. Since I ordered mine on Amazon instead of directly through Foscam, I was able to get Amazon to replace it. Foscam seems aware of the issue, but since this is a hardware issue, there is very little that will likely change with firmware alone. This is why I held back one star on this review.All in all, a very good camera especially when you consider that some camera's with the same functions will cost many times what this little gem costs.