REVIEW – I have a few WiFi cameras but have a dead spot in my garage right where I wanted to put a camera so when Annke offered their Power over Ethernet (PoE) NightChroma NCPT500 indoor or outdoor security camera for review I decided to try it out.
What is it?
The Annke NightChroma NCPT500 is a pan and tilt dome style security camera that has 3K (3072 x 1728) resolution and can be Powered over Ethernet or with an optional 12V power adapter if your Ethernet is not power capable. You must store videos and pictures on a microSD card as no cloud storage is available.
What’s in the box?
- Annke NightChroma NCPT500 camera
- User manual
- Mounting screws, mounting template
- T10 Torx wrench
- Waterproof cable kit
Hardware specs
- Model: NightChroma NCPT500
- Max Resolution: 3072×1728@20fps
- Lens: [email protected] with 16:9 image scale
- Image Processor: 1/1.8” Progressive Scan CMOS
- Field of View: Horizontal 105.7°, vertical 57.3°, diagonal 124.9°
- Video bit rate: 32 Kbps to 8 Mbps
- Lighting: 2 LED’s, up to 30m
- Two way audio
- Protection level: IP66
- Storage: Local microSD up to 256GB, no cloud storage
- Dimension: 162 mm × 120 mm × 234.2 mm (6.4″ × 4.7″ × 9.2″)
- Weight: 780g (1.7lb)
Design and features
The Annke NightChroma NCPT500 has a dome style design that is capable of mounting to a wall or ceiling. The power and Ethernet input cable extends about 10 inches from the back. There are two supplemental LEDs below the 2.8mm/F1.0 lens for low light conditions.
If you rotate the camera down there is a panel that can be removed with the included T10 Torx wrench to reveal the hard reset button, microSD card slot, and a 4 pin connector that isn’t identified in the manual so I don’t know what it does.
Setup
The Annke Vision app will guide you through the setup and was pretty straightforward but connecting to the internet took some trial and error and may have been caused by a bad Ethernet cable so I can’t blame the camera or the app for sure.
I ended up taking the camera directly to my router and plugged in with a new cable then connected a 12V power adapter since my home is not set up for PoE. I believe you have to cycle the power after connecting the Ethernet cable first or it won’t recognize the connection and that may have been part of my issue as well.
I did finally get it connected and working so I was able to mount the Annke NightChroma NCPT500 in the garage with just one screw into a wall stud but if you need to attach to regular drywall the included drill template makes that easy. I plugged in the Ethernet then the power and it reconnected to my internet just fine.
Performance
There is no cloud storage with the Annke NightChroma NCPT500 so you can use the live view anytime without a microSD card however you will need one if you want to store video or pictures. You can click the record button anytime and when done that way I found it saves a copy to my phone. When the camera records detected motion on its own it only saves it to the local microSD card. You can take still pictures manually and then you can delete videos and pictures within the app as well.
With the pan and tilt feature, I planned on using it to also watch my 3D printer when it is printing in the garage. You can zoom in on the app so that will help me see if my prints go haywire and I can just check to see if they’re finished remotely so the pan and tilt is convenient for that. Below you can see the zoom levels starting with 1x, 2x, 4x, then 8x which is the max. Zoom level is displayed in the top left.
The Annke Vision app works fine but is a bit clunky. There are no labels for action buttons so you have to do a little experimenting to figure out what they do. System and camera settings can be buried in sub-settings and some features or settings just aren’t explained so some exploration was required there just to figure find the different options. If you click the three dots in the top right you can then find the settings where you can select the detection area and other settings.
I turned the supplemental LEDs off completely since I found the NightChroma full-color night vision was excellent with minimal ambient light coming in from outside through the garage windows. The 2.8mm/F1.0 lens has a wide enough aperture that I can see my entire garage but if I move it to my backyard at some point the 340° pan can cover a lot of ground. It can also tilt -5° to 105° so can look a little past straight down if needed.
The medium motion detection seemed a little sensitive where shifting light from outside would activate it. I set it to low which is supposed to only detect human-sized movement and have not had any false light triggers so far. One negative is there is no way to “snooze” notifications for just an hour or two. If I’m working in the garage I have to turn notifications off so I don’t constantly get notified then remember to turn them back on later. Maybe an app update can add that feature later.
Motion detected events are saved to the microSD and can be reviewed later and played back. You can also view a timeline and then select a specific time frame to download. The orange lines indicate where motion was detected so you can scan to whenever movement was detected.
I downloaded a clip of me panning and tilting to the limits in the app that you can watch below.
What I like
- Great picture and color quality at night
- Pan and tilt
What I’d change
- Motion snooze
- App is adequate but could use some refinement
Final thoughts
At $99.99 (currently there’s a $30 off instant coupon) on Amazon without an SD card, the Annke NightChroma NCPT500 has a great quality picture at night with very little ambient light and with pan and tilt capabilities for areas where you need wide coverage. If you have a PoE network already set up this could be a great addition to your security system. Annke has a ton of other camera options as well and will likely have something to suit your needs so definitely check out what they have to offer.
Price: $129.99
Where to buy: Amazon and Annke <- Use the Annke link to receive 20% off. Expires 7/31/2023.
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Annke.
