Amcrest Dual-Lens 4K (8MP) Outdoor Security POE Camera, 2 x 4MP Lenses PoE AI Bullet IP Camera, 65ft Night Color, Face Detection, Panoramic 180° FOV, 4K@15fps IP8M-DLB2998EW-AI (White)

The packaging for this camera is perfect for the size and weight of the camera. I’ve found the packaging of all the Amcrest cameras I have purchased to be designed to securely support the camera preventing any damage during shipping. None of my purchases have ever been damaged or dead-on-arrival. I found the package from the original Amcrest camera I purchase in January of 2017. It was an IP2M-841 ProHD 1080P Pan/Tilt camera, that I am still using today. The packaging on it was a bit bulkier than the cameras I have purchased since then. I feel like Amcrest has simplified the packaging, while maintaining its effectiveness. The graphics and details on the package are excellent in covering the features and specifications of the camera. The included quick start guide had several more pages than what I am accustomed to with other Amcrest cameras. That is due to the multiple screenshots of the Amcrest View Pro 2 app, as well as covering the multiple setup procedures, depending on the network interface being used. I’m pretty tech savvy myself, but the thorough coverage of setup and installation of this camera covered in the quick start should allow anyone to easily download the app and setup the camera. I also appreciated the physical installation methods listed at the back of the setup guide. You direct the customer to the web site, where a video can guide them through the physical installation of the style of camera purchased, which in this case, was a bullet camera.This was my first experience with the new ViewPro2 iOS application. This was also the first camera where I needed to go through an initialization procedure prior to configuration. I already had the Amcrest IP config tool installed and was familiar with it from prior use. Following the quick start guide procedure, initialization of the camera was simple and straightforward. I then followed the POE setup procedure, and the camera was up and online quickly. The look and feel of the new ViewPro2 is fantastic. I had primarily been using the Amcrest SmartHome app with most of my other cameras, but after installing ViewPro2 and adding the panoramic camera, I went ahead and completed the search and added all my other Amcrest cameras to the new ViewPro2. I found the new interface much more friendly to navigate than the original ViewPro app. Adding additional cameras is simple and the app provides access to the features of various models. Once other feature of the Dual Lens Panoramic camera I really like is the ability to use a web interface. Some of my other Amcrest cameras provide a web interface, in addition to an application. I find the web interface to be extremely useful for configuration, as well as offering an alternative way to access the camera. For example, while at work, I can quickly pull up the web browser on my desktop computer and check in on any of the cameras that have a web interface.As for the physical installation of the camera, where feasible, I have found the use of rubber coated magnets to be a terrific way to securely mount the camera, whenever the installation location is metal. The magnets I am referring to are high powered magnets, rubber coated to prevent marring of the metal surface, and they include threaded studs and nuts to secure the magnets onto the mounting holes of the camera body. The magnets I use can easily support 30 or more pounds of weight and make placement and relocation, if desired, simple. I have a metal unattached garage that I have used these magnets for some of my installations and they’ve worked well. These magnets would be a great additional offering for Amcrest to include on the web site as an alternative way for camera mounting. I really like the latest look and feel of the web interface to the panoramic camera. After clicking the ‘Home’ button at the top left, the menu utilizing icons for option selection looks great.Now to discuss the panoramic camera itself. This is by far the most feature rich of the Amcrest cameras that I own. It seems I just keep finding features around every corner of the interface. This is only the second camera I have that utilizes POE. I also own a IP5M-B1276EW-AI. My initial setup of the camera was having it connected to a Cisco Catalyst 3550 switch. But my planned installation was on the outside of a metal unattached garage. I purchased an Amcrest 6 port POE switch for that garage to connect the camera. The simplicity of POE and utilizing a single connection for power and data has me thinking I will utilize other POE Amcrest options in the future. I initially tested with the iOS Amcrest ViewPro2 app but utilized the web interface for most of my evaluation testing. The panoramic view from the camera is remarkable. The camera view provides an enormous view from the outside of my unattached garage looking toward the house. After configuring some of the standard features, such as time format, time zone, email settings, camera overlay, etc., I began looking at some of the detection features, some of which were certainly new to me. I always enable motion detection, particularly with outdoor cameras. I enabled both the human and motor vehicle smart motion detection options. They both worked perfectly. The security options are amazing with this camera. I’m familiar with PTZ functionality but had never experienced electronic PTZ. I enabled EPTZ and selected one of the display modes. Great option to enable PTZ functionality without having to manually move the view around like traditional PTZ. I also enabled Auto Track and as the interface mentioned on the screen, I also needed to enable tripwire or intrusion in IVS, which I also did. I had my wife walking around in view of the camera and she was tracked. Back to IVS and the other AI options. I tested each of the AI options. I created both a tripwire and intrusion rule. I enabled both the motor vehicle and human targets. Both were picked up when they crossed the drawn borders. The smart object detection worked perfectly as well. I created a missing object rule and removed a box from with the drawn boarder. The alert was generated for the missing item. In testing the Face Detection, I had to allow the smart motion detection to be disabled, which I did. I also enabled the face statistics to show the count on the screen. I much preferred the AI face detection to the smart object detection for human detection. For each of the AI options, I chose to include an email. Anytime I have the option, I choose to get an email for whatever the notification is. I also enabled the test email to be sent every 24 hours.ConclusionThis camera has an amazing selection of options. It seems I find something I missed each time I go back through each of the web interface options. This will become my primary security camera installed on the outside of my unattached garage and facing the home.

Functionality:This looks to be a brand-new UI introduced with this camera so it took a little time to get use to. It was only by accident one time that I found the ‘maintain’ options while scrolling the wheel.In order to take full advantage of the features of this camera, Microsoft edge is required. I could not get the EPTZ (more later) to work correctly without the edge browser. It also required the download of a plugin. Neither of which I am a fan of unfortunately.Along the top of the new UI there are some quick icons which was nice for some of the settings. I do like that anytime you click on one of the options from ‘home’ it will essentially open a new ‘tab’ so that you can quickly change between different settings.Customer Service: None needed, official website documentation was sufficient.Overall experience:• This is a very heavy-duty camera that looks and feels it.• Connected to my network quickly and joined my BlueIris server.• Easily added an SD cardNew UI:This looks to be a new UI for Amcrest cameras so it took me a little more time to get familiar with it but overall functions, I feel it’s a bit better than the previous versions.Image:• Is absolutely beautiful. It doesn’t feel like it as stretched as you would think to me. I did originally wonder if there would be two different images or just one big one which it is indeed the latter.• Ensuring you have the splicing level in the camera settings set right makes these two images seem like one giant one which is just awesome to see. Since we have this set 20ft high on a pole, it took a bit of adjusting but in the end, looks like a seamless image.Night Vision:• The night vision kicks on and looks great when needed. I can see plenty far with it and utilizing two lenses, it doesn’t really look or feel as though there are two different light sources. The splicing does a really good job.• I will always look to get cameras that have the spotlight feature. Ever since it was changed to being able to select ‘always on’ during motion, I have loved this feature. Having that additional light powered by POE is incredible to me. While it’s not a super bright light, it is just enough during the night when I am walking out there to light up my path. Both lights come on when triggered perfectly.Audio:• The audio works really well both in and out.• While it is a little difficult to hear, that is solely due to the height placement. You can still somewhat hear it though even from the ground.Siren:• This feels like it is an upgraded siren which is much louder and appreciated.• In addition, the camera has some built in ‘voice notifications’ that are really neat. Where I have this camera placed, it is a bit hard to hear them clearly but being that it’s a voice, when motion is triggered has been really great at getting attention.• You can also upload your own tones which has been actually fun trying out different sounds.Playback:• Playback seems to be similar to the older UI with some welcome simplifications. Having separate tabs has been helpful.• Having the snapshots on a separate tab helps when just looking for images.AI:• The built in AI seems to work quite well once set up. It does take some initial configuring but that is expected.• I do wish that when drawing the trip/intrusion lines, you could make the live feed larger. Trying to add lines on such a tiny image is a bit difficult and easy to mess up often.Additional Info/Questions I had:How does it look in Blue Iris. Because this image is 4096x1856 when brought into BI, It will be wider than other cameras you might have. It takes some adjusting in BI but you can make it look decent enough. This camera sees 180 degree which can pretty much take the place of 2 other cameras which really is awesome to see.The EPTZ settings (from what I have seen) do not come across, those look to be specific to that camera. If you want to view the EPTZ (or picture in picture as I call it) live, you will need to dial straight into the camera. While this feature is different from what I have seen before, I just don’t find it very useful. It is a little confusing at first to understand what is happening and then once you get it configured, it just feels like there are too many places to look on an already large image.Since it is 2 lenses are there 2 different feeds? Nope, a single feed that once configured correctly, looks amazing with very minimal ‘rounding’ at the edges that you see in panoramic images.The MSRP seems like a fair price seeing as how you essentially get 2 cameras in one.I really do like this camera and may look at replacing a few of my current ones with more of these since they will cover more area with less cameras. For a location that is squarer, you might even be able to get away with only 4 of these and cover each direction quite well.