4K USB Camera with Zoom Lens

One VERY portant thing about this camera. It is one of the very few that have an IR-Cut Infrared filter. I haven't found another C-Mount camera that specifically advertises this besides the Arducam module. Many MANY reviews of other cameras show people not understanding why they're seeing a red/purple fringe on everything. Most c-mount lenses and cameras are RGB+IR because they're designed for security applications, low light applications. This one will work really well as a webcam or fixed position camera for live streaming. I especially enjoy using it with the Arducam 2.8-12mm lens. The included lens is very distorted and has very heavy vignetting in the corners. This didn't bother me as I intended to buy better lenses anyway.

it's so bad it funny. The video is unusable due to the noise in the video, zoom has a fish-eye effect making anything at the corners distorted. in my, opinion it is barely 4k ignoring the fact it's unusable. they also recommend you buy "AMcap" to change your settings.

Pay close attention to the cable connection. It is keyed and can only be inserted one way. The key is not very robust and it will allow you to insert it backwards and damage the camera beyond repair! Other than that it’s a good product.

Windows 11 isn’t recognizing it and no drivers are available. On my Mac it was recognized immediately, but the video was dark and certainly not 4k sharp.

When zooming out, the lens image no longer covers the whole sensor, so at max wide angle you are left with large black corners in the image. Also there is significant fisheye distortion, that does not go away as you zoom in. Even at the far end of the zoom straight lines are still visibly round. I was also hoping for the larger sensor to be more light sensitive than my laptop webcam, but it turned out to have actually be less sensitive, requiering much longer gain / exposure times (resulting in noise and motion blur) to give the same brightness.

Quality and price

The good: - Very happy with the image sensor. Clear image, even lighting and coloration. - Lenses are clear with relatively smooth if fast operation - Excellent depth of field. The bad: - None of the corrective capabilities I usually take for granted with consumer, prosumer, or commercial grade equipment (image stabilization, autofocus, distortion correcting lenses). In that regard, it's reminiscent of cameras on the market 50 years ago, but it's what I should expect for $100 - Low focal length has significant barrel distortion with black corners. This can be ignored for security monitoring, corrected with software for recorded videos, but can be a limiting factor for live videoconferencing use. Overall recommendation: I've used both the 2-12, and 5-50mm lenses. the 2-12 mm lens's excellent depth of field makes it a better security camera and stage performance recorder (if you can get the camera close enough). The 5-50mm lens has little if any distortion but depth of field issues limit its use for recording stage performances or teleconferencing. I wish they had a middling option that moderated the shortcomings, or better yet an upgraded lens that added some of the missing functionality. - For personal teleconferencing, camera distance from 3-5' - For group teleconferencing, camera distance from 8-15' - security camera, 2-30', though not the best low light sensitivity

I can see it on VLC. I still can't figure out any Linux motion detection recording solutions. The camera works.