Quick question, I’ve recently added 8 wyze cameras to my building. All are great and love the whole service, etc…
However, there’s a small non-Wyze related issue that I’m hoping Wyze has a way to solve. My building is near a corner of a very busy intersection. Without going into details, there is a person that essentially lives on that corner that constantly berates and almost attacks folks driving by. There are many aspects to this issue and all the proper authorities are engaged.
But the one big problem is that very few people contact the authorities when an incident happens. The camera that covers my back parking lot can see that corner, but it is over 200’ away and the quality at that range will not be enough to assist the authorities not if, but when an actual incident/assault takes place. I know I can zoom in on that video, but I can’t set a camera to stay zoomed in for a better quality video of that corner.
Unfortunately, you are talking about the difference between a ‘digitally’ zoomed picture and an ‘optically’ zoomed picture.
Take your phone’s camera for instance. You can digitally zoom in after recording the video, and the zoomed image will look terrible. You can zoom is while it is being recorded, and the only difference will be that you won’t be able to zoom out when watching it later. Both are a digital zoom, so it will look just as bad in the end.
Now pretend you have binoculars or a telescope. Those are optically zoomed devices, i.e. – lenses move to give you are sharp, clear zoomed-in view.
The Wyze camera is an inexpensive camera that does digitally zoomed views (spreads out the pixels, and guesses what should be in between). So whether you zoom before or after the recording, it still won’t be sharp and clear.
Now, I have an optically zoomed PTZ camera, but it cost over $2,000. Optically zoomed cameras aren’t cheap. That’s about your only option if you want a clear picture, other than trying to get a digitally zoomed camera much closer to the action.
Bonus for moving it closer: If they are lucid enough, a clearly-placed camera aimed at them from a nearby building my dissuade them from using that corner. And may capture audio if it doesn’t.
So basically, and under the category of “I figured “, it ain’t gonna happen.
Note to others that may read this and are deciding if Wyze is the way to go, let me say they absolutely are. There are just limitations on what the tech is capable of.
I appreciate the advice dudes. I’ll look at what other cameras are out there, but I doubt I’ll be able to afford the one I need for this job. And unfortunately, there’s no way to get closer, it’s all public parking lot and sidewalk between my place and that corner. But it was worth asking. Thanx again!
It’s false advertising and my attorney is looking into this issue. The box clearly says WYZE CAM PAN 1080p Pan, Tilt, and ZOOM WiFi Indoor Camera. Nothing about this camera zooms, that is strictly a function of the app and your tablet/phone!