In the past few months, we’d been working hard to finesse our technique and craftsmanship, and finally, our 2nd Gen WiFi bird box camera was launched. Whether you are a casual birdwatcher or an experienced twitcher, this WiFi bird box camera is exactly what you need. It’s the upgraded version of the previous model but equipped with various advanced features and capabilities to bring the best-ever birdwatching experience to our customers. In this blog, we’ll list some of the new features of the 2nd Gen WiFi bird box camera.
New Features in 2nd Gen WiFi Bird Box Camera
Here, we’ve summarized the new features of the latest WiFi bird box camera.
1. IP66 Waterproof Casing
One of the most obvious improvements in the 2nd WiFi bird box camera is that it is highly waterproof. Although you can keep the bird box camera in a shelter or build a protective shell around it, it will eventually fail if it’s not rated for the outside. However, this waterproof bird box camera is designed with a rugged build that offers extra durability in a wide variety of settings, giving you peace of mind in outdoor applications and more flexibility on placement. You can place it inside or outside the bird box to record the birds from different perspectives. In addition, with a rugged casing that provides full protection against dust and water, this bird box camera can withstand extreme weather conditions outdoors. It can effectively prevent dust, snow, rain and other natural elements from entering the camera and damaging the internal components. Moreover, this WiFi bird box camera can function well all year long, during hot summers and freezing winters.
2. Higher Video Resolution
Compared with our 1st Gen WiFi bird box camera which only supports a definition of 1080p, the new model is greatly improved with an increasingly higher video resolution of up to 3 megapixels. The 2nd Gen WiFi bird box camera can record videos at higher resolutions as compared to a standard Full HD camera which is 1080p. Second, it displays more detail than the 1st Gen bird box camera, which can be easily seen in the storage sizes of the videos. It gives you the potential to zoom in to see more details like the speckles on the bird’s eggs without losing picture quality. Another appeal of getting more pixels is that the 2nd Gen bird box camera can capture objects either farther away or even up close at higher fidelity. It also helps balance the lighting in your videos, finessing highlights and shadows to provide properly exposed video and deliver true colors. What’s more, night vision can also be greatly enhanced to display clearer images in low-light conditions.
3. Wider Field of View
The 2nd Gen WiFi bird box camera is equipped with a 2.5mm lens to display a wider field of view in various directions, allowing for more of the scene and detail to be captured in the frame. It can keep the entire scene in focus regardless of distance. Compared with the 1st Gen WiFi bird box camera that features a viewing angle of 108° with a 2.8mm lens, this bird box camera is able to support a wider field of view of up to 120° to capture all the goings-on inside the box. And it also helps create a greater depth of field to provide an increased sense of dimension and depth, which makes it ideal for use in enclosed spaces like birdhouses. Besides, the wide-angle lens can also be of great help to improve the sharpness and texture of the image. What’s more, you can also manually adjust the lens to get the optimized focus.
4. Improved Audio Quality
Many bird calls have frequency ranges between 1000 Hz and 8000 Hz, which places them in the ‘sweet spot’ of human hearing. At the high end, many warblers, sparrows, and a variety of other birds produce sounds that reach 8,000 Hz and above. However, the microphone of your bird box camera, especially the internal one, will have a limited frequency response. And as we grow older, we all lose the ability to hear higher frequencies. That’s why we improved our microphone design for recording wildlife sounds. In comparison with our previous model, the 2nd Gen WiFi bird box camera has doubled the frequency response to 7,000 Hz (16,000 Hz max.) to deliver much higher quality audio, which enables you to hear all sound more lifelike and takes your birdwatching experience to a higher level.
5. Daytime LEDs
Lighting is crucial to create a successful image. To deliver the better image quality and add some natural lighting to your bird box in low-light conditions, the 2nd Gen WiFi bird box camera is equipped with daytime LEDs which are fully controllable via the app. They can be scheduled to run in specific periods or manually turned on/off when needed. Since the daytime LEDs can be configured to only operate during the day, they won’t disturb the birds. The LEDs are built inside the camera, there is no need to run a separate power supply, which makes it safer in outdoor applications. You can also cover some of the LEDs with the included filters to diffuse the lighting. In addition, the new model is also equipped with no-glow, infrared LEDs to record the nesting birds at night. Bird species have similar sensitivity to IR light as humans so they can see the low-glow but not the no-glow. And since these IR LEDs do not give off the red glow when triggered, they are almost completely invisible to most bird species.
6. Larger WiFi Antenna
The 2nd Gen WiFi bird box camera can also operate with our new antenna (#5127-86) to deliver a robust WiFi signal for live streaming. With a high gain of 7dBi, the signal of this large antenna can travel further. It sends and receives the signal from a 360-degree angle to broadcast WiFi signals in all directions, creating a larger coverage range. Moreover, the 7dBi omnidirectional antenna also offers a huge boost to overall throughput to deliver a faster network speed when streaming your bird box camera online. This WiFi antenna has a standard SMA connector that can be screwed directly onto your wireless bird box cameras. This type of connector is small in size and light in weight, suitable for applications where size and weight are a concern. And it can operate with frequencies up to 18 GHz. Moreover, by using a custom-made L-shaped bracket, the antenna can be attached to your birdhouse.
7. Redundant Power Supplies
Another added bonus to this WiFi bird box camera is that it can not only be powered by standard AC/DC power using the power adapter but also by a rechargeable battery with the help of a 12V battery cable. If you’re someone who likes to move your bird box camera from place to place to monitor different animals, the battery setup is incredibly convenient. The camera doesn’t need to be hardwired into any existing power outlet in your home. There are no cords and no wiring hassle with battery-powered bird box cameras. You can also set up motion detection to configure the camera to only operate when it detects any activity inside the birdhouse so as to save energy. Furthermore, a solar panel can also be added to the system to recharge the battery and keep the camera running.
