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Let's talk about Arlo Ultra 2 zoom...

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pwaggs
Apprentice
Apprentice

I have only had my system installed for about four days and I am still getting used to it. Running a home base, two Arlo Ultra 2 cameras running off of outside AC power, a video doorbell (wired) all on the three month free trial.

 

But I have noticed lots of questions about how to zoom and get the clear results that Arlo advertises and I think that we just need to be honest with ourselves and acknowledge that the Zoom on these Arlo Ultra 2 cameras is terrible. Which was probably to be expected. The pictures on the Arlo website are simply too good to be true.

 

So unless I am not getting some sort of amazing zoom quality because I am currently in my free trial, I have attempted everything to clear the image up. I tried downgrading to 2K to use the pinch and zoom/motion tracking auto zoom. Results were pretty much the same as 4k screen pinching and equally worthless.

 

I am going to try and post a picture here of a license plate on the hood of my car. Just a standard VA temp tag, 43 feet from the camera. You cannot make any part of it out zoomed or not. I tried to take a photo of it zoomed but the camera just takes a photo of the standard focal length and then you can pinch it yourself. Anyway, here is what I got with a standard photo and the zoomed photo is only worse.

 

Anyway, not saying that I am packing everything back up and shipping it back. Just that the claimed Zoom is useless and if that is the reason you are looking at buying the camera, you may wish to keep looking.

 

License plate on hoodLicense plate on hood

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LandJS
Mentor
Mentor

At 43 feet from the camera your not likely to get a detailed pic of anything.  I don't believe these cams or most for that matter are designed for that purpose.  The trigger field is only 25 feet.  Even though I can see my neighbors house 400 feet away in the background it is far beyond picking out details.  I can zoom in on plates in my driveway at about 15 feet and see them clearly but not at 20, although with the cam at 8 feet high 25 feet from the cam is not 25 feet out based on  angle.  Just my experience after 2 years with Ultra  anyway.

pwaggs
Apprentice
Apprentice

Ok, I have done quite a bit more trial and error today.

 

1. It appears impossible to take a screen photo while in a 4k live viewing of the camera. The only way that I can get the little camera icon to appear on the mobile viewer (phone) is to turn off my phones WiFi and view the live feed over my phone connection and not the house connection and therefor the video appears to downgrade to a lower resolution. Not sure why. But as soon as you turn the phone back to WiFi, the 4K symbol and the little house symbol reappear, but the camera is gone.

 

2. All of this is different when viewing the streams on my laptop. There is actually never an indicator that the stream on the laptop is 4K. I'll get back into the documentation and see if the laptop version of the stream approaches the mobile version.

 

3. Also completely agree with @LandJS 43 feet is a 'long' way. Again, not looking to can the system, just looking to see its capabilities as I am becoming a user. I would say that even with much closer objects, I cannot zoom in to any reasonable distance and get a sharp image.

 

4. I did post an image above, but maybe it is pending moderation. Not really sure. I'll make it small this time.

Front_20210122_101304.jpg

 

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