Hi! Have you ever experienced a fully illuminated night scene through a camera? This Reolink CX810 camera promises to deliver full-color night vision. Let’s test this and see what that looks like!

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This is the Reolink CX810 security camera. According to Reolink, this camera has night vision that provides images as clear as during the day. As with many surveillance cameras, night vision often isn’t great. Particularly when using infrared lighting, it can be difficult to capture good footage. Dark colors tend to appear light, and faces are often hard to recognize. This issue can be partially resolved by using color night vision, which accurately displays colors even in the dark, resulting in much better surveillance footage. Reolink now introduces the CX810, which offers full-color night vision that supposedly delivers images as clear as those taken during the day.

What’s in the box?

Reolink sent me the following components. First, the camera itself. It’s a PoE camera with four spotlight LEDs. The box also included mounting hardware, a short network cable, and a manual. Additionally, they sent me a PoE power adapter in case I don’t have a PoE router. This is not included as standard. On the back of the camera, there’s a small cover under which you can install a micro SD card. You can also connect the network cable directly to the connector attached to the camera. By the way, this camera can also be used without a PoE connection and just a “normal” network cable if you use an optional power adapter, but I connected it via PoE.

Specifications

The Reolink CX810 is a 4K/8 Megapixel camera with an aperture of F1.0, which allows this camera to capture four times more light than cameras with traditional F2.0 lenses. Additionally, it has a 1/1.8″ image sensor, making this camera highly sensitive to light and capable of displaying a bright, colored image even in the dark. Reolink calls this ColorX Night Vision.

If you find the Night Vision isn’t good enough, you can use the spotlight function to illuminate the area you want to monitor. Later in the video, I will show the options of this camera in more detail.

The camera has a frame rate of 25 frames per second, features HDR technology, and saves files in the H.265 video format.

The field of view is 93.2 degrees horizontal and 48.2 degrees vertical.

You can find all the specifications on this page. The link is in the description of this video.

Installing the camera

Installing this camera was really simple. I just had to scan the QR code with the Reolink app, and the camera was immediately added. It was just a matter of entering a username and password, and the camera was installed. Of course, I also updated the firmware to the latest version. Through the Reolink app, I was then able to enable HTTPS, RTSP, and ONVIF. After that, the camera was immediately recognized by Home Assistant. I just had to click Configure and enter the username and password I had previously set up, and the camera was added to Home Assistant. As you can see, many of this camera’s features are supported by Home Assistant, and you can view the camera’s feed right away. I did notice that in Home Assistant, I could only view the fluent stream properly. The 4K clear stream kept freezing in Home Assistant. After some investigation, it turned out that the issue was caused by my WebRTC client. Once I disabled that, it worked fine. It might be time to switch to something like Frigate, for example.

Configuration

In the app, as well as in the Reolink Client, you can configure various settings. For example, there are several display settings that allow you to adjust the camera’s image. There is also a ‘Binning Mode’ that is supposed to affect the brightness of the image in Night Mode, but I couldn’t distinguish any noticeable effect. Under the Stream menu option, you can set the camera’s resolution in Clear and Fluent modes. The camera also has motion detection capabilities, and you can adjust its sensitivity to people, vehicles, and animals. Under the Light menu, you can control how bright the spotlight shines. And under Audio, you can adjust the volume of the speaker built into the camera, which is handy for the two-way audio feature this camera has. Under the Info menu option, you’ll find all the – uh – info about your camera.

Under Surveillance, you can configure various security options, such as how and when footage should be recorded and whether you want to receive email alerts when motion is detected. All of this can be set up locally, so you don’t need a Reolink account for it. You can also set up an FTP server for storing footage there. Additionally, this camera has a siren and can send push notifications to your phone.

Under the Network menu option, you can configure various network settings. The server settings are important to ensure that your camera works with Home Assistant or your browser. For this, you need to enable HTTP and RTSP.

If you have an SD card in your camera, you can manage it under the Storage option. And, under the System option, you can manage users, set the date and time, and upgrade your camera’s firmware.

The footage

And now, the moment of truth: what does the footage from this camera look like? I tested two environments for this. The first is my indoor studio, and the second is my outdoor garden.

This is the image the camera displays when I have the lighting on in my studio and I haven’t darkened the room.

In the studio, I can make it completely dark so that barely any light comes in. This is a photo I took with my SONY ZV-E10 camera at an ISO value of 500. That’s the same value I use when recording myself. You can see that it’s really pitch dark, and you can only very faintly make out some pipes of my drum set. And if you look very closely, you can also see some of my guitars. Now, this is the image from the camera without using the spotlight function. Considering how pitch dark it is in the studio, I’m quite impressed with the image the camera produces. There is some ghosting, but everything is still reasonably visible.

When I set the spotlight function to 15%, the image looks like this. You can now see a bit more detail, and while there’s still some ghosting, the image is quite good for a space with barely any light coming in.

And when I set the spotlight to 100%, everything becomes really visible, with hardly any ghosting remaining.

For recordings I’ve made indoors in a very dark room, I personally think the image is pretty decent. Of course, it’s not as good as during the day, but I haven’t seen this level of performance with other cameras I’ve tested. If you know of any other cameras that can perform as well or better, let me know in the comments.

The studio test is quite an extreme one because the room is so dark. This camera is an outdoor camera that’s IP67 waterproof, so I also tested it outside, where it’s a bit lighter in the evening than in my studio.

The daytime view outside looks like this: you get a sharp 4K image where everything is clearly visible. In the evening, without using the spotlight function, the image looks like this. Huh? I was surprised to see only a black screen. You can see that the sky is lit up, but you can’t see anything of the garden itself. I don’t really understand how this is possible. In my studio, where it’s very dark, I do get an image. Maybe the camera doesn’t show anything because the sky is also in the frame and it adjusts to that. No idea!

But when I turn on my garden lights, I do get an image without using the spotlight. And that image is actually pretty decent in color.

With the spotlight function at 15 percent, the image looks like this. I don’t have the garden lights on here, and you can see that I’m reasonably recognizable. When I turn on the garden lights as well, everything is, of course, even better visible.

And with the spotlight at 100%, the image looks like this. The image is quite sharp and perfectly usable for surveillance. And if I also turn on the outdoor lighting, then the image is just fine.

Downsides

While this camera is very interesting due to its excellent color rendering in the dark, there are a few things I find less appealing.

This camera is a fixed-focus camera, meaning it renders objects that are close to the camera out of focus. The camera cannot focus well on them and does not have an autofocus option. For a sharp image, an object needs to be at least a meter away from the camera. Since this is a camera you mount on a wall, in practice, this won’t be much of an issue, but it did catch my attention.

Additionally, this is a fixed camera, so you can’t move it remotely to get a wider viewing angle. This isn’t a problem for me, but it’s something to be aware of.

And then there’s the fact that this camera only has PoE and no WiFi. PoE is certainly preferable to WiFi because it provides much more reliable footage, but keep in mind that you’ll need to be able to run a network cable to the spot where you plan to mount this camera.

Beyond that, I couldn’t find any other drawbacks. Reolink has been making reliable cameras for years that you can operate completely locally, without relying on a Reolink server, which is the main reason I choose Reolink cameras. I made a video a while ago about the Reolink Video Doorbell, and in my opinion, it’s still the best video doorbell you can buy if you want to use it in combination with Home Assistant. Be sure to watch that video if you haven’t seen it yet.

Conclusion

Well, then, my conclusion. Would I buy this camera, yes or no? In my personal situation, I wouldn’t buy it, but not because I think it’s a bad camera. It’s because I already have several cameras around my house that monitor everything, and I don’t need an additional camera or want to replace one. However, if I were looking for a PoE camera with good night vision, I would definitely purchase this one. The daytime image quality is excellent, and the nighttime image quality outdoors is also very good. I find the Reolink CX810 less suitable as an indoor camera. For indoors, I would buy a camera that can be rotated remotely and has autofocus. Since this camera doesn’t have an autofocus option, it’s not very useful indoors unless you want to monitor a large area.

Pricing and where to get the Reolink CX810 camera.

The Reolink CX810 camera costs €95.99 or $87.99, and you can purchase it via the link in the video description. You’ll also find a discount code there that gives you an additional 5% off this camera. I receive a small affiliate fee if you buy this camera through the link in the description, and it doesn’t cost you anything extra, so you’re also supporting me. I’d really appreciate it if you choose to do that.

This was my test and review of the Reolink CX810 security camera. Thanks for watching, and I hope you found this video helpful. Let me know in the comments what you think of Night Vision and whether it’s a feature you absolutely want on your camera! If you’d like to support me so I can continue making these videos and tutorials, consider sponsoring me with a small monthly amount via Patreon, Ko-Fi, or by becoming a paid member of my channel. You can find the links for this in the description. I’d like to sincerely thank the people on this list for their monthly support. Without you, this channel would have ceased to exist long ago. Thank you all.

Oh, and don’t forget to give this video a thumbs up and subscribe to my channel if you haven’t already.

I’ll see you soon in my next video.

Bye Bye!

Description:
In this exciting video, we put the Reolink CX810 camera to the test with a full-color night vision demonstration! Watch as we explore the incredible capabilities of this advanced security camera during low-light conditions, showcasing its ability to capture vibrant colors and clear details even in the dark.

We’ll cover:

• A close-up look at the Reolink CX810 features
• Side-by-side comparisons of night vision performance
• Real-world night vision scenarios and footage
• Tips for optimizing your night vision security setup

Whether you’re considering upgrading your security system or just curious about the Reolink CX810’s performance, this video provides an in-depth analysis that you won’t want to miss! Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell for more tech reviews and security tips.

Join us as we uncover how the Reolink CX810 stands out in the world of night vision technology!

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