Review: Foscam R4M 2K camera with face recognition

Our opinion

This Foscam R4M is once again a real Foscam. The installation, operation, flexibility and the relationship between price and performance are of a high level. The current VMS software is good, but it sometimes takes some time to fully understand the functionality. Nevertheless, the software is delivered free of charge and does exactly what it is supposed to do. With the various cloud subscriptions, the functionality is always neatly built up with small price increases and the investment costs of the hardware are below 150 euros.

We experience the image quality of this camera as significantly better than the previously tested Foscam 2MP cameras. Moreover, when we compare the image quality with that of a conventional 14.5MP Olympus point & shoot camera that was gratefully used for family snapshots until a few years ago, we can only conclude that this 4MP Foscam R4M performs exceptionally well.

We experience the differences mainly in a somewhat stronger – but for this purpose unimportant – barrel effect. There are visible artifacts and the objects in the frame are surrounded with a light edge. Perhaps this is a limitation of the lens, or could be refined with an adjustment in an algorithm. For a good impression of the image quality, we enlarged some of both visuals. At a distance of about 11 meters, our fingers are still perfectly distinguishable with the Foscam R4M.

Competition

How does Foscam compare to the competition with this R4M? Well, we can be very honest about that. Many providers profile themselves with their own solutions that can work together in a closed system with brand peers in a smart home environment. Nest, for example, is such a manufacturer. These solutions work really well, but are not that versatile. If you, as a user, want to have maximum control on your (security) environment, you often end up with specialist brands with a significantly higher price tag. The flexibility and ease of use, there, is not always higher than with the tested camera from Foscam. Foscam actually offers a very unique proposition in this area.