2011 Uway NX-80HD 30 count red flash 6/8 MP digital camera review
Our recent review of the NX50 series camera was thought to just be a
good introduction to this next in a series cameras. We were
surprised to see that there is just no comparison between the
two. To start off we will have to say that you had better just
put this in your lap and a good cup of coffee and the book and
go through the programming. Even though there is a standard
approach in the method, there are so many hidden up/down,
in/out, and up/down places it takes a little getting use to.
This will be covered a little on into the review.
With good fall brown camouflage color that gives this six inch tall
camera a good chance to hide on the tree. The array is in an
arch at the top front that wraps around the hooded main camera
lens. The wrap around wide angle PIR sensor is just below that.
There are no strap slots on the back but they have been moved to
the sides up towards the front of the camera. At the bottom is a
port that will accept the cord from the XtendIR-B2 Black flash
converter or external battery. The internal programming will
allow for the array to be turned off for the black flash
conversion. There is a small drop down door that covers the view
screen and programming buttons. Also under this door which wraps
around the bottom are the on/off switch and the three standard
(TV, USB, SD) ports. Behind these ports is an 8 AA cell battery
compartment with the polarity marks on its small lockable door.
The drop down door is also complemented with a full gasket for
moisture protection.
Of all the cameras that I have dealt with I have managed to catch myself
installing the cells wrong in this camera, more than once. Being
a careful nut about things, I always double check. The tiny
marks on the hinged battery compartment door should coincide
with the tops of the batteries you have just installed. Getting
into the cameras setup procedures, this camera allows for a
perfect setup. Set the position on the on/off switch to SET and
the view screen will come on showing the camera in aim mode. Hit
the up arrow button to toggle the IR array on and in the dark it
will show you exactly where the flash is reaching. This is
something new we have not seen before which allows for night
aim. The M button will bring out the menu which allows for
everything from camera/video to how you wish the time date to be
displayed. Burst mode is 1 to3, resolution, video length, quiet
time (delay)(1 sec to 60 min), illumination (selects array on
off for XtendIR-B2 functions), time stamp, video sound on/off,
Set time/date, battery type, format, TV out, Temp C/F, Time
lapse, default, password protection, and camera information.
Hitting the M button will bring you back to the beginning aim mode. As
you enter each of these areas you will see a number of areas
that can be selected. All of this is why you had better get a
big old cup of coffee and set down and practice for a while to
gain a feeling of all these little hidden features include
preview mode with pan and zoom that is far above what is seen on
the rest of the cameras we see on the market.
The top SD card size is 16 gig so even at the top 8MP setting we could
get several couple weeks (not time lapse) of operations. The box
says 10,000 pictures on a set of batteries, so if you plan on
using this camera on time lapse you had better get an external
battery because a couple days of operations would reach that
figure. Photo resolutions are 8, 5, 3, MP for standard format
and 6, 4, 2, MP in the HD format. Video resolution settings are
HD 1280X720 or 640X480 with a length of 10 to 60 seconds.
The flash range is advertized as being 50 feet and sensing to the same
distance. Trigger time is said to be one second but we believe
it will be a little longer than that.
Specifications:
We had someone send us a pdf of the instructions because someone in the
production line failed to get one in the box on its way to our
lab. The instructions are usable and fairly easy to follow and
because of all the little holes in the programming it may be
needed to find them so a full and complete program can be
installed. Security is in the means of password protection only
so an after market or Uway's own optional box will be needed for
those areas deemed risky.
Over all out
of the box this camera is very well thought out and designed. We
were more than impressed with the full range of items that are
selectable in the programming procedure. It is more like some of
the point and shoot cameras I have dealt with. The advertized
picture count and battery life is considered good but I have
some reservations about using this camera in the TL mode. We
will wait and see how the lab and range testing goes. The degree
of communications with these factory people has decreased a lot
over the past year because of the efforts needed to get their
cameras to market and keep the QC up to par. I went over the
warranty data as we promised because of the slick sneaky ways
that we found earlier this year on some. This is straight
forward 1 year and we know that their customer service has
always been first class, so you should have very little problems
should a problem arise. It is off to the field and lab to put
this animal through its paces.
The
visit to the lab told us that the trigger times are in deed over
1 second out to 1.46 day and 1.81 night. The picture quality of
the day range was very good and the 8 plate zoom was sharp and
clear. This just might be another winner from Uway.
The recovery test at a 15s delay was 18.5s which is very
acceptable.
IMPORTANT NOTE [please read]
This camera uses a technique to improve
trigger speed by relying on the SD ard to be "initialized" prior
to being triggered the first time. This means that you
need to insert your SD card, then switch the camera to SET, wait
for the camera to boot, then switch to ON. In actuality,
you only need to do this if the folders have been cleared from
the card or the card was formatted on the computer, but good
practice would dictate doing this each time prior to arming in
the field. If you insert a formatted card into the camera
and switch directly to ON your camera will lock up. In
this case, turn the camera OFF, open the battery door and wait
one minute, then close and switch to SET.
07-08-2011 Update: Prior to starting our lab testing we
received a firmware update hot off the press and that version is
1107070. Unless otherwise stated we will perform our
testing using this firmware version.
07-10-2011 update: The flash
range was very good. The sensing reached way out to 60 feet at 78
degrees which is very good for the temperature. The night
pictures do have good black white characteristics but have a
little bit of fuzziness.
07-17-2011 update: Moved on to
our herds stomping grounds and we managed to attract a few in
front of the camera. This camera seemed to do a pretty good job
(view samples) and one wary critter was way out there and still
got sensed. We have now set up for video.
07-18-2011 update: We captured some video and it went
well except for the background noise in the video. This is too
bad because we also just finished the Pro X+ in the same mode
and it had some really nice clear audio with its recording.
Please view the samples. The corn monsters only came during the
day and gobbled up their meal so there is no night videos this
time.
07-27-2011 update: The critters
finally agreed to pay a night visit so we could capture our
sample video and now we are on the low rez picture setting and
getting ready to pull the plug on this camera leaving only the
battery life which will be reported after we close the review
when that data finally comes available and the cells are
depleted.
07-30-2011 update: The 2 MP
setting for stills came out sharp and clear and now has been
moved to the 4 MP setting to get a couple and then this review
will be closed.
