The camera just paid for itself (thelemmy.club)

submitted 5 hours ago by ExtremeDullard@piefed.social to c/dull_mens_club@lemmy.world

11 comments fedilink hide all child comments

If you remember a few days ago, I reused e-waste to install a network camera in a tree facing our lake, so my wife who can't go out easily can watch the birds and the nature.

And early this morning, she saw this.

This camera is fabulous: it's so sensitive in the dark, it captured the northern lights in vibrant colors! That really made her day and mine.

top 11 comments

sorted by: hot top new old

[-] A_norny_mousse@piefed.zip 1 points 7 minutes ago

Finland, or at least European Nordics?

[-] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 2 points 1 hour ago

It looks so quaint despite the poor quality. Like an oil painting

[-] xodasu@sh.itjust.works 6 points 4 hours ago

Beautiful shot, and honestly that little win made me smile. Stuff like this is exactly why I scavenge old gear instead of buying new, glad your wife got a front row seat to the show. Those cheap night-vision sensors surprise you when they actually get a chance to shine.

Also, can we please stop hoarding disposable electronics like they're toilet paper? Someone tossed a working camera and now you both get the northern lights, proof that a tiny bit of effort beats throwing things away. Good on you for rescuing it, setting it up, and giving her a view she otherwise wouldn't have.

[-] Jordan117@lemmy.world 7 points 4 hours ago

[-] tuckerm@feddit.online 4 points 4 hours ago

Absolutely amazing, thank you for sharing. I've never actually seen this in person.

[-] osanna@thebrainbin.org 2 points 4 hours ago

I’ve always wanted to see the aurora borealis or aurora Australis. but I’m too poor to afford a trip to somewhere where they are visible. but that’d be a dream come true.

[-] jqubed@lemmy.world 7 points 5 hours ago

This is not dull!

[-] diablomnky666@lemmy.wtf 1 points 3 hours ago

What camera is it? I'm looking at setting something like this up at my mountain house for star gazing.

[-] ExtremeDullard@piefed.social 2 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

It's one of these: MileSight AI Pro 5M 23x PTZ PoE+ bullet camera (exact model number MS-C5367-X23PE).

I chose the one with the 23x zoom because it lets us see more things further around the lake. But if you want one for stargazing, maybe you'd be better served with the 4 megapixel 16x zoom model (MS-C4467-X20RPE): the page says it only needs a minimum 0.002 lux at F1.6, while ours needs 0.008 lux at the same stops. I find ours' performances in low-light conditions quite stunning, so the 4M model should be even better.

It's not a cheap camera, but it's really worth the money. The fabulous web interface alone makes it worth it: it's actually useful, pleasant to use, it lets you define users with different rights, it doesn't depend on some stupid proprietary Windows software, and it's fully compatible with Firefox as well as Chromium. And of course it's ONVIF-compatible and it outputs streams the usual way (RTSP and such) so you can connect it to anything that's ONVIF- and RTSP-compatible.

[-] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 2 points 30 minutes ago

It must be really expensive, because there isn’t even a price or a button to use to purchase it 🙁

[-] snausagesinablanket@lemmy.world 0 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

Day Time

this post was submitted on 05 Feb 2026

91 points (97.9% liked)

Dull Men's Club

3518 readers

320 users here now

An unofficial chapter of the popular Dull Men's Club.

https://dullmensclub.com/

1. Relevant commentary on your own dull life. Posts should be about your own dull, lived experience. This is our most important rule. Direct questions, random thoughts, comment baiting, advice seeking, many uses of "discuss" rarely comply with this rule.

2. Original, Fresh, Meaningful Content.

3. Avoid repetitive topics.

4. This is not a search engine
Use a search engine, a tradesperson, Reddit, friends, a specialist Facebook group, apps, Wikipedia, an AI chat, a reverse image search etc. to answer simple questions or identify objects. Also see rule 1, “comment baiting”.

There are a number of content specific communities with subject matter experts who can help you.

Some other communities to consider before posting:

5. Keep it dull. If it puts us to sleep, it’s on the right track. Examples of likely not dull: jokes, gross stuff (including toes), politics, religion, royalty, illness or injury, killing things for fun, or promotional content. Feel free to post these elsewhere.

6. No hate speech, sexism, or bullying No sexism, hate speech, degrading or excessively foul language, or other harmful language. No othering or dehumanizing of anyone or negativity towards any gender identity.

7. Proofread before posting. Use good grammar and punctuation. Avoid useless phrases. Some examples: - starting a post with "So" - starting a post with pointless phrases, like "I hope this is allowed" or “this is my first post” Only share good quality, cropped images. Do not share screenshots of images; share the original image.

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

PriorityMotif@lemmy.world