First Impressions: ICS-1013 Camera

While it has an MSRP of basically a thousand dollars, this system is not what you call a cheap investment but it is not what you would call an expensive investment for a surveillance system either. In the wonderful world of video surveillance one can easily pay much more than the cost of the entire NVR 1012 system for just one camera. Does this mean that the cameras that come with this kit “cheap”? Heck no, they are decent cameras but in the end they are marketed as “value oriented” so one should adjust their expectations accordingly.

When you hold one of the two ICS-1013 IP cameras in your hand they don’t have a cheap feel to them, they just seem to give off a robust vibe to them that is very reassuring. Some camera systems achieve this robust feeling by making the cameras as heavy as a log but luckily that is not the case here since they are not light weights per say but they don’t feel like they have been cast from lead either.


On the front of the camera is where the lens is (of course) located and surrounding the lens is 6 infrared LEDs and a light sensor. What the light sensor does is measure the amount of ambient light and when it falls to a certain level the camera switches over to IR “night vision mode”. In testing it was found that unless carefully positioned, this light sensor will end up in the camera lens shadow thus causing the camera to think it is much darker inside than it really is. The easiest solution was to simply flip it upside down so the light sensor was on top and then use the included free software to flip to image. If one does not do this and if one is not careful you will end up with a very oversaturated purple tinged image.

On the positive side, this camera is not a passive IR system since those 6 IR LEDs give off enough light that the camera can easily see in complete darkness for about 16 1/2 feet (5 meters). That is pretty darn impressive as many household rooms are less than that in width. It really is too bad that no external switch was included to allow the camera to activate an external light source. While this is a small pet peeve, it is understandable why it is not there as this is a relatively inexpensive camera meant for internal household use and we really have only seen that option on much more expensive outdoor models.

Just above the IR LEDs is where a single microphone is housed. It is too bad that they went with only a single as stereo sound would have been much nicer. While stereo sound would have been great, we understand this would have added to the cost and may have been decided more based upon speed limitation that anything else. After all, wireless networks are not exactly super wide and fast networks and maybe 4 stereo mic’s plus 4 video surveillance cameras would have saturated a wireless G network. As it stands, the single mic does do a pretty decent job and is fairly clear when people/animals/etc are close to the mic and we would rather have bad audio but stutter free video than the opposite any day!

As with all small condenser mics, the further away a person is from the mic the more noise is introduced into the audio recording. This distance will vary depending on ambient background noise, but in a quiet room we were able to have a fairly legible 2 way conversation via one of these cameras from over 12 feet away. Of course in a noisy environment this dropped very quickly and anything over touching distance from the camera was darn near impossible to hear due to said ambient noise. Your results will vary, but all we can tell you is that the distance you can easily hear questions coming from the built in speaker is about the same distance you can talk to the camera with a good chance of being heard.


The back of the camera is where all the various connectors are located. These cameras come complete with their own screw-in antennas but, if you wish to buy better higher gain antennas just make sure they use the RP-SMA standard wireless antenna connector and not the TNC style. Of course there are a multitude of different connection styles out there besides TNC and SMA/RP-SMA (e.g. N, MMX, MX etc) so you are better off buying the unit, checking to make sure it still uses RP-SMA type before ordering a replacement antenna and who knows these little guys might just surprise you.

Next to the wireless antenna connection is the screw for mounting the camera to the included bracket. As you can see, it is a metal connection and not just a plastic one that we have seen on other models. This is always nice as you won’t easily strip this one out nor have it break from plastic fatigue anytime soon. This really is a nice touch and was very reassuring to see it here.

The bottom row of connectors included the power connector, audio out connector, factory reset button and 10/100 RJ45 Ethernet port. The factory reset button is pretty self explanatory as when/if you make a mistake in the installation process (say you set it to an already taken IP) pressing in this button for 4-5 seconds will reset it back to its factory defaults. It is always reassuring to know that no matter how badly you mess up, a simple button push will magically fix it for you. The audio out connector is there in case you want to hook this bad boy up to bigger (i.e. LOUDER) speakers. Overall, the camera connectors are perfectly laid out and have a very clean and uncluttered feel to them.


The external list of options does not end here, as on the side of the camera has a USB port and USB “unmount” button. Basically, this USB 1.1 powered port (Power distribution: 500mA Max.) allows you the option of plugging in a USB thumb drive (or any USB mass storage device for that matter) and recording directly to it from the camera. This is a nice feature, that probably won’t be used that much (as it is a slow 1.1 connection) but since it is powered well this opens up a hole new can of tweakers’ delight now doesn’t it!

Earlier we bemoaned the fact that there was no real way to trigger an external light with this camera, and while this is true you can pick up USB lights fairly cheaply on auction sites; this plus an IR LED coupled with said USB port equals enhanced night vision for the camera! Where we are talking IR light, no one will notice (or mind if they do notice) that an “invisible” flash light is on during the day, but come darkness that should really add some oomph to the camera's vision range. Even better is the fact that LEDs are rated for tens of thousands of hours (and use a negligible amount of electricity), so when you add all this up you end up with a nice little homemade mod that will last as long as the camera!