Dahua Starlight+

Neat. The 8mp "H.265 lite" series didn't turn out to be as sensitive as the 2MP starlights we all know and love. Still not bad, but not good enough to be the budget low-light champion. Maybe these 4MPs will be able to dethrone the 2MPs.
 
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bp2008 said:
Neat. The 8mp "H.265 lite" series didn't turn out to be as sensitive as the 2MP starlights we all know and love. Still not bad, but not good enough to be the budget low-light champion. Maybe these 4MPs will be able to dethrone the 2MPs.
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hmmm...

4MP on .3086 sq inch vs 2MP on .1275 sq inch - looks like the 4MP should outperform the 2MP

Now if they put the 2MP on a 1/1.8" sensor!...
 
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hmmm I'm not smart enough to know the answer but that 4MP is rated 0.002Lux/F1.9
The 2MP Starlight CVI cams I have are rated 0.004Lux/F1.6

I know both numbers matter to some degree, and assuming Dahua maintains consistency in their specs (ahem), wonder if the F1.9 is really going to be better than the F1.6?
 
bigredfish said:
hmmm I'm not smart enough to know the answer but that 4MP is rated 0.002Lux/F1.9
The 2MP Starlight CVI cams I have are rated 0.004Lux/F1.6

I know both numbers matter to some degree, and assuming Dahua maintains consistency in their specs (ahem), wonder if the F1.9 is really going to be better than the F1.6?
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Interesting, so the F number is the lens aperture (think of an iris of an eye), the smaller the F number, the bigger the aperture, which allows more light in. The 4MP has a slightly smaller aperture (F1.9) compared to the 2MP with a F1.6 aperture, so the 2MP still has a bigger aperture and could allow more light in vs the 4MP.

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I don't know how dark 0.002 lux is but that is very low considering 0.000 lux is no visible light. But I highly doubt this camera can capture any usable video at 0.002 lux.
 
ermac said:
Interesting, so the F number is the lens aperture (think of an iris of an eye), the smaller the F number, the bigger the aperture, which allows more light in. The 4MP has a slightly smaller aperture (F1.9) compared to the 2MP with a F1.6 aperture, so the 2MP still has a bigger aperture and could allow more light in vs the 4MP.

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I don't know how dark 0.002 lux is but that is very low considering 0.000 lux is no visible light. But I highly doubt this camera can capture any usable video at 0.002 lux.
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Let’s not confuse clear aperture with focal ratio (f/stop). Without knowing the focal length of the lens, we don’t know the clear aperture or entrance pupil, and can’t compare the light gathering capability. The larger the sensor, the larger the lens required to bathe it in photons, and generally speaking, the greater the focal length of the lens. Otherwise, the f1.8 4.25mm lens on my phone would result in better low light performance than the 35mm f2 lens on my full frame DSLR. The entrance pupil on the 35mm f2 lens is 17.5mm vs 2.3mm on the phone, resulting in >50x greater light gathering capability. Find the lens focal length and compare the entrance pupil (focal length/f-stop). I’m guessing the starlight+ designation is not simply marketing in this case.
 
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dougri said:
Let’s not confuse clear aperture with focal ratio (f/stop). Without knowing the focal length of the lens, we don’t know the clear aperture or entrance pupil, and can’t compare the light gathering capability. The larger the sensor, the larger the lens required to bathe it in photons, and generally speaking, the greater the focal length of the lens. Otherwise, the f1.8 4.25mm lens on my phone would result in better low light performance than the 35mm f2 lens on my full frame DSLR. The entrance pupil on the 35mm f2 lens is 17.5mm vs 2.3mm on the phone, resulting in >50x greater light gathering capability. Find the lens focal length and compare the entrance pupil (focal length/f-stop). I’m guessing the starlight+ designation is not simply marketing in this case.
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Thanks for sharing your knowledge dougri. Clearly a lot more to it than just the size of the aperture, novice mistake in judging the specs.
 
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ermac said:
Thanks for sharing your knowledge dougri. Clearly a lot more to it than just the size of the aperture, novice mistake in judging the specs.
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Having expensive hobbies (photography & astronomy), I tend to acquire some generally useless knowledge that occasionally bleeds into my other expensive hobbies I still usually get it wrong!
 
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