4k-x vs IR for night

[Thomasshawn]

Have both turret and bullet of the 4k-x in 2.8
And also have the IPC-T5442T-ZE.

My plan was to try each and see what I liked.

Mainly this is for inside 2 garage spaces. What escaped my in every review I've read and post I've seen up till now is that the 4k-x don't have IR capabilities for night viewing. If you want night viewing you need the LED light or some extra light around the device.

I like the 442T but will say out of the box the images for the 4k-x are a bit more appealing and the "dark" images are pretty impressive even with very low spotlight intensity. I'm sure it can be tweaked but I am planning on color day and b&w night because there is almost zero ambient light in either location.

I just can't wrap my head around having to have an LED on all the time in the garage in order to see dark images. But if the images or camera are that much better maybe I can accept it.

On the outside of the house, I cannot imagine having 15 of these things lighting up my house on the outside in order to be able to see night images, nor do I think my wife would agree to it.

So if I'm going to keep the 442T and add it to my IPC-B5442E-ZE and IPC-B5442E-Z4E for outside.
I'm debating the utility of thr 4k-x since I'll never use the LEDs outside.

Maybe if cameras had AI detection and could flip on the LED with motion it MIGHT be more appealing but il I see that causing lots of issues too.

So my long winded buildup to the question is, does anyone actually run the 4k-x cams with spots turned on all the time and is it that much better a camera vs 2hat I already have for low light scenarios?

 

[wittaj]

That is the biggest mistake people make is thinking these full color cameras are magic.

They are not.

All cameras need light. Simple physics.

Now with just a little bit of light they perform very well.

But as you point out most do not want that white LED on all the time.

And it can't be used effectively as a motion light because then the image is too dark to detect motion and thus the light won't come on.

Most of us that use the 4K/X camera have enough ambient light that we do not use the built-in in light. The camera absolutely rocks in that environment.

Another issue is that in some field of views the image quality is compromised from the built-in white light that has exposure issues.

I say it often here - if you don't have ambient light or do not want the built-in light on all night then you need a camera with infrared capabilities.

 

[Thomasshawn]

It is pretty amazing with minimal light I agree.
My misunderstanding is I thought it also had an IR component so you could choose color or black and white and if you chose black and white then the IR kicked in. I imagined it was essentially two cameras in one

And the question is do I want minimal spotlights running inside my garage at night for the added image quality?-not sure Outside its a deal breaker for sure.

I'm fortunate to have such a dark area but it does cause issues with camera selection.

 

[wittaj]

I guess in the garage consider it as a night light lol.

But you are like most that don't want these lights on outside and if you don't keep outside lights on all night then you are better off with infrared cameras.

We see this issue come up so much. I think some future revision camera will have to be bigger and include infrared as I suspect they get or will get many returns when people try it and realize they aren't magic cameras.

 

[Mike A.]

It's kind of wasted inside a garage. Yeah, you can do it but if you need to have a light on there for it to work, then you likely could use a lesser cam and it also would/could have enough light to work in color (depending on how bright). Or maybe a motion-activated light which you might want anyway for general purposes and another lesser cam. Do you really need color there? If you just want it and don't mind spending the money, that's an acceptable answer.

Outside, I agree that they produce an impressive image with very little light but if you want to capture motion well, then you'll likely need quite a bit more than that for most locations. I have a similar very dark location. Had to do a lot to get it to work as well as I want without having too-bright lights on all the time. The on-board illumination didn't really do it for me. Changes the image a lot. As above, I could pretty much get there with something else. With some good minimal off-camera lighting it's a different world and well worth doing.

 

[looney2ns]

This is a fixed lens cam, of the 5442 flavor, being a fixed lens it has a lower Fstop than the varifocal, so it does very well at night.
Pick the correct lens, and it would work very well in a garage.

New Arriving IP Camera IPC-T54IR-AS 4MP Starlight+ WDR IR Eyeball AI Network Camera , free DHL shipping - IP Cam Talk Store

4MP WDR IR Turret Smart Network Camera 2.8mm & 3.6mm lens available Outdoor Rated - IP67 PoE (802.3af) or DC 12V (±30%)

store.ipcamtalk.com

 

[Thomasshawn]

This is a fixed lens cam, of the 5442 flavor, being a fixed lens it has a lower Fstop than the varifocal, so it does very well at night.
Pick the correct lens, and it would work very well in a garage.

New Arriving IP Camera IPC-T54IR-AS 4MP Starlight+ WDR IR Eyeball AI Network Camera , free DHL shipping - IP Cam Talk Store

4MP WDR IR Turret Smart Network Camera 2.8mm & 3.6mm lens available Outdoor Rated - IP67 PoE (802.3af) or DC 12V (±30%)

store.ipcamtalk.com

Is a 1.6 vs 1.8 aperture going to make that big a difference ? It's 1/3 a stop right? But larger aperture also changes focus/depth of field as well so it's trade off