Bullet Cam Upgrade Model

[chops101]

Hello All,
My neighborhood has had a spike in door checkers/outright car theft in the last few weeks from opportunist criminals.
My mailbox cam and LPR are my best assets. I recently upgraded my entire system from analog (currently dispensed ~1300' of CAT6), but unfortunately, my mailbox cam is the generic 1/3" sensor and of course it is very poor in low light.

I need to swap out the mailbox cam with a better quality, but I'm constrained to size; the typical 3" round bullet cam.

I've researched everywhere and this Hikvision is the best I can come up with at the size I need. It has a 1 1/8" sensor, and I'm contemplating 4mm:





And, to get a better idea of why I need this size. Yes, I made this out of 4x4x.25" steel. And yes there is conduit and cat6 running up the middle.
Camera on the right, driveway announce on the left.



And here is the issue. Typical ghosting and blur due to low light. Two perps jumped out of their white Lexus ES300, right in front of my camera, and ran to neighbors' houses checking cars, at 3:30am on Friday.
But, the 5241E LPR captured beautiful, clear pictures of the tag as they left. Law enforcement is processing all that. No one has ever given up night tags before (small city), to say LEO was stunned is an understatement


Questions: Does anyone have other options for this specific size? I can't give up this mounting point as it shoots directly down the street.
And I just can't mount a huge cam on my mailbox.
And, how difficult is it to pair Hikvision with a Dahua NVR? I'm fine if all I get is motion detect.

Thanks all

 

[TonyR]

You're OK with it having only a white LED and no IR (can't see even an outboard IR emitter) ?
It does look like you've got some ambient visible light now and that's what you want to work with, using a cam with a larger sensor like the one you linked.

 

[chops101]

You're OK with it having only a white LED and no IR (can't see even an outboard IR emitter) ?
It does look like you've got some ambient visible light now and that's what you want to work with, using a cam with a larger sensor like the one you linked.

Yes, there are two sodium street lights 60' from the mailbox (on both sides of the street), that give a lot of light.

And I'm open for any suggestions. This forum has been great.
I'll buy the HV just to try if anyone has been successful with mating to a new Dahua NVR.

 

[looney2ns]

Time to maybe make a new mailbox post, out of 6x6" maybe.
This is a great camera, if you could make it fit.
Review- EmpireTech IPC-B5442E-SE 4mp Mini Bullet 3.6mm. | IP Cam Talk

 

[looney2ns]

You might increase the shutter speed in the current cam and help with the blur. You have plenty of light.

 

[chops101]

Yes, there are two sodium street lights 60' from the mailbox (on both sides of the street), that give a lot of light.

Time to maybe make a new mailbox post, out of 6x6" maybe.
This is a great camera, if you could make it fit.
Review- EmpireTech IPC-B5442E-SE 4mp Mini Bullet 3.6mm. | IP Cam Talk

Hey thanks,
The dimensional specs were a bit jacked when I looked previously, but this is actually small!



Dahua makes , what looks like a direct fit for what I need, IPC-HFW2249S-S-IL
It doesn't appear to be available stateside though.



I'll certainly keep the B5442 in mind in case nothing else materializes, and I'll get out there with a cut off wheel to make a round hole square. Thanks again.....

 

[samplenhold]

The 2249S will not give you the low light performance that you would like. That 5442E-SE will give much better performance in low light.

Please keep us posted on your upgrade. Including pics once done.

 

[ipcamuser11]

It’s already one of the best 4MP cameras for low light performance, 1/1.8” CMOS with F1.0 M16 lens. Hikvision’s default shutter setting is too low, 1/12 second, try setting it to 1/50 or lower, gain 100%, turn off WDR. If the image isn’t bright enough with a 1/50’ shutter speed, then you probably need extra light source

 

[chops101]

It’s already one of the best 4MP cameras for low light performance, 1/1.8” CMOS with F1.0 M16 lens. Hikvision’s default shutter setting is too low, 1/12 second, try setting it to 1/50 or lower, gain 100%, turn off WDR. If the image isn’t bright enough with a 1/50’ shutter speed, then you probably need extra light source

Your right, the B5442E is a superior camera. I had discounted it initially as the dimensions are wrong in the description; which would have made it impossible to fit into a 4 x 4 steel column.
I was hoping that I could find a 3" round but that fell flat.

After another look-see and going back to the sensor size vs MP chart (yes I'm paying attention and soaking all this in) the 1/1.8 CMOS should do well in my lighting conditions.
It will definitely be a huge improvement over the Amcrest 1/3" I have now.

I ordered the B5442E-SE late yesterday from Andy and I'll make it fit.

Thanks all for your inputs!

 

[ipcamuser11]

Your right, the B5442E is a superior camera. I had discounted it initially as the dimensions are wrong in the description; which would have made it impossible to fit into a 4 x 4 steel column.
I was hoping that I could find a 3" round but that fell flat.

After another look-see and going back to the sensor size vs MP chart (yes I'm paying attention and soaking all this in) the 1/1.8 CMOS should do well in my lighting conditions.
It will definitely be a huge improvement over the Amcrest 1/3" I have now.

I ordered the B5442E-SE late yesterday from Andy and I'll make it fit.

Thanks all for your inputs!

View attachment 162464

Sorry I was referring the Hikvision DS-2CD2047, the Dahua B5442E also has a 1/1.8” sensor, but lens is only M12 F1.6, while the Hikvision model use a M16 F1.0 lens, allowing at least 4-6 times more light coming through. If you want best low light performance with fast shutter speed to avoid blur and ghost, choose a camera with a bigger lens and bigger aperture.

 

[ipcamuser11]

I believe the Dahua B5442E is meant to be used with the built-in IR light, that’s why they only use a small M12 F1.6 lens with a 1/1.8” sensor. Since you have plenty street light and are not likely to turn on the camera built-in IR to capture only B/W image. This camera is not suitable for your location

 

[ipcamuser11]

If you want to choose a F1.0 camera, the only thing you need to care about is the focus range. Bigger aperture will result in much smaller DOF(depth of field). For a 4mm F1.0 lens, Hikvision typically adjust the focus point to about 3 meters away, so you will not see clear image of objects closer than 3 meters. Make sure the most important location you want to monitor is at least 3 meters away from the camera. Or you may open the camera and adjust the lens’ focus point to somewhere closer, but then you will not see clear image of further location