I am getting shredded on this. Can't dial the 4K/X in. I look at videos and photos of WC original review against the Hikvision Colorvue and I just think this is miles apart. Add why do I need to add illuminators if this is supposed to be a night color vision?
DS-2CD2087G2-L
Do a search here. Many have not been impressed with the Hikvision ColorVu series. Keep in mind that any camera called "full color" or "night color", etc. still require light. They are not magic and do not defy physics.
Many people have come here after buying the Hikvision ColorVu series expressing their disappointment in the picture quality of the camera because they were expecting magic. If you do not have ambient light outside, you are better off with cameras that can see infrared.
Further, it's onboard white LED lights are not as bright as the 4K/X. There seems to be more complaints about the Hik version at night than the 4K/X.
Here is link to a thread that shows the disappointment of many thinking a ColorVu camera was magic and could defy physics. Full Color type cameras are great if you have light, but will be horrible if you do not have enough light.
What about adding some additional landscaping lighting - this cam is awesome and with minimal light will do great. External lightning will have new power cable and new installation, cost lot of time and extra money. Not everyone like light at night. So select a good cam is very important...
ipcamtalk.com
You need illuminators because EVERY camera needs light, whether it is infrared or visible light. Too many people get burned buying a full color camera thinking it is magic. If you don't have enough visible light or don't want the onboard illuminators on then you need a camera with infrared capabilities.
It is clear these are your first attempts at these types of cameras, and that is fine. Some of these take a while to find the right settings for a particular field of view. Most of us are always making little tweaks, sometimes based on the season.
As I mentioned you have a tough field of view - in the day you have a dark foreground with a bright background needing WDR and at night you have the reflective bounce of all that wood in the forefront and dark black in background. You have a tougher field of view than the Wildcat reviews you are looking at. What settings work good at his field of view may be the complete wrong settings for your field of view.
I think you can still dial that in with other parameter adjustments like brightness and gamma, but don't be too concerned about too dark. The goal of these cameras are to get a clean capture of a perp, not bright images. I would start with turning the camera a bit so that the post on the right side of the image is either just on the right edge of the view or just off of it. That would put the illuminators more in the center of the porch and would light up the stair area a little more. Maybe even angle the camera down just a bit to not get so much of the wood above.
Most of my cameras I thought were too dark at first but after a day or so of running it and testing, I could make out the details just fine.