It is a varifocal camera. Its not designed for the purpose you intend to use it.Well, it has a x4 optical zoom lens. I thought it was called a varifocal, but I was mistaken. It is the Dahua 2mp starlight model ipc-hdw2231r-zs.
The software has a zoom slider, so if anyone knows if this setting can be called in some way, that would be great. Thanks
its not what you call it. Its not designed for your purpose.Ok, I am using the teminology 'zoom' because Dahau calls it that in its software. Sorry if that caused offense. I'll just call it magnification.
That sounds promising! Thanks for the info. I will investigate.For better or for worse, if you have a Windows PC that’s always on (and is on the same network as your cameras), the DahuaSunriseSunset tool that @bp2008 wrote can switch your camera between normal and night profiles and additionally change the zoom and focus to values you set. You can do a forum search to find the thread with the download and instructions.