Help selecting a camera

[chyatt21]

I have Blue Iris. Purchased and returned some reolink cameras. Was not satisfied with their performance.

With all the cameras out there to choose from its a bit overwhelming. Im looking right now at Hikvisions and Dahuas.

With Hikvisions there are options like; EXIR, Colorvu, Darkfighter, Acusense.

I have heard the colorvu cameras have issues with ghosting due to slow shutter speed. And also the onboard led whitewashs faces. I do not wish to add additional motion flood lights.

I am looking for 2 cameras to oversee my driveway. I would like: POE, minimum 8MP, 265 encoding, 90degree horizontal fov, minimum 25fps. Prefer turret style, but might consider bullet. There are a couple led street lamps off in the distance. Also, there are other cameras nearby with their own IR lights. Night time image is important here. As I want to capture as much detail as possible esspecially facial detail.

I am in US and want to purchase from someone reputable at a fair price.

Thank you

 

[looney2ns]

Don't chase megapixels. Hard to get good nighttime footage with an 8MP unless you have lots of light.
Study this attachment.

 

[SouthernYankee]

@chyatt21

Read study plan before spending money. Educate yourself.
Doing it right the first time saves money.

The current go to cameras are the Dahua 5442 series. there sensor size is 1/1.8.

More megapixels is not necessarily better. If two have the same sensor one is 8mp and one is 4MP, The 4MP has twice as much light per pixel as the 8.
you are not shooting a Hollywood movie, 15 fps is more than enough for a security system.
The turret camera is a good choice.


Cameras to look at
IPC-T5442TM-AS-LED . Review IPC-T5442TM-AS-LED (Full Color, Starlight+) - 4MP starlight
.................... Dahua IPC-T5442TM-AS-LED review
IPC-T5442TM-AS ..... Review-OEM 4mp AI Cam IPC-T5442TM-AS Starlight+ - 4MP starlight+
IPC-HDW5442t-ZE .... Dahua IPC-HDW5442T-ZE 4MP Varifocal Turret - Night Perfomance testing -- variable focus 2.7 mm-12mm 4 MP Starlight
IPC-B5442E-ZE ...... Review - OEM IPC-B5442E-ZE 4MP AI Varifocal Bullet Camera With Starlight+ -- variable 2.7mm-12mm bullet
IPC-B5442E-Z4E .... bullet 8mm-32mm variable focus zoom 4MP
IPC-HFW7442H-Z ..... Review - Dahua IPC-HFW7442H-Z 4MP Ultra AI Varifocal Bullet Camera -- 4 MP variable focus AI

 

[wittaj]

What they said - do not chase MP - unless you have stadium quality lights at night, it will struggle (unless you keep everything on auto settings, but then you get ghosting and blurring during motion).

I don't have street lights, but I have 4 house lights on the front, each putting out 5,400 lumen. I have a yard lamp putting out 5,400 lumen. I have a floodlight with two Night Chaser bulbs putting out 6,000 lumen.

So I have 33,000 lumen radiating off the front of my house. Most would think that is a lot.

It is not enough light for my 4MP on a 1/2.8" sensor for an image without blur and ghosting at the end of my driveway 50 feet away if I want color. I have to run a way slower shutter (1/40) than I would like and a higher gain (77) to make it work if I want it in color, but that comes at a cost of some blur and some ghosting. And I have to force it into color as well as that is not enough light for the camera to automatically stay in color. I shutter to think what an image on the same sensor or smaller would be at 4k.

My 2MP camera provided the money shot when we had a door checker here a couple years ago and my neighbors with their 4k cameras got their stuff back because of my 2MP image as their 4k video was useless to the police because it was a blur and ghosting as the perp walked around. They do produce a nice static image though if you are looking for a great picture! But if you want to actually have it be useful, you are better off with less MP.

 

[mat200]

I have Blue Iris. Purchased and returned some reolink cameras. Was not satisfied with their performance.

With all the cameras out there to choose from its a bit overwhelming. Im looking right now at Hikvisions and Dahuas.

With Hikvisions there are options like; EXIR, Colorvu, Darkfighter, Acusense.

I have heard the colorvu cameras have issues with ghosting due to slow shutter speed. And also the onboard led whitewashs faces. I do not wish to add additional motion flood lights.

I am looking for 2 cameras to oversee my driveway. I would like: POE, minimum 8MP, 265 encoding, 90degree horizontal fov, minimum 25fps. Prefer turret style, but might consider bullet. There are a couple led street lamps off in the distance. Also, there are other cameras nearby with their own IR lights. Night time image is important here. As I want to capture as much detail as possible esspecially facial detail.

I am in US and want to purchase from someone reputable at a fair price.

Thank you

Hi @chyatt21

As you have a Blue Iris system you can mix and match quality IP PoE cameras which meet ONVIF specs.

We've seen good posts on newer Hikvision OEM and Dahua OEM which use the newer and larger sensors. Either OEM should work well with your Blue Iris system provided you pick a decent IP PoE camera model.

Do check some of the member's reviews.

Note, Chinese new year has just started, so there could be some delays getting cameras from China for the next 2-3 weeks.

 

[sebastiantombs]

Some Dahua reviews for you to peruse -

5442 Reviews

Review - Loryata (Dahua OEM) IPC-T5442T-ZE varifocal Turret

Review-OEM Loryta IPC-T5442T-ZE Varifocal 4mp camera (Dahua)

IPC-T5442T-ZE Varifocal from @EMPIRETECANDY 4MP WDR Turret Varifocal Network Camera Review unit courtesy of Andy (@EMPIRETECANDY) in exchange for a fair and honest review. Andy's ipcamtalk store: link Andy's AliExpress store: link Andy's Amazon store: link Price Approximately US $200.00...

ipcamtalk.com

Review - OEM IPC-B5442E-ZE 4MP AI Varifocal Bullet Camera With Starlight+

Review - OEM IPC-B5442E-ZE 4MP AI Varifocal Bullet Camera With Starlight+

All, thanks to Andy (@EMPIRETECANDY ) we have a new 4MP AI camera for testing. This camera has been provided by Andy in exchange for a fair and honest review. This camera is using the OEM model number of IPC-B5442-ZE which is the equivalent of the Dahua IPC-HFW5442-ZE for reference. The IPC-B...

ipcamtalk.com

Review-OEM 4mp AI Cam IPC-T5442TM-AS Starlight+ Turret

Review-OEM 4mp AI Cam IPC-T5442TM-AS Starlight+

Dahua OEM IPC-T5442TM-AS from EMPIRETECANDY 4MP WDR Turret AI Network Camera Review unit courtesy of Andy (@EMPIRETECANDY) in exchange for a fair and honest review. Andy's ipcamtalk store: link Andy's AliExpress store: link Andy's Amazon store: link Price Approximately US $160 Link to camera...

ipcamtalk.com

Review IPC-T5442TM-AS-LED (Turret, Full Color, Starlight+)

Review IPC-T5442TM-AS-LED (Full Color, Starlight+)

Dahua OEM IPC-T5442TM-AS-LED from EMPIRETECANDY 4MP WDR Turret AI Network Camera Review unit courtesy of Andy (@EMPIRETECANDY) in exchange for a fair and honest review. Andy's ipcamtalk vendor forum: link Andy's AliExpress store: link Andy's Amazon store: link Andy's Email: kingsecurity2014...

ipcamtalk.com

Review: IPC-HDBW5442R-ASE-NI - Dahua Technology Pro AI Bullet Network Camera

Review: OEM IPC-B5442T-ASE-NI 4MP Pro AI Starlight Full-color Fixed Bullet

Many thanks once again to Andy @EMPIRETECANDY we have for testing the OEM IPC-B5442T-ASE-NI 4MP Starlight+ Full Color bullet. This camera has been provided by Andy in exchange for a fair and honest review. This is a fixed 3.6mm bullet (Pro AI) series with the 1/1.8” sensor. It has no built in...

ipcamtalk.com

2231 Review
Review-OEM IPC-T2231RP-ZS 2mp Varifocal Turret Starlight Camera

Review-Dahua IPC-HDW2231RP-ZS Starlight Camera-Varifocal

Again courtesy of @EMPIRETECANDY EmpireTech Andy we have a new cam to look over. Its a new model in Dahua's new Lite H265 Series of cam's. Available for purchase here: Aliexpress.com - Online Shopping for Electronics, Fashion, Home & Garden, Toys & Sports, Automobiles and more Price is approx...

ipcamtalk.com

3241T-ZAS 2MP Varifocal Starlight Review

Review-OEM IPC-T3241-ZAS 2mp AI Lite series Varifocal

IPC-T3241-ZAS from EMPIRETECANDY 2MP WDR Turret Varifocal AI Network Camera Review unit courtesy of Andy (@EMPIRETECANDY) in exchange for a fair and honest review. Purchase in the IPCT Store Andy's ipcamtalk vendor forum: link Andy's AliExpress store: link Andy's Amazon store: link Price...

ipcamtalk.com

Less expensive models -

Budget Dahua Cams or china alternatives under $100?

Well here we go. I dont see anywhere more approriate to discuss this. Ive been messing around with putting together a cctv system for close to 3 years now. Ive bought everything i needed and also bought 2 cheap cams from a third party seller on walmart. Those cams cost me a grand total of $50...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[chyatt21]

Thank you all. I will steer clear of the 8MP for sure as these cameras are mainly for night time use. I will look into all of the recommendations.

 

[chyatt21]

Don't chase megapixels. Hard to get good nighttime footage with an 8MP unless you have lots of light.
Study this attachment.

Very good guide. Thank you