HFW5442T-ASE-NI or other option?

[cardazio]

Currently have a reolink rlc-820 which is no good at night (motion blur) and since flood lights is not an option I am wondering whether HFW5442T-ASE-NI is the way to go considering the sensor size, aperture f1.0 and 60 fps in 1080.
Also curious to know whether the 3.6mm is the best performing focal length in case any tests have been performed. The main use right now is to identify people whom have been pestering us off and on with knocking on doors at 11 pm for the last 2 years and I would like to have superb image quality.

Have I overlooked any given candidates (non IR)?

 

[wittaj]

That camera would be horrible if you do not have any light. This is a full color camera that does not see infrared, so if you do not have enough light, which it sounds like you do not since you said flood lights are not an option, then you are better off with the 5442 series that has infrared capabilities.

Any full color type camera needs light, simple physics. If there are not street lights or floodlights, you need a camera with infrared.

Best focal length is based on the distance you are trying to get a clean capture.

Here are my general distance recommendations, but switch out the Dahua 5442 series camera to the equivalent 2MP on the 1/2.8" sensor or equivalent Hikvision works as well.

• 5442 fixed lens 2.8mm - anything within 10 feet of camera OR as an overview camera
• 5442 ZE - varifocal - distances up to 40-50 feet (personally I wouldn't go past the 30 foot range but I like things closer)
• 5442 Z4E - anything up to 80-100 feet (personally I wouldn't go past 60 feet but I like things closer)
• 5241-Z12E - anything from 80 feet to almost 200 feet (personally I wouldn't go past 150 feet because I like things closer)
• 5241-Z12E - for a license plate cam that you would angle up the street to get plates up to about 175 feet away, or up to 220 with additional IR.
• 49225 PTZ - great PTZ and in conjunction with an NVR or Blue Iris and the cameras above that you can use as spotter cams to point the PTZ to the correct location to compliment the fixed cams.

You need to get the correct camera for the area trying to be covered. A wide angle 2.8mm to IDENTIFY someone 40 feet away is the wrong camera regardless of how good the camera is. A 2.8mm camera to IDENTIFY someone within 10 feet is a good choice OR it is an overview camera to see something happened but not be able to identify who.

One camera cannot be the be all, see all. Each one is selected for covering a specific area. Most of us here have different brands and types, from fixed cams, to varifocals, to PTZs, each one selected for it's primary purpose and to utilize the strength of that particular camera.

The new 4K/X is an incredible full color camera that recently hit the market and is probably one of the best out there, but even it needs light.

 

[TVille]

First, you need to define the issue. You have figured out that ReoLink sucks, particularly at night, that is a good first step. You need to read through the wiki, above, on a real computer. The 5442 series are currently the best combination of price and performance. However, how far away are you trying to identify people? The Wiki has links to explain that. While bullets work well, many on here, myself included, prefer the turret style, more compact, works great in this series.

Do NOT chase megapixels. Do NOT chase frame rate. For surveillance, you need about 15 fps, you are not shooting a hollywood movie, you are trying to identify a perp. What you want to do is keep the shutter speed up, which is totally different from fps.

If you are trying to identify someone knocking on your door, the 3.6 mm lens should work well. However, beyond around 10' (3 M) it probably will start to struggle to identify.

 

[cardazio]

I will read the replies again once I return home, but to clarify there is a street light outside my house (7 metres away) and the perps could be either front light or back light depending on whether they go for me or my neighbours house (town house).

My main concearn with IR cams is the risk of incorrect exposure as my car etc is light by a lamp on my house and there is just the street light illuminating the street beyond it. If they pass in the street or run up the driveway (3 metres long) I would like to capture clear stills which may very well differ from having 60 fps.

The total distance I need to cover is 2-10 metres with different lighting conditions.

To get the best possible stills - is there another camera you would recommend?

 

[wittaj]

So if the person is in between your camera and the street lights behind them, then you will not get a good image and their face will be dark. It will look like this:



You either need to add light or use infrared.

2-10 meters is a large spread and one camera cannot cover that range at the same time (see my recommendations above) to IDENTIFY. The camera that can IDENTIFY at 2 meters will only OBSERVE/RECOGNIZE at 10 meters.



When you get a real camera that you dial in the settings to your field of view, the issues you are concerned about is mitigated. Between that and Smart IR on the Dahua cameras, you will be fine, unlike the Reolinks...

 

[bigredfish]

One thing to note about the -NI models. While I agree with @wittaj , they can still run B&W without IR and with any light at all, they do quite well.



It IS important to consider the light direction though as mentioned above. If your subject is backlit, regardless of camera, unless you're running IR, you will get a dark image and not likely capture faces.

 

[cardazio]

I think the reolink can capture the scene (3.6mm dahua equivalent fov) and a dahua 6mm IR model 5442 could capture part of the scene for identification. Turret or dome is a matter of performance for me - I expect the turret to outperform the domes.

Which model would you suggest given the scene (attached image if the view from my front door). The street light is at the far left.

 

[bigredfish]

Given that picture, anything running color or without IR (the NI) will be horribly backlit without added white light facing out from the house.
You need to run IR at the house as-is. If you add some 1200 lumen+ lights facing out you will be fine with the 5442 NI for the driveway

For the street, you may get by with color, but its hard to say once you dial exposure to 1/120 or better to eliminate blur it still may be a bit dark

Here's my 3.6 NI running 1/120 with the 3400 lumen floodlight kicking in, streetlight 80-100ft to the left
View attachment 4116P_ch2_20200808212907_20200808213002.mp4

 

[bigredfish]

That was a very dark rainy night

Here's some newer, better examples. Remember I run my garage coach lights on at night

5442 NI Bullet 3.6mm 1/120 exposure

View attachment 4116P_ch2_20210819020502_20210819020522.mp4

 

[bigredfish]

Color4K-X 3.6mm bullet at 1/250 exposure

View attachment 4116P_ch1_20210819020503_20210819020522.mp4

 

[bigredfish]

Color4K-X 3.6mm bullet at 1/120 exposure

View attachment 4116P_ch1_20210814005940_20210814010005.mp4

 

[CCTVCam]

I think the reolink can capture the scene (3.6mm dahua equivalent fov) and a dahua 6mm IR model 5442 could capture part of the scene for identification. Turret or dome is a matter of performance for me - I expect the turret to outperform the domes.

Which model would you suggest given the scene (attached image if the view from my front door). The street light is at the far left.

This:

Although please note, I'm not recommending this light or wattage in particular. All I will recomend is a cool colour temp eg 5500 - 6500K.

It's the light not the camera that's going to elminate the backlighting.

 

[cardazio]

I'll have a look at DH-IPC-HFW5849T1-ASE-LED as suggested and go from there. Thanks for the replies.

It has the f1.0 which I was looking for in the 5442, leds and a larger sensor (double the pixel count but should be ok anyway).

 

[wittaj]

It is a great camera, but keep in mind it does need light as well. @bigredfish has some great light with street lights and garage lights. It makes a difference. This camera alone will not fix a person being backlit from a streetlight behind them, but if you are ok running this camera with it's LED, then absolutely it is a winner and probably the right choice for you.

Here was my review of the camera in a backyard location where I tested it without any light, the light from the camera, and floodlights.

Worlds First Review - Dahua - IPC-Color4K-X / DH-IPC-HFW5849T1-ASE-LED - Full Color 4K Camera

@Parley I personally think your 5542Z-E was better in this location.

ipcamtalk.com

 

[bigredfish]

I do have good light. Sometimes maybe a little too good….