Is the IPC-T5842T-ZE just horrible at night and low-light or are my cameras faulty?

[chadskie]

I replaced 2 HDW5231R-ZE's with the 2 T5852T-ZE's. I also have an HDW5831R-ZE and a T6442TM-AS-2.8MM. So I feel like I know what to expect somewhat. These new cameras looked beautiful in daylight, then when night cam and I looked at them the picture was basically black for B&W. I know these cameras won't perform as well as the 2MP Starlights but they shouldn't be black, right?

I updated them thinking it was the firmware and it didn't help. I then got frustrated and just left them for the night and when I woke up and it was light out the images were still extremely dark. Even at default settings, I don't think it should be this dark in daylight. I have to bump the exposure comp to almost 100 and for some reason turning Smart IR off helps to get a somewhat visible picture. This is on both of the new cameras, too. Which makes me think it's just how they are...? I don't know, just doesn't seem right.

The HDW5831R-ZE I have has way better B&W images than the T5852T-ZE's and that shouldn't be the case, right? I'm attaching a couple of images at default settings that show how dark it is and one color to show how much light there really was at the time. I just can't believe this is how they're supposed to be...

 

[Mike A.]

Looks like you have no IR on in the night images. Post your settings from the Camera > Conditions tab.

I have one of the 5842Ts. It's not bad at night. Not quite as good as the 5442s but pretty good.

 

[chadskie]

My current night settings which are default and the image it produces in daylight at 5 PM... Just doesn't seem right.

 

[chadskie]

For comparison, this is a 2MP starlight with all my outdoor lights off. My outdoor lights were on for the 5842T's...

 

[Mike A.]

Hmmm... Yeah, that is dark for being set to auto and defaults. It should look more like the other.

To start, under Exposure, try turning Smart IR off and under Illuminator, set to manual @ 100%.

 

[fenderman]

Hard reset the cameras and test without making any modifications to the settings.

 

[chadskie]

Hard reset the cameras and test without making any modifications to the settings.

Is a hard reset using a button on the camera or just restoring to factory default in settings? I have done the latter twice already on both cameras.

 

[wittaj]

Change the illuminator to ON just to see if the IR kicks on. As others have said, that appears to not have IR on.

 

[Mike A.]

Oh, I misunderstood what you posted... Your second image above is from 8:50 in the morning. Yeah, something's not right. Try the reset.

Under where the SD card goes. The hatch with two screws.

 

[chadskie]

Oh, I misunderstood what you posted... Your second image above is from 8:50 in the morning. Yeah, something's not right. Try the reset.

Under where the SD card goes. The hatch with two screws.

Okay, I'll give that a go and cross my fingers. At least I'm (hopefully) not going crazy.

 

[fenderman]

Okay, I'll give that a go and cross my fingers. At least I'm (hopefully) not going crazy.

You might also check if there is newer firmware.

 

[EMPIRETECANDY]

The firmware has a latest new one, the night pics has some good improvement, recommend to update it.
Here is the latest new fw. After update it make a factory default to it.

(1) IPC-T5442T-ZE IPC-T5442TM-AS IPC-T5842T-ZE SMD 3.0 Smart IR Latest New Firmware From EmpireTech | IP Cam Talk

 

[EMPIRETECANDY]

From the pic, looks like the IR is not lit on, both 2 cams has same issue?

 

[chadskie]

You might also check if there is newer firmware.

Thank you for mentioning firmware because I think I figured it out! I had the wrong camera firmware installed (kinda). I installed the T5442TM-AS-2.8MM's firmware on both cameras by mistake. I say kinda because I think they technically can/use the same firmware just with different default settings. I found the correct firmware in this thread: Latest NEW Ultra low light 4K IPC-T5842T-ZE Firmware 20211213 which also had 6 steps to do when upgrading the firmware. Doing these 6 steps finally got the correct default settings working. The day and night defaults are WAY different - courtesy of Wildcat_1's tweaks.

Huge difference from my previous pictures! B&W and Color. Now I can tweak to my needs.

Thanks for the help guys

 

[EMPIRETECANDY]

aha, right now the 5442 and 5842 use the same version firmware, we put them together, it also has some improvement on the 5442 pics too.