Any advice for those of us looking to upgrade? Im especially confused by these 4K and 8K cameras and what they would bring to my situation.
I have a varifocal Dalhua IPC-HDW5231R-Z turret on the back of my garage facing into the alley. I put a pretty big security light back there which gets even brighter when it detects motion.
Attached is a shot of one of two chuckleheads walking around with a car jack at 1:00 AM with said setup.
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Here is another example of how my shutter @ 10ms can catch someone who was moving pretty fast on his bike. But you can see the noise for sure:
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So whats the most cost effective way to improve this? I know I want varifocal because I will always be adjusting cameras and moving them around.
4K comes with a higher data-rate but would I get more useful information (and not just more noise) in situations like these when the lighting is "good but its still nighttime?".
The sensor is the key right? Does anyone buy the 4K or 8K camera and then run it at 2K or is that just a waste of money?
It looks like the gain is set too high and that is causing the ghosting.
You have to get the correct focal length for the area you want to IDENTIFY on the proper MP/sensor ratio. In some cases it might be a 2MP or 4MP that is the better option based on MP/sensor ratio. In my case it has been my 2MP cams that have got the money shot for the police. Do not be concerned about a lower MP if the optical zoom is correct.
Downrezing a 4K camera does not work - It is still using the 8 million pixels - the camera doesn't change the "pixel resolution screen" on the camera when you go from 8MP to 2MP. The sensor still needs 4 times the light going from 8MP to 2MP, so the native 2MP camera will result in a better image at night. The firmware will make some algorithm attempt at downrezing it, but it could be a complete crap image or a somewhat usable image, but if there is a concern that the 8MP isn't performing or wouldn't perform well at night, then it is better to go with the 2MP.
I have a 4MP and 2MP on the same 1/2.8" sensor and the picture quality is quite different between the two and the 2MP kicks it's butt at night.
In most instances, you want to get a camera that will perform at your location for the worse situation, which for most of us is at night when it is dark and there is little to no light. If a camera performs at night, it is easier to tweak settings to make it work during the day than it is the other way around.
My 2MP cameras outperform my neighbors 4K (8MP) cameras....why....because they are both on the same size sensor.
When we had a thief come thru here and get into a lot of cars, the police couldn't use one video or photo from anyone's system but mine. Not even my other neighbors $1,300 8MP system provided useful info - the cams just didn't cut it at night.
My neighbor tried the "I will just downrez the 8MP to 2MP" and the image was a soft dark mess.
His system wasn't even a year old and after that event has started replacing with cameras purchased from
@EMPIRETECANDY here based on my recommendation and seeing my results. He is still shocked a 2MP camera performs better than his 4k cameras and he cannot figure out why downrezing from 8MP to 2MP doesn't work properly... It is all about the amount of light needed and getting the right camera for the right location and downrezing doesn't change the physics of the camera.