All
Finally YouTube finished it’s re-processing after failing twice ! So here is the next video which is focused on night testing. Lets jump into how I set this test and the caveats
In this case I white balanced both cams using pro cards in the FOV. While this certainly ensures white colors are more accurately represented, remember these are not pro level DSLR or Cinema cams and as with any cam, sensors lean towards specific hues (therefore making the images look warmer, cooler etc due to their lean towards red, blue, green). This of course can be compensated further if you manually tweak RED/BLUE specifically for each lighting condition in FOV so not necessarily a big deal but mentioning it for completeness. Also worth noting that I advocate for the importance of this for color at night. I mention below why I take a slightly different approach for this testing (setting for worst case).
I also took the opportunity to dial the cams in further. Both cams were tweaked slightly and any settings that were touched as always have been added to the lower thirds in the video so you’ll see those. I also adjusted NR and gain to improve the image as much as possible without adding additional noise (reducing where possible) or inducing motion blur / frame smearing. These were dialed in for worst case (i.e. illuminator only testing) where there is generally little light, more noise and resulting images are often desaturated etc, then left these in place through the other tests. While this is great (and fair) when comparing side by side to keep consistency across multiple tests, if this were a final install I was doing or as part of a larger project I deploy globally, then I would be dialing in exposure/shutter + image settings specifically to the FOV, lighting conditions available and camera(s) used.
The Illuminator Only testing is completed with each manufacturers illuminators set to 100%. The reason for this is to show maximum reach of each set of onboard illuminators to give those that are using this without additional light, clear expectations on what is possible. We all know that AUTO mode on the illuminators will adjust as targets get closer to the cam (less light needed and to ensure washout is reduced) but again this test is to show power and light capabilities of each set of illuminators. Therefore any highlight blowouts are expected since these cams are NOT on AUTO in this test and due to the difference of AGC’s at code level I mentioned before that cannot be adjusted by end users. In the illuminator testing the FOV is only lit by these and individually so, i.e. when I call out Dahua illuminators then both cams are using only those listed NOT those + their own illuminators at the same time. This way critically you can see the image from each cam with only Dahua illuminators on then each cam with only Hik illuminators on. When getting to the additional light testing section illuminators are turned off. I also push the cams to 1/250 which I certainly would not use in this specific FOV with the lighting available BUT again show it so you understand what is possible.
As I’ve been asked about doing a versus approach (cams against each other) many times via DM for upcoming videos (on old and new cams), I wanted to address it here that any of those I entertain doing (if you’re interested) I would do under separate, non-review based threads. Therefore to be clear, this video here (as well as others in this thread) are NOT meant to be a ‘versus’ video but rather an opportunity to look at both these 4K, color at night cams together (+ the 5442 earlier) as I continue this Dahua cam review. This gives you the ability to see the performance of the Dahua camera under review here while understanding how it fits in this segment with others. My goal being to provide for a more informed understanding of extra features a camera like the Dahua may bring, quality of caps and what to expect in real-world deployments.
HTH
This is an 8.5 minute video with chapters included for easier navigation. Remember to view on YouTube and select 4K. As always, let me know with any questions.
Next Steps: I am going to look at publishing a re-shoot of the day footage, white balanced and then as this review is focused on the Dahua, will then do a wrap up post with my final thoughts on this specific cam.
VIDEO LINK
Compressor encoding issue so re-uploaded