Tough Choices - 4kt vs 5442Ze vs 5842 - Help please?

[CCTVCam]

Tough choices.

Does anyone have several of these to offer comparison opinions?

I've been thinking of getting maybe 1 of each of 4kt and 5442 ZE and have been rewatching Wildcats excellent videos. However, in direct comparisons, it appears at night the 5442 might actually be clearer and that the 4kx on the revisit still shows some shallow depth of field and lack of sharpness close up to the camera (16-8 feet on 3.6mm). At 8 feet in the 250W floodlight test, it still appears blown out with white blankish faces and blanked out tshirt although in fairness 250W is probably a lot of lumens if LED! There's no doubt the overall picture is brighter on the 4kt so offering an advantage when there's not enough light for the 5442 in forced colour, but the 5442 whilst dimmer, also looks clearer and more in focus. So where there enough light, eg a 30w flood, is the 4kt really the best buy out of the two?

I was just wondering what those of you with these cameras thought.

These are the comparisons from Wildcat's video - 5442 is the right, other 2 are 4kt original and revisit:



Of course those of you who can put these side by side in real life, might have different findings again.

Also, on the subject of 5442, how does the 5842 compare? Whilst more pixels usually isn't better, my car port whilst very low in ambient light, does have sensor lighting with 6 x 10w (800 lumen ie 4,800 lumens total) in floodlights mounted in the roofspace at spaced intervals to give the 4800 lumens spread over an area 30 feet by 12 feet approx. The result is a low to medium brightness diffused lighting. So I was wondering if the 4kt is the best option here or would the 5442 or even 5842 be better given the lighting?

Some advice appreciated from those of you with 4kt to 5442 to compare and also 5442 / 4kt to 5882 to compare.

The 2 sites are for under my car port to protect my driveway, back door and vehicle and my back garde, facing back to the house to protect rear entry to the property:

Rear Windows (I can increase light here by adding a larger flood quite easily):




Drive way:




The light levels are approximated as my phone brightens the image so I had to reduce the gamma in a photo editor to try to simulate the available light.

Appreciate thoughts from people with any combinations of more than 1 of these cameras.

 

[wittaj]

Folks here that have the 5442-ZE and the 5482-ZE have said at night that the 5442 is better, which makes sense since they are on the same size sensor.

Many here will say that 4MP is more than adequate for surveillance cameras.

The 5442-ZE varifocal will always have better focus compared to a fixed lens since the varifocal you can adjust the focus to your field of view. Well you can take apart the fixed lens and do the same thing, but many don't feel comfortable doing that.

The 4K/T does suffer from having a tighter optimal focus length and if you are in front of or behind that distance, it will be soft/blurry.

The 4K/T is great where there is little light.

With the light you have and what you want to accomplish and the distances, I would opt for the 5442-ZE so you can dial it in to the area you are interested in.

 

[CCTVCam]

I probably should have said I want to run colour in those night time scenario's.

 

[wittaj]

And it looks like you have enough light to run the cameras in color.

 

[bigredfish]

FWIW I have both of the 4K models, bullet and turret, and a number of 5442's. I prefer the bullet version image quality of the 4K over the turret version

Like @wittaj Id go with the 5442 over the 5842

I think you could use either the 4K or the 5442 in that bottom image. The rear entry is a bit tricky due to the shadows on the recessed door. For color, you may want a fixed 3.6mm 4K with use of the white LED's...

I just bought 2 of the newer updated 5442 S series. Have not received them yet but hope to have them in a couple of weeks.

IPC-HFW5442H-ZHE - Dahua International

IPC-HFW5442H-ZHE

www.dahuasecurity.com

 

[tigerwillow1]

I have a 4k-x, 5442ze, and 5842ze. If you want to stay out of the weeds and keep it simple, the decision tree isn't too hard:

• If you need IR lighting, scratch the 4k-x/4k-t
• If you have enough ambient white light at night, the 4k-x (and I assume 4k-t) "beats the pants" off the other two.
• 5842 gives a somewhat better daytime image, 5442 gives a somewhat better night/low light image. Choose which is more important to you.

I'm using "somewhat" intentionally in the last point. The differences are not huge or profound, in my judgement. An "asterisk" on what I'm saying is that I use the cameras to cover long distances, and use higher focal lengths. If close-in focus is important, it's not as simple as I'm portraying.

 

[CCTVCam]

I think you could use either the 4K or the 5442 in that bottom image. The rear entry is a bit tricky due to the shadows on the recessed door. For color, you may want a fixed 3.6mm 4K with use of the white LED's...

I just bought 2 of the newer updated 5442 S series. Have not received them yet but hope to have them in a couple of weeks.

IPC-HFW5442H-ZHE - Dahua International

IPC-HFW5442H-ZHE

www.dahuasecurity.com

Thanks to all replies so far. Luckily on the rear there is no door in that recess, just a fall pipe so the danger there is window entry.

What is the difference between the new S and the existing versions of the 5442, is it just enhanced Smart features or are there other changes?

 

[CCTVCam]

I think I'm already forming an opinion but some more info that may help:

Full layout (favoured mounting points represented by blue lines):



This is the daytime picture of the driveway looking back towards the garage. The proposed CCTV mounting point is the red dot on the garage wall by the fence.

The horizontal distance from dot to back door is 14.5 feet.



I guessed on 4kt the 3.6mm would probably be sufficient although 2.8 might also work depending on where the focal point fell.. The driveway is about 12 feet wide.

The rear of the house looking back from the edge of the lawn is here:




For the rear picture, there are two places I could mount the camera:

1. One is on the side of the car port which is maybe a foot to the side of the house at the rear and maybe 10 feet further into the garden that the house wall. However, you can see how high the rafters are, so it would be over view only. There's an additional complication as the flood light is mounted there although I could work around that with a lens shield or by tweeking the placements.

BTW the 5w LED wall mounted light wasn't lit when the night pictures above were taken and would add slighly to the light at the rear of the property.

2. Option 2 is between the 2 garage windows looking back at the house:



This puts it at about 7 feet so much lower than on the car port, but around 15.5 feet from the nearest edge of the bay window on the rear of the house which puts subjects around 12 -20 feet from the camera depending on where they are stood.

I'm kind of favouring the garage mounting point because of the height but then the disatnce to subject becomes more of an issue potentially with a 4kt.

 

[bigredfish]

Thanks to all replies so far. Luckily on the rear there is no door in that recess, just a fall pipe so the danger there is window entry.

What is the difference between the new S and the existing versions of the 5442, is it just enhanced Smart features or are there other changes?

In theory, more AI features, EPTZ, and most importantly better min. Illumination specs. FStop of 1.2 vs 1.8

 

[EMPIRETECANDY]

I highly recommend the Color4K-T would be the best for full color pics, your place has some light in night

 

[Flintstone61]

looks like the new "S" series has a "heater" listed as a feature. Is that right?
is Andy selling the "S" series 5442 bullets now?

 

[EMPIRETECANDY]

looks like the new "S" series has a "heater" listed as a feature. Is that right?
is Andy selling the "S" series 5442 bullets now?

ZHE and ZE main difference is the ZHE support heating function, price is higher.
Still not ready to sell the new series, I test the pics no difference, upgrade to web5.0 some guys not love, i am collecting some feedback for the web5.0 and do some improvement on it. Right now the 5442 cams we sell are very stable and good.

 

[Flintstone61]

Thanks for your reply.

 

[Flintstone61]

I love my 5442 ZE Bullets. best money spent on cameras so far.

 

[CCTVCam]

I highly recommend the Color4K-T would be the best for full color pics, your place has some light in night

3.6mm for both locations?

Must admit, I'm still wondering whether to go for a ZE for the rear garden as less light and more ability to change the focal length to suit.

In theory, more AI features, EPTZ, and most importantly better min. Illumination specs. FStop of 1.2 vs 1.8

I'm not sure this is a good thing. The fstop from 1.8 to 1.2 might sound good, but the result will probably be less depth of field so less of a range in which the subject is in focus.

 

[bigredfish]

Mebbe. More light usually means better nighttime color performance. Same was true of the original 5442 vs the “NI” version. Far better night color image. We will see

 

[CCTVCam]

Yeah letting more light in should increase the low light but the cost maybe the focus range.

The ultimate answer for low light is a larger sensor.

Andy, recommendations on focal length? 3.6mm for both locations?

 

[bigredfish]

One thing I failed to mention and we failed to consider is that the FStop shown, like on all VF cams is the Max. I assume at 2.7mm focus. When you zoom, like with a PTZ, the FStop number increases. PTZs usually show this range in their specs, not sure why regular VF cameras don’t …

 

[CCTVCam]

I ordered 2x 3.6mm 4kT's.

Lets hope I made the right decision for both sites.

My neighbour just got a Ring Doorbell.

 

[JDreaming]

I ordered 2x 3.6mm 4kT's.

Lets hope I made the right decision for both sites.

My neighbour just got a Ring Doorbell.

Maybe you should've wait for the 2023 EmpireTech Spring Sales before ordering and save some extra money. It will start just few days from now from March-20th to March-24th.