Megapixels question

[Mitch619911]

I have a 1080p camera up on my roof watching cars, I looked on Amazon and I can get a 5mp camera.
Would a 5MP camera be better at viewing faces/license plates or even an increase of night surveillance?

 

[giomania]

Not really; see this: IPCamTalk Cliff Notes 2018-04.docx


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Mitch619911]

Not really; see this: IPCamTalk Cliff Notes 2018-04.docx


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Thank you, what page would be best to read?

 

[aristobrat]

Generally speaking, an increase in MP causes images from low-light conditions (i.e. night) to decrease in quality. It's harder for the camera to capture light as the number of pixels increase. So in bright situations, no problem... but as the light decreases, the image on higher MP cameras usually starts to get grainer and grainer, with motion often becoming an unusual blur.

The best cameras for low-light conditions are Dahua's Starlight and Hikvison's Ultra-Low Light series. These are typically 2MP cameras that utilize a Sony STARVIS image sensor.

If you haven't played around with it already, IPVM Camera Calculator V3 will let you find your property on Google Maps, drop a camera on the map, then shows you what the daytime/nightime view would be like.

For doing faces/license plates from the roof, you're probably going to need a camera that can zoom in on the sidewalk/street. Look in the Dahua forum here for threads about LPR (license plate readers). There's a Dahua Starlight bullet that I think ends with Z12 that seems popular for this task.

 

[Mitch619911]

Generally speaking, an increase in MP causes images from low-light conditions (i.e. night) to decrease. It's harder for the camera to capture light as the number of pixels increase. So in bright situations, no problem... but as the light decreases, the image on higher MP cameras usually starts to get grainer and grainer, with motion often becoming an unusual blur.

The best cameras for low-light conditions are Dahua's Starlight and Hikvison's Ultra-Low Light series. These are typically 2MP cameras that utilize a Sony STARVIS image sensor.

If you haven't played around with it already, HugeDomains.com - Iptvm.com is for sale (Iptvm) will let you find your property on Google Maps, drop a camera on the map, then shows you what the daytime/nightime view would be like.

For doing faces/license plates from the roof, you're probably going to need a camera that can zoom in on the sidewalk/street. Look in the Dahua forum here for threads about LPR (license plate readers). There's a Dahua Starlight bullet that I think ends with Z12 that seems popular for this task.

Thank you for that website.
I saw on that site a 4k camera looks better than a 5mp camera?
I am looking at this camera http://a.co/9TcD9MA and it has a 'better' resolution than 4k right or wrong?
Would I be better off getting a 4k camera?

 

[aristobrat]

IIRC, a 4K camera is 8MP. So during good lighting conditions, it (8MP) will probably capture more detail than a 5MP camera. But at night, both the 8MP/5MP cameras are probably going to look a lot worse than a 2MP IPC-HDW5231R-Z (Dahua Starlight) camera.

The best all around cameras that folks here have been using since they came out in Fall 2016 are the various Dahua Starlights. The Dahua Starlights are commercial grade cameras, so they're going to cost more than the unheard of brands being sold on Amazon for under $100.

I think Andy (the vendor that most folks here buy from) said he's sold over 4,500 of the 5231 models to folks here. Plenty of the other models are popular, as well. He's @EMPIRETECANDY on the forums here. If you click on his name, go to Profile Page, and then look on the Information tab, it should have info for his AliExpress store, as well as an email address on how to contact him.

 

[Mitch619911]

Thank you all for the help.

 

[Mr_D]

You an also email Andy directly at kingsecurity2014@163.com. That's how I've made my orders. Ask him to send an invoice to your PayPal account. He'll ship the same day.