2Mp Starlight turrets

IAmATeaf

IAmATeaf

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Jan 13, 2019
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I've seen plenty of thread like mine asking for advice and I've done loads of reading, I had almost decided to go for the 2Mp Starlight cams but reading the various threads I see some really impressive looking screen grabs and then some that not so, hence I can't make up my mind.

A bit inside me is saying these are the best overall day and night cams so go for it but like Homer to the light the higher Mp is also drawing me away.

So can somebody kick me into touch please and give me some positive so that I can contact Andy and order 6 of these :D
 
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I can ;) Whilst these cameras are very good at low light, i.e. at night they are even better with some external lighting. I use to run mine without external lighting, in B/W mode at night. But after adding external lighting via 50w LED PIR I now run in colour mode at night it's amazing. Yes a 4mp camera on a nice sunny day would give a sharper image, but would suffer at night when all the "C**ts" are about, unless you lit up your drive like like the 4th of July!
 
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You need to attend a few Megapixels Anonymous sessions just to be safe. The 2MP Starlight, Starvis, sensor still is the best overall and outstanding at night. If you're willing to wait an indeterminate amount of time, and spend more money, 4MP versions may become available someday in the future.
 
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Great camera, maybe even best currently under $200 - Dahua 2MP Starlights and/or HIK Darkfighter
Much Better AMAZING camera - wayyy more money that you're going to want to spend.

That said, 5 people can buy the same 2MP Starlight camera and 3 of them wont spend 5 minutes let alone the many HOURS/WEEKS some of us have in tweeking settings and guess what? Those 3 people wont be satisfied. I think some of it is the "instant gratification" world we live in thinking you just plug it in and WHaLA! its perfectly adjusted out of the box. Not.
 
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If you want higher MP and at least somewhat similar low light capability you have to step up to the larger image sensor 1/1.8", I think it is.

Perhaps something like IPC-HFW8630E-Z.
 
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bigredfish said:
Great camera, maybe even best currently under $200 - Dahua 2MP Starlights and/or HIK Darkfighter
Much Better AMAZING camera - wayyy more money that you're going to want to spend.

That said, 5 people can buy the same 2MP Starlight camera and 3 of them wont spend 5 minutes let alone the many HOURS/WEEKS some of us have in tweeking settings and guess what? Those 3 people wont be satisfied. I think some of it is the "instant gratification" world we live in thinking you just plug it in and WHaLA! its perfectly adjusted out of the box. Not.
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This also reminds me when people purchase $2000 4K TV and run it with the standard settings out of the box and moan. And wont pay for professional calibration or research how to do it themselves!!
 
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bigredfish said:
Great camera, maybe even best currently under $200 - Dahua 2MP Starlights and/or HIK Darkfighter
Much Better AMAZING camera - wayyy more money that you're going to want to spend.

That said, 5 people can buy the same 2MP Starlight camera and 3 of them wont spend 5 minutes let alone the many HOURS/WEEKS some of us have in tweeking settings and guess what? Those 3 people wont be satisfied. I think some of it is the "instant gratification" world we live in thinking you just plug it in and WHaLA! its perfectly adjusted out of the box. Not.
Click to expand...
:goodpost:
 
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I am very impressed with the IPC-HDW2231R-ZS I got from Andy via Amazon. I just installed the first one last night. I bought a couple of cheap 1080P Faleemi FSC860 cameras on Amazon to do a "proof of concept" to get a feel for Blue Iris and setting up cameras before buying a lot of them to put up here. Being that both models are 2mp there is no comparison at night. In the day the 2231 is much more clear too. I like the Varifocal on the IPC to zoom to the area I am concerned with. There is an LED security light on the top of the pole with the power meter you see. It's pitch black out tonight yet you can see the color of the trees, poles, camper, etc. I'm not sure but I doubt the IR turned itself on because the LED security light is bright enough. Doing a test run last night after I put up the camera, the vehicle color shows up as well as we can read the license plates if you pull in for gas.Gas Pump 2019-3-7 07.19.49.423 PM.jpg

Later in the afternoon today I did a test run for triggering/alerts. Here is a photo from a cloudy afternoon.

GasPump.20190307_164210_167851000.jpg
Last is an image in the daytime but inside with lights with the Faleemi

Garage.20190307_155428_167851000.jpg
JD
 
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Jay Dub said:
I am very impressed with the IPC-HDW2231R-ZS I got from Andy via Amazon. I just installed the first one last night. I bought a couple of cheap 1080P Faleemi FSC860 cameras on Amazon to do a "proof of concept" to get a feel for Blue Iris and setting up cameras before buying a lot of them to put up here. Being that both models are 2mp there is no comparison at night. In the day the 2231 is much more clear too. I like the Varifocal on the IPC to zoom to the area I am concerned with. There is an LED security light on the top of the pole with the power meter you see. It's pitch black out tonight yet you can see the color of the trees, poles, camper, etc. I'm not sure but I doubt the IR turned itself on because the LED security light is bright enough. Doing a test run last night after I put up the camera, the vehicle color shows up as well as we can read the license plates if you pull in for gas.View attachment 40114
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The camera is great, but note that you cannot do a proper low light test with snow on the ground, it reflects too much light producing a better image.
 
I realize the snow changes the ambient light but the cameras have only been up a day now so these are the only conditions I've had so far. I'm curious to see how they work on cloudy nights vs starry nights too.
 
Also need a video clip test, not a static image with no movement. a lot of cameras can be set up for amazing low light still image but video will be blurry or grainy. I always prefer to see video samples for comparison of how good a camera does.
 
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Thanks peeps, mind made up, will be ordering the Starlights just need to do some reading on what I need in terms of mounting them, 1 will need to go onto a pole so I'd rather put in an order for the lot in one go.
 
IAmATeaf said:
Thanks peeps, mind made up, will be ordering the Starlights just need to do some reading on what I need in terms of mounting them, 1 will need to go onto a pole so I'd rather put in an order for the lot in one go.
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For you mounts, I use these two, depending what people want.

US $15.67 5% OFF|Aliexpress.com : Buy Waterproof Wall Mount Bracket PFB203W from Reliable bracket wall mount suppliers on Empire Technology Co., Ltd
US $13.29 5% OFF|Aliexpress.com : Buy Waterproof Junction Box PFA134 from Reliable box box suppliers on Empire Technology Co., Ltd

And you your pole.

US $24.23 5% OFF|Aliexpress.com : Buy Pole mount bracket PFA150 from Reliable box suppliers on Empire Technology Co., Ltd
 
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I was actually looking at PFA130 which I think is more the size of the turret cams I intend to get.

For the pole mount I was looking at PFA152-E with a PFA130 junction box, again simply due to them matching the 122mm of the turret cams?
 
PFA137 and PFA130 both fit the those turrets. Both are listed as waterproof but I don't see how 137 can be classified as such.
 
Whoaru99 said:
PFA137 and PFA130 both fit the those turrets. Both are listed as waterproof but I don't see how 137 can be classified as such.
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I'm with you on the PFA137, Once I set them up I use silicon sealant to seal the water entry points (around the indent where the camera moves in and out once fixed to the wall)
 
Quick update and a confession, still not ordered anything.

I keep on seeing posts here and drawn to do further reading which then un-makes my mind :(

Doesn't help that I've just watched a vid clip of an 8mb Hikvision camera taken in the night which to my eyes looked really good.
 
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