5 MegaGixel 1/1.8" low light destroyer for $90-AVOID LONGSE JUNK

[klasipca]

You may need a lot more pixels to really see more detail. Going from 3 to 5 MP isn't going to give you that, but I am referring to clarity of those pixels. Try for instance putting an object in the frame. Such as a car in a driveway or a person and see the difference.

 

[tomw]

What shutter speeds areyou guys running on these?

With my SMTSEC IMX178 I see greatresults in low light at 25 to 50 and acceptable at 100...which I am trialing now as (hopefully) a happy medium for capturing cars and people....would be good if I canwork out how to change it with light/time of day.

 

[klasipca]

What shutter speeds areyou guys running on these?

With my SMTSEC IMX178 I see greatresults in low light at 25 to 50 and acceptable at 100...which I am trialing now as (hopefully) a happy medium for capturing cars and people....would be good if I canwork out how to change it with light/time of day.

Nice. How do you like the cam? Any sample shots you can share? Sounds like you have the same issue if you set AE to manual and select shutter speed then it works either during a day or night.

 

[tomw]

Nice. How do you like the cam? Any sample shots you can share? Sounds like you have the same issue if you set AE to manual and select shutter speed then it works either during a day or night.

Hi Guys,
I'll do a writeup of the cam in the other thread so as not to blend the two camera manufacturers.


wrt AE, strangely, I can not locate the auto setting for exposure...so have it set manually via a drop down list. I was running 25 (ie. 1/25'th of a second) and it's low light performance is really good - for people walking across the frame there was no motion blur even in just moonlight (street lamp ~20-30m away). However cars moving past in the street were not clear so I am now testing 100 (1/100). At 100, the night image is tolerable (about the same or slightly worse than the Geovision 3mp dome it's replacing).


The onboard IR board seems pretty good, but I have disabled the IR as there was too much glare in the dome - the dome arrived with plastic wrap, but was covered in micro-scratches like the swirl marks you get in car paint if you do not take care when cleaning it. There is also some distortion I suspect it's a poor quality dome - so have ordered another which will hopefully be clearer...so I am looking forward to seeing it with a decent dome on.


I'll post a better writeup later with pics and video when I get time.

Snaps @ 1/100.
The night time image is with only ambient street light and no IR

 

[klasipca]

Looking forward to your review! Unfortunately, in my cam AE set to Manual is useless with daytime/night time changes and Automatic results in motion blur... so far no update on the resolution.

 

[tomw]

That's disapointing huh. I wonder if we can update the cam's with diff. manufacturer firmware? I could then buy one of those cheaper Longse's and load the SMTSEC firmware.

wrt frame rates, I only recenty changed it from the default which was 1/25. You'll be pretty impressed when you see the 1/25 videos...freaking amazing (4 times as bright as these and even with no IR it's really good! The can can see more detail than with your eyes) and no blur day or night (for people movement). The only reason I changed was I want to also capture cars.

Am at work now, but will try and post an example video tonight.

 

[riceandbeans]

One thing to be aware of though is that water can enter the bracket, and could quite easily travel along the wiring. It won't be enough to just make sure the join between the mounting surfaces of the bracket and whatever it's fixed to are sealed. The hole the wires go through will also need to be sealed.

@atom - it appears as though the ingress of the cable assembly is sealed from the inside of the assembly with the use of some flexible caulking. Here are some pictures of the bullet unit disassembled. Mine is a 3.6mm lens. Tight on time this week but if ya'll want comparison shots against a 5mm huisun mini ptz I can see if I can get some together this weekend.

Also one thing to note is that this unit does not appear to have a micro SD slot on it. It does however have a couple unused terminals on the back of the board. Not sure what they're for.

 

[atom]

@atom - it appears as though the ingress of the cable assembly is sealed from the inside of the assembly with the use of some flexible caulking. Here are some pictures of the bullet unit disassembled. Mine is a 3.6mm lens. Tight on time this week but if ya'll want comparison shots against a 5mm huisun mini ptz I can see if I can get some together this weekend.

Also one thing to note is that this unit does not appear to have a micro SD slot on it. It does however have a couple unused terminals on the back of the board. Not sure what they're for.

Thanks riceandbeans. I wasn't very clear in my comment, I was referring to water getting into the bracket and from there into wall or wherever the cable was run, rather than into the camera.

 

[klasipca]

Reply from Longse rep on the AE blurring issue and overexposure :mad-new:

We tested ourself it is ok, no such issue, pls check right setup as photos attached;
Overexposed => Turn off BLC
Blurring => Frame Interval 5sec

Pls check and set like this, hope it is ok.

He included screenshots from their demo cam which is totally different setup. As you probably seen it, it's covering large area and objects are small with more light in the area. The blurring is an issue with objects up close and if you don't have other source of light. I keep telling him that it's related to AE - Auto using less then 1/25 for shutter, because if I set it to AE - Manual with 1/25 shutter it's no longer an issue, but then 2nd issue....

To show the 2nd issue, I've reconfigured their demo cam to use AE- Manual, Shutter 1/25 and Gain set at 120 (more is better though) and you will see that it will be underexposed at night, but way overexposed during a day, there is no happy medium, you get either great motion at night or good picture during a day.


Demo (IE only):
http://183.233.190.41:8856/ (username: longse / password: 12345678)


I sent another lengthy reply with all my settings and offered to do troubleshooting via teamviewer if needed, will keep you posted.

 

[wxman]

Could easily be fixed with a day/night profile change...For the life of me, I have no idea why so many "day/night" cameras come with only one image setting profile. I mean, 99.9% of the time in order to get the best picture, the settings will need to be different between day and night.....and not just shutter speed, but other settings (such as contrast and noise reduction) need to be different too.

Perhaps if you can figure a way to change the settings by running a script on the computer at sunrise/sunset, then that may work. Before Hikvision updated the firmware to allow 2 image setting profiles, we would set a computer to automatically run a PERL script to change the settings at sunrise/sunset. Would have to know exactly where the current shutter speed is saved at within the camera before you could even attempt to make a script that can change this setting.

 

[klasipca]

Could easily be fixed with a day/night profile change...For the life of me, I have no idea why so many "day/night" cameras come with only one image setting profile. I mean, 99.9% of the time in order to get the best picture, the settings will need to be different between day and night.....and not just shutter speed, but other settings (such as contrast and noise reduction) need to be different too.

Perhaps if you can figure a way to change the settings by running a script on the computer at sunrise/sunset, then that may work. Before Hikvision updated the firmware to allow 2 image setting profiles, we would set a computer to automatically run a PERL script to change the settings at sunrise/sunset. Would have to know exactly where the current shutter speed is saved at within the camera before you could even attempt to make a script that can change this setting.

Perhaps, but other cams I have don't have issue with handling day/night transition. I don't really want or want to spend time to mess with scripts, it would be more cost effective just to buy another cam that work. Anyway, I am still battling this issue with Longse, but it's possible they are not OEM and don't really have control over firmware fixes.

 

[fenderman]

I picked up a bullet version for testing direct from Longse (i need 3 axis)...will mess with it after work, but i did notice that while mine is POE it does not have the large poe exterior box like the one @atom purchased. I did test it and the poe is working, its just built into the camera like hiks..

 

[klasipca]

I picked up a bullet version for testing direct from Longse (i need 3 axis)...will mess with it after work, but i did notice that while mine is POE it does not have the large poe exterior box like the one @atom purchased. I did test it and the poe is working, its just built into the camera like hiks..

Cool! I have the POE box as well. Can you please test the motion blurriness?

 

[fenderman]

Cool! I have the POE box as well. Can you please test the motion blurriness?

Yes will have to be an indoor test before i figure out where to mount it..I may take it up to my folks place because there is an area I want better coverage in, so it might be a few weeks before I can do that...will have to run cable in the garage, which is easy because aesthetics are not that important, but there is way too much crap in the way
What firmware version are you running?
Edit: mine camera with 3516A_IMX178_X_5.1.51.3 software version 5.1.50.1

 

[klasipca]

Yes will have to be an indoor test before i figure out where to mount it..I may take it up to my folks place because there is an area I want better coverage in, so it might be a few weeks before I can do that...will have to run cable in the garage, which is easy because aesthetics are not that important, but there is way too much crap in the way
What firmware version are you running?
Edit: mine camera with 3516A_IMX178_X_5.1.51.3 software version 5.1.50.1

Indoors you might not see motion blurriness since there will be lot of IR light, but still curious on the result.

Looks like your firmware is newer and it's not available here which is the latest one I use:

http://herospeed.net/herospeed/index.php?m=content&c=index&a=lists&catid=7

 

[klasipca]

Another seller which has it different flavors and lens options:

http://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/jJOeOpE

http://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/bQJRMm6M

Even varifocal option!

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Vandalproof-IP-Camera-Varifocal-POE-Dome-Lens-2-8-12mm-5MP-Full-HD-IMX178-Hi3516A-solution/612513_32579514832.html?spm=2114.12010108.0.82.RAwAyB

 

[Del Boy]

Same model number. Makes me think Longse don't make these.

 

[fenderman]

Even varifocal option!

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Vandalproof-IP-Camera-Varifocal-POE-Dome-Lens-2-8-12mm-5MP-Full-HD-IMX178-Hi3516A-solution/612513_32579514832.html?spm=2114.12010108.0.82.RAwAyB

That little varifocal is the best design so far. It has externally adjustable varifocal which makes it really easy and it looks to be a 3 axis design. Hikvision has a tvi turret that is adjustable that way but not for IP. Only downside is that the IR leds surround the lens vs separated.

 

[klasipca]

Same model number. Makes me think Longse don't make these.

They append S500 to all these new 5MP cams, but model #s are different

 

[klasipca]

That little varifocal is the best design so far. It has externally adjustable varifocal which makes it really easy and it looks to be a 3 axis design. Hikvision has a tvi turret that is adjustable that way but not for IP. Only downside is that the IR leds surround the lens vs separated.

Hm, I am tempted to get that now. Also curious about the 2688x1520 as a resolution listed, probably mistake, but I hope it supports it.

This cam will be perfect for indoor use.

EDIT: There are 3 of those dome versions, but I am not sure if there is really some difference aside color and zoom/focus controls:

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Newest-H-265-compression-Low-stream-IP-Dome-camera-5MP-2K-resolution-Zoom-Lens-Vandalproof-Shell/612513_32580728794.html

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/2016-Newest-Item-H-265-POE-DOME-Camera-5MP-Full-HD-super-low-stream-2-8/612513_32579696225.html

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Vandalproof-IP-Camera-Varifocal-POE-Dome-Lens-2-8-12mm-5MP-Full-HD-IMX178-Hi3516A-solution/612513_32579514832.html?spm=2114.12010108.0.82.RAwAyB