Best low light poe camera without spotlights

[sdiamond808]

First, this forum is awesome. Yall helped me tune my LPR and its amazing. Now I need something that has a full view of my hard to compliment the zoomed in darkfighter LPR.

I'm about 95 feet from the street. Only lighting is 5 landscaping uprights along my house. No street lights or neighbor lights. So it's dark.

I read about the 4k-x with the 1/1.2 cmos, however, it seems that has a white led spotlight on it. I don't want to Illuminate my yard like that at night even as beneficial as it might seem. Is there a way to get good clear video at night without the spotlight?

I have an old hikvision 4mp ir camera, but it gets so black and white at night you can't see detail. I watched my daughter's bike get stolen out of my yard and couldn't come close to figuring out who did it. Reason for the LPR I have now.

Looking for something that gets good night detail in a very low light situation without a bright spotlight. Ir is ok if it looks good.

 

[wittaj]

Many of us use the 4K-x without the spotlight. It comes down to do you have enough available light to make the camera work?

If not then you need a camera with infrared.

And how far is the distance to Identify? The 4K cams realistically at night will not identify much past 15-20 feet, so you would have to go to a 4MP varifocal on the 1/1.8" sensor.

 

[bigredfish]

Without actually seeing your ambient light its hard to say. And you wont find too many cameras that will give you good detail AND cover the whole area out to 95ft. If little ambient light your choices are to put white light on the target area or live with IR/B&W. The 5442 series is the go-to for that

Typically you'd want multiple cameras crossing and you may want to look at a small PTZ to compliment them for further out detail and tracking

 

[sdiamond808]

Many of us use the 4K-x without the spotlight. It comes down to do you have enough available light to make the camera work?

If not then you need a camera with infrared.

And how far is the distance to Identify? The 4K cams realistically at night will not identify much past 15-20 feet, so you would have to go to a 4MP varifocal on the 1/1.8" sensor.

I'm willing to do whatever works best. My LPR is only 2mp and it gets real good images zoomed 90 feet to my driveway entrance.

I'd like to be able to see my mailbox incase somebody smashes into it, so about 90 feet. 100% detail isn't a must because if I saw it happen I could time stamp and go to the LPR. Definitely don't want to spotlight my yard. Looking for something with good detail and IR is ok. The 4k-x didn't look too expensive. Is it worth it to use without the spotlight?

 

[wittaj]

The 4K will let you observe what happens at 90 feet if you have enough light. In conjunction with the LPR it would identify the vehicle. But someone walking up your street and checking mailboxes you will not be able to Identify.

 

[sdiamond808]

Without actually seeing your ambient light its hard to say. And you wont find too many cameras that will give you good detail AND cover the whole area out to 95ft. If little ambient light your choices are to put white light on the target area or live with IR/B&W. The 5442 series is the go-to for that

Typically you'd want multiple cameras crossing and you may want to look at a small PTZ to compliment them for further out detail and tracking

I'm ok with IR, I've read they are better than what I got in 2016 thats basically black and white. Are they more detailed now?

 

[bigredfish]

60 ft to the brick retaining wall with a 4K-X bullet 3.6mm with and without LEDs at 50% and a nicely placed street light. Fine for Overview, and ID on vehicle type/color, but not faces
There is a 6mm version that would do better but you lose the close in first 20ft

 

[bigredfish]

I'm ok with IR, I've read they are better than what I got in 2016 thats basically black and white. Are they more detailed now?

Yes the 5442 series with the bigger 1/1.8 sensor is much better than what was available in 2016

 

[bigredfish]

5442 variable focus 4MP bullet 2.7-12mm
Only IR light. It’s black back there. 43ft to the far side of the dock unzoomed. IR coyuld be cranked up much more for longer shots



Sorry I've recently moved here and no longer have a longer shot, perhaps someone else does

 

[sdiamond808]

Many of us use the 4K-x without the spotlight. It comes down to do you have enough available light to make the camera work?

If not then you need a camera with infrared.

And how far is the distance to Identify? The 4K cams realistically at night will not identify much past 15-20 feet, so you would have to go to a 4MP varifocal on the 1/1.8" sensor.

The 4x-k doesn't have an IR model?

 

[bigredfish]

Nope

 

[bigredfish]

B&W but no IR

 

[bigredfish]

Sorry these are a better quality. The others came from snaps off of SmartPSS and I noticed they were much smaller files... hmmmm

5442 IR


4K-X

 

[sdiamond808]

60 ft to the brick retaining wall with a 4K-X bullet 3.6mm with and without LEDs at 50% and a nicely placed street light. Fine for Overview, and ID on vehicle type/color, but not faces
There is a 6mm version that would do better but you lose the close in first 20ft

View attachment 169280 View attachment 169279

Looks good but can you get it with IR? I don't have a street light

 

[bigredfish]

No. The 4K 1/1.2 sensor cameras don’t come with IR capability.

There are other 4K cams with smaller sensors with IR, but not as good.

Like I mentioned the 4MP 5442 series (yes these have IR) are the current go-to camera for most. The dock camera is a 5442 using IR

 

[Parley]

Here is the 6mm version of the 4K-X. This is in my back yard. Not quite dark yet.

 

[wittaj]

And you can't add external IR either for the 4K as it cannot see it.

 

[sdiamond808]

No. The 4K 1/1.2 sensor cameras don’t come with IR capability.

There are other 4K cams with smaller sensors with IR, but not as good.

Like I mentioned the 4MP 5442 series (yes these have IR) are the current go-to camera for most. The dock camera is a 5442 using IR

Looks good. Which 5442 is best?

 

[bigredfish]

That depends on what you want to focus on. For distance you'll probably want the variable focus model.
Either the IPC-HDW5442T-ZE - Dahua Technology for ID at about 40 ft fully zoomed
or for further out the Z4 model which only comes in a bullet form
IPC-HFW5442E-Z4E - Dahua Technology which will get you ID out to 100 ft fully zoomed

 

[wittaj]

Looks good. Which 5442 is best?

You need the 5442 for the distance to IDENTIFY

5442 fixed lens - 20ish feet or so

5442-ZE varifocal - 40ish feet or so

5442-Z4E varifocal - 60ish feet or so

Each one is the best for the distance to be covered. One camera cannot be the be all, see all.