Review: EmpireTech IPC-T58IR-ZE-S3 / Dahua 5842T-ZE-S3 - 8MP / 4K Turret Camera

[Wildcat_1]

Intro

This is the first of 3x S3 reviews. This one will focus on the EmpireTek IPC-T58IR-ZE-S3 - 8MP S3 Turret Camera / IPC-HDW5842T-ZE-S3 Turret Camera. Unit has been provided by Andy @EMPIRETECANDY (THANK YOU !) in exchange for my fair and unbiased review.

This cam is an 8MP unit with IR. Critically these S3 units feature a number of upgrades to previous S1 / S2 versions such as AcuPick 2.0 , SMD 3.0, EPTZ as well as some great staples such as Video Metadata (which you know I’m a big fan of). It does this with a new SOC that without spoiling anything, handles things very well. It features an impressive 4 streams (1 main, 3 subs), 2 of which can handle up to 30fps @ 1080p making this a great option for sub stream sharing with additional smart home options such as Home Assistant, HomeKit, Scrypted etc which is great from a flexibility perspective, over and above traditional MW and NVR usage.

Another critical feature to point out is that these S3 cams (turret + bullet cam variants) now feature built in Microphones which has been a LONG time coming and I’m very happy this is now included.

It’s also worth noting that with the update to IVS / SMD 3.0 we now get Animal’s as a Target option. While this is great to see, I have to point out that at this point in time (July 2024) that Dahua does not offer any way to filter Animals in cam or NVR at this time. I’ve fedback that similar to Video Metadata where you have the option to filter by Human, Motor Vehicle, Non-Motor Vehicle, that we need an option to filter IVS by Animals IF this feature is going to be useful for users / evidential review.

As I mentioned in my opener post (How about a new review, what about 2, 3, possibly 4 ?), I’ve also noticed issues with AcuPick 2.0 AI algorithms relating specifically to HumanTrait. Specifically a LOT of incorrect ‘targets’ being captured with this latest algorithm that results in 100’s / 1000’s of images / vid caps. I’ve already filed this bug with detailed testing plans, recommendations etc and am awaiting updated FW from Dahua so I can perform additional testing. Therefore in the meantime, while I’ll mention AcuPick 2.0, I am purposefully NOT going to focus on that in this review and will post an addendum later. For the record, Video Metadata works fine on these cams, just not AcuPick 2.0, its AI alogirthms and therefore incorrect meta tagged files.

As usual I will be covering configuration, AI setup for critical capture, tips and tricks on how to best utilize and obviously a rundown of image quality in day/night capture scenarios. Initial vids and pics in post 2, AI feature breakdown and testing in post 3, tips and tricks on how to make these features work and other settings / menu functions in post 4 and a summary of findings / recommendations in post 5.

If anyone has any questions as I go just leave a comment. Please remember to keep questions/comments on topic with this thread. Thanks

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Onto the specs

Firmware Installed On Delivery - 2024-05-16 - Current version for this review: 2024-05-24

GUI
Uses the new Web 5.0.1

Camera Details

Image Sensor - 1/1.8” 8 Megapixel STARVIS™ CMOS
Effective Pixels - 3840(H) x 2160(V), 8 Megapixels

RAM: 2GB​

ROM: 4GB​

Electronic Shutter Speed - 1/3s~1/100,000s
Minimum Illumination:

Color: 0.0008 Lux@F1.8;​

B/W: 0.0004 Lux@F1.8;​

0Lux (IR on)​

IR LEDs - 2
IR Distance - Up to 40m (131.23 ft)
IR On/Off Control - Manual/Auto + Smart IR = Off / General (General is my recommendation)

Lens Information

Focal Length - 2.7mm~12mm
Max. Aperture - F1.8
Field of View

H: 113° ~ 47°​

V: 60° ~ 26°​

D: 133° ~ 53°​

Optical Zoom - 2.7mm to 12mm
Close Focus Distance - 1.5m (4.92ft)

DORI Distance

Wide

Detect - 83.4m(273.62ft）​

Observe - 33.4m(109.58ft)​

Recognize - 16.7m(54.79ft)​

Identify - 8.3m(27.23ft)​

Tele

Detect - 189.6m(622.05ft）​

Observe - 75.8m(248.69ft)​

Recognize - 37.9m(124.34ft)​

Identify - 19.0m(62.34ft)​

Mounting Options

• PFA122 - Square 3 hole junction box
• PFA137 - Circular Junction Box
• PFB203W - Wall Mount Bracket
• PFA152-E - Pole Mount Bracket
• PFB220C - Ceiling Mount Bracket

 

[Wildcat_1]

Post #2 - Video's & Pic's

Daytime Testing

Here is the daytime test I completed for this camera. Nightime will be coming in about 1.5 weeks. As always remember to select 4K on YouTube.

 

[Wildcat_1]

Post #3

 

[Wildcat_1]

Post #4

 

[Wildcat_1]

Post #5

 

[CCTVCam]

I quite like the sharpness out of the box but can't see a lot of diference after adjustment anyway. The DOF is impressive.

I just hope that maybe Dahua will revist large sensor cameras maybe with a new sensor given the plethora of sensors that seem to be released every year and come up with a camera that can has a large sensor but can be paired with a slightly smaller aperture to give a similar DOF to this. This camera is impressive in the day, I await night time testing before passing judgement although I expect it to be not as good as the larger format CCD's.

 

[Wildcat_1]

I quite like the sharpness out of the box but can't see a lot of diference after adjustment anyway. The DOF is impressive.

I just hope that maybe Dahua will revist large sensor cameras maybe with a new sensor given the plethora of sensors that seem to be released every year and come up with a camera that can has a large sensor but can be paired with a slightly smaller aperture to give a similar DOF to this. This camera is impressive in the day, I await night time testing before passing judgement although I expect it to be not as good as the larger format CCD's.

To confirm / clarify, the recommendations I made for adjustments are NOT shown in the video. I kept everything out of the box for this video and then made the adjustments before recommending here, based on what I saw in the video. Hope that helps clarify.

BTW, agree that it would be nice to see a 1 1/2" set of cameras with vari-focal that are not just full color. Unfortunately from my research, I don't think we'll see that this year from them.

 

[Wildcat_1]

All, night time video for this one is complete, will be uploading today. Share my thoughts, recommendations, tips in that video as well.

I'll also update the post place holders above with my final thoughts when complete. Long story short though, great camera with a LOT of potential. Needs dialing in to get the most out of it. Use my recommendations in the night video and also dial down the IR at this time. Working on getting some updated FW with some of the bug fixes I've seen in OverExposure Illumination Mode + AcuPick.