Do you like or dislike any of these? Yes, no and why?

Interested if anyone would share personal experience or general knowledge/impressions of any of these cameras. I'm most interested in your thoughts regarding image quality (day/night), reliability, application uses, etc.

I intend to personally test some or all of these prior to deciding if any will be included in a 10 +/- camera system I'm planning for a home.

Your comments and your thoughts are greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance! I'll share my thoughts after my personal testing.

IPC-HFW4431R-Z 2.8mm ~12mm varifocal
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Dahua-DH-IPC-HDW4421S-IR-IP-Camera-4MP-Full-HD-Network-IR-security-cctv-Dome-Camera/32456649221.html?spm=2114.13010608.0.0.WcubsQ

IPC-HDBW4431R-ZS IP Camera 2.8mm ~12mm varifocal
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Dahua-IPC-HDW4421C-IR-IP-Camera-4MP-Full-HD-Network-IR-security-cctv-DH-IPC-HDW4421C/32458784602.html?spm=2114.13010608.0.0.WcubsQ

DH-IPC-HFW5421E-Z CCTV IPC 4MP POE HD 2.7mm ~12mm
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Original-Dahua-DH-IPC-HFW5421E-Z-CCTV-IPC-4MP-POE-HD-2-7mm-12mm-motorized-lens/32668863894.html?spm=2114.13010608.0.0.WcubsQ

DH-IPC-HDBW5421E-Z 4MP POE HD 2.7mm ~12mm
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Original-Dahua-DH-IPC-HDBW5421E-Z-4MP-POE-HD-2-7mm-12mm-motorized-lens-4MP-Network/32668867997.html?spm=2114.13010608.0.0.WcubsQ

DH-SD22204T-GN CCTV IP camera 2 Megapixel Full HD Network Mini PTZ
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Original-dahua-DH-SD22204T-GN-CCTV-IP-camera-2-Megapixel-Full-HD-Network-Mini-PTZ-Dome/32668700447.html?spm=2114.13010608.0.0.WcubsQ

HDW5231R-Z 2MP H265 WDR IR Eyeball 2.7mm ~12mm motorized lens Starlight Network Camera IPC-
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Dahua-2MP-H265-WDR-IR-Eyeball-2-7mm-12mm-motorized-lens-Starlight-Network-Camera-IPC-HDW5231R/32746293334.html?spm=2114.13010608.0.0.WcubsQ

I have one of the last ones you mention shipping to me now (HDW5231R-Z), it has the potential to be the best damn camera on the market right now.. if it lives up to its spec sheet.

nayr said:

I have one of the last ones you mention shipping to me now (HDW5231R-Z), it has the potential to be the best damn camera on the market right now.. if it lives up to its spec sheet.

Click to expand...

Looking forward to your testing!

fenderman said:

Looking forward to your testing!

Click to expand...

Me too!

HDW5231R does look promising. Great low light color spec, etc. The seller in the link I posted said it should ship out in about 2 weeks. So I bet you will get yours before I do (lucky guy!)

I ordered all of those other cams, too. (I guess I have a thing for vari-focal motorized cams, huh? Or I just hate climbing up and down ladders after getting things pointed in the right direction.) If any of the above cams turn out to be real dogs, I guess I could always dump them on eBay after testing.

sweet, you should do a shootout and compare em.. tha'd be a huge boon to our community.

As you can see lots of ppl are interested in the HDW5231R-Z, on paper it compares to the 1/1.9 starlight cameras that proceeded it.. but for almost half the price, if the B&W performance is comparable it should be around 0.0002Lux like the other starlights are, when they list 0lux gotta find a comparable camera w/out IR like the gun-box cams..

not sure how they are pulling off the same low light ratings with a standard 1/2.8 sensor, but interested me enough to impulse buy one heh.. its an Exmor sensor and those have been out of production for a while now with the sony earthquake earlier this year.. hopefully they arent blowing smoke up my rump and this is something new fresh out of sony's labs.

I've ordered one IPC-HFW4431R-Z last week from the same seller on the first post. As i don't need it urgent i sent it via ePacket.
I'll post some footage when it's installed.

A shootout sounds good.

I'm thinking the fair way to do it would be to ensure absoulute consistency. An apples to apples approach, if you will.

My initial thoughts: All cams would shoot the same scene, same daylight test, same night test, at the same settings. And it could certainly be a combo of indoor/outdoor samples. Ideally, I would test all of the cams on the same day/night under the same conditions.

With the exception of the 2MP cams, the rest of my list is made up of 4MP varifocals and it's evenly split between bullets and domes. If you look at the first 4 cams I listed, I think the specs are somewhat similar. But there is a huge price difference between them with the more expensive dome and bullet cams costing about twice as much as the cheaper ones.

So it becomes interesting and helpful to compare each of these bullets and each of these domes.

Are the higher priced offerings worth it? Beyond image quality (which may or may not be significant), is there a build quality or some functional difference that makes the higher priced cams worth the extra cash? Will be fun to find out!

As for timing, I expect to have all but the HDW5231R-Z in hand within a few weeks.

I would appreciate any and all tips and advice that could help ensure fair, apples to apples testing.

Thanks!

most time we have a member do this they toss together a testing rig out of whatever they can find.. ie, mount em all to a 2x6 side by side about head height attached to something you dont mind attaching it too (shed/utility pole/picnic table/sawhorses).. at night time you want to test each one at a time so the combined IR from all of them dont influence the captures.. you really only need to run one cable out there but if you want daytime shots of all identical scenes with the same timestamps; then you might want to string enough wires to power em all at same time.

Make sure its sturdy enough you dont come out and find your rig fell over and busted up all your cameras, your gona have alot of money attached to that rig so overengineering is a good idea; dont ask me how I know

The Golden hours are great times of the day for testing, right after dawn or right before dusk.. you usually have the most shadows and nice soft lighting then.

the other critical thing is facial-shots.. and snapshots of objects in motion, like someone at a normal walking pace.. I usually throw some objects in view with text written on em because thats also a good indicator of quality/noise.. run each camera at its highest bitrate/resolution settings, but if you can set them all to the same exposure settings, or as close as you can get.. ie, 1/30 w/WDR on or something.. since they are all Dahua cams this should be alot easier than others comparing various brands with completely different configs/settings.

since they are all varifocal, might run comparisons at different focal points.. ie, wide angle vs full zoom.

All great tips and very useful. I shall incorporate all of this. Thanks!

i have the DH-SD22204T-GN its real nice during the day but it sucks at night unless you have lights on

Since this one (DH-SD22204T-GN) apparently has no built in IR, I believe nayr had mentioned that some external IR floods or visible light can supplement this cam. I'll probably test with and without external lights. Thanks!

I've also decided to order and test the new Dahua bullet camera that supposedly sports an Exmor CMOS sensor.
It's IPC-HFW5431E-Z
http://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/HCgyFU8

I want to compare this to the older IPC-HFW5421E-Z that's on my list above. It does NOT appear to have an Exmor CMOS

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Original-Dahua-DH-IPC-HFW5421E-Z-CCTV-IPC-4MP-POE-HD-2-7mm-12mm-motorized-lens/32668863894.html?spm=2114.13010608.0.0.WcubsQ

The cam with Exmor CMOS is priced about $70.00 more than the one without.

nayr said:

not sure how they are pulling off the same low light ratings with a standard 1/2.8 sensor

Click to expand...

The 1/1.9" starlight uses EXMOR sensors like the IMX185 with a sensitivity of 1120 mV.
The 1/2.8" starlight uses EXMOR-R sensors like the IMX291 with a sensitivity of 1300 mV.

The EXMOR-R is back-illuminated.

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back-illuminated_sensor):
A traditional, front-illuminated digital camera is constructed in a fashion similar to the human eye, with a lens at the front and photodetectors at the back. This traditional orientation of the sensor places the active matrix of the digital camera image sensor—a matrix of individual picture elements—on its front surface and simplifies manufacturing. The matrix and its wiring, however, reflect some of the light, and thus the photocathode layer can only receive the remainder of the incoming light; the reflection reduces the signal that is available to be captured.[SUP][1][/SUP]
A back-illuminated sensor contains the same elements, but arranges the wiring behind the photocathode layer by flipping the silicon wafer during manufacturing and then thinning its reverse side so that light can strike the photocathode layer without passing through the wiring layer.[SUP][7][/SUP] This change can improve the chance of an input photon being captured from about 60% to over 90%,

IMX185: http://www.sony-semicon.co.jp/products_en/new_pro/september_2013/imx185lqj_e.html
IMX291: http://www.sony-semicon.co.jp/products_en/new_pro/february_2015/imx290_291_e.html

anyone get there HDW5231R-Z yet wondering how you like it maybe some test video

The SD22204T-GN can be had quite cheap in 5 days if this shop keeps accepting the discount: Dahua 2Mp Full HD Network Mini PTZ Speed Dome 4x optical zoom Outdoor Camera SD22204T GN in Dahua 2Mp Full HD Network Mini PTZ Speed Dome 4x optical zoom Outdoor Camera SD22204T-GN Features>4x optic van Bewakingscamera's op AliExpress.com | Alibaba Groep

Edit: just a few hours later i saw the price go up from €116 to €124. I saw more shops that participe first up the price somewhat. (Asume their profit is not that big to just let go 10%)

Lots of items are in that action, from my wish list of 8 some 4 already.

Edit: and some have dropped off an are back for higher price with discound, still somewhat cheaper than before..

The dealer i used does not participate, but he communicates in very good English and lists $24 on th invoice so i have not to pay import costs (€13) and VAT over the product cost, shipping and import duty. Speedy shipment with dhl is nice, but than the price goes up quickly..

Has anyone tested the HDW5231R-Z yet?

I was planning on ordering 8 of these cameras: DS-2CD2342WD-I-Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co. Ltd., but I'm waiting to see a review of the Dahua first.

Thanks!

Wednesday is when I'll have mine; presuming the world does not end on Tuesday.

My has been arrived yesterday. I need some time to take pictures for comparison. But today i can say HDW5231R-Z vs. DS-2CD2342WD-I the Dahua will win.

Welcome to put on some good pics, today i uploaded is inside the room, have to test it outside.^^