Advice: Move this camera or buy a new one?

[nonono]

I need to add another camera to help cover my neighbor's parking lot. My front porch has a EmpireTech IPC-T54IR-ZE 4MP 1/1.8" and I'm considering moving it to the parking lot if there's anything better for the front porch.

Current Location - Front Porch: I can run a porch light here for night color and identify people well, but I'm considering going dark here as the porch light seems to attract as much attention as it deters (e.g. lighting up packages).

New Location - I'm going to add a new camera for overview of a 40'x40' parking lot behind my neighbor's house. The ideal purpose would be to identify, but I don't control the lighting and I need to cover the entire space. So, my expectations for actually identifying someone are low. I'm just trying to help a neighbor out. So, let's say the goal here is overview.

Questions

• Are there any new compelling cameras I might want to put on my front porch? In this case, I'd move the current one to the parking lot.
• If the camera I have on the front porch is the best option still, what are my best options for poor-lighting-overview of the parking space? My expectations are fairly low here, just trying to help my neighbor out without getting into lighting or multiple cameras.

Here's my current front porch situation running in color.

 

[steve1225]

I need to add another camera to help cover my neighbor's parking lot. My front porch has a EmpireTech IPC-T54IR-ZE 4MP 1/1.8" and I'm considering moving it to the parking lot if there's anything better for the front porch.

if this is older (pre Q2 2023, old grey web panel - not new white/blue one) version of 5442 - then a new 5442-S3 variant will have much better night performance. Dahua migrated from III gen ISP (Image Signal Processor) in original 5442 from 2019 to V gen ISP (called AI-ISP) in 5442-S3 with much better / cleaner / brighter / more color-full night performance..

Also fixed lens variants (2.8 or 3.6mm) are 20% brighter comparing to varifocal one.

Before a new 5442-S3, there were also 5849 aka Color4K (8mpx on bigger 1/1.2" sensor) and 5849-A180 aka Color4K-180 (2 sensors/lens 4Mpx which creates 180 view) which had better night performance (but they required onsite light due lack of IR LEDs). But a new one 5442-S3 changed everything.

 

[nonono]

Gotcha, thanks for the information - that's the type of stuff that's hard to keep up with when buying infrequently. So this would this 2.8mm s3 be a good option for the parking space? That is, a wide angle fixed focal length? I have no use-case to optical zoom in this location, so it seems like fixed length would give better performance?

EmpireTech 4MP 1/1.8" CMOS Ultra Low Light Starlight+ IR Turret AI IP Camera SMD 3.0,AcuPick,IP67,Support POE and ePOE,Built-in Mic,Vehicle and Human Detection,S3 Version IPC-T54IR-AS 2.8mm

 

[steve1225]

2.8mm is almost 110 degree horizontal very wide view (min zoom in varifocal model)..
3.6mm is almost 90 degree horizontal normal view (about 25% of zoom in varifocal model)..

In most cases 3.6mm is much better option - it will give better optical zoom, better people/faces/cars details and will not record walls adjacent to the camera like in 2.8mm case

Check Your actual zoom level in varifocal model and You will got answer.
You can switch zoom level between 0 and 25% to see a difference..

 

[nonono]

Thanks. In that case, on the other hand, If I were to replace this with a fixed length would I be looking for 6mm?

2.8 - 12mm varifocal camera.
12mm - 2.8mm = 9.2mm
33% zoom
2.8mm + (9.2mm * 0.33) = ~5.8mm

Is that how the math works?

 

[steve1225]

30% zoom is more 3.6mm...
6.0mm is more like 70-75%..

Dahua fakes 2.8-12mm specification in ZE varifocal models... It's more like 2.8 - 8.0mm..
sometimes little more sometimes little less depending of model / generation..

 

[looney2ns]

Focal Length Calculator

Calculate the focal point of a camera to help determine the best size lens to order. Save & view your results later.

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[Ri22o]

For reference, this is testing with a varifocal set to 1100 and it's fixed 6mm replacement. Location is the exact same and I did my best to get the 6mm FOV as similar as it was with the varifocal.



I also found that a varifocal set to 440 (4.5mm) is close to the fixed 3.6mm.

Varifocal vs Fixed focal length comparison.

I know there are a couple other threads on this, but I wanted to make my contribution. It is always highly suggested for new installs to first get a varifocal and then use it to determine the focal length you need for a given field of view. I had replaced one of my varifocals with a fixed...

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