Board Type IMX 178 or IMX 185

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stonewatch

Young grasshopper
Apr 1, 2014
31
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Has anyone tested board type cameras based upon IMX 178 or IMX 185 and sold on aliexpress for USD 100 ?
 
I don't blame Stonewatch for not wanting to read through 34+ pages of comments that don't necessarily answer the question.

I'm looking for real-world experience with the IMX178 vs IMX185 in terms of absolute low light performance. I'm looking for a camera which can observe weather at night with no IR illumination. Absolute sensitivity is more important to me than resolution.

There are a million cameras listed on aliexpress but there is so much cheating or sprinkling of random terms and figures it's hard to tell what you're really looking at. For example I've seen the IMX185 listed as .0001, .001, .01, .05 LUX. I've seen the same camera from different sellers listed with four different analog or digital interfaces and with no interface other than IP. In short, I don't trust anything I read on the aliexpress site.

So at this point I too am asking has anyone actually tested and compared (not just quoting me specs) the IMX178 with the IMX185 and have an opinion one way or the other?
 
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Chris Novy said:
I don't blame Stonewatch for not wanting to read through 34+ pages of comments that don't necessarily answer the question.

I'm looking for real-world experience with the IMX178 vs IMX185 in terms of absolute low light performance. I'm looking for a camera which can observe weather at night with no IR illumination. Absolute sensitivity is more important to me than resolution.

There are a million cameras listed on aliexpress but there is so much cheating or sprinkling of random terms and figures it's hard to tell what you're really looking at. For example I've seen the IMX185 listed as .0001, .001, .01, .05 LUX. I've seen the same camera from different sellers listed with four different analog or digital interfaces and with no interface other than IP. In short, I don't trust anything I read on the aliexpress site.

So at this point I too am asking has anyone actually tested and compared (not just quoting me specs) the IMX178 with the IMX185 and have an opinion one way or the other?
Click to expand...

IMX185 will be better for low light. There was a pic posted before which compared it to the 178 and it was clearer. I don't think anyone here has had a camera with IMX185
 
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IMX185 isn't appealing because it's only 2MP, unless it's a PTZ I would rather have more pixels for detail with imx178
 
My question was not for complete cameras, but for the boards because I would like to chose a good CS-mount lens , assemble it myself and put it into a homemade stainless steel outdoor enclosure.DIYcase.jpg
 
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In my case I will likely be using a PTZ since one never knows which way the weather will be coming from.

That said, I'll probably also want a standalone box camera in a weatherproof housing that I can mount on a tripod and simply point in the direction of the storms. The box camera would be a lot less expensive and easier to deploy quickly.

2MP is plenty of resolution for me although 5MP would be nicer. I suppose 5MP with H.265 would consume about as much network bandwidth as 2MP at H.264.

In the end I'll probably need to to purchase one of each (IMX178/IMX185) and do some side by side comparisons.

So many "security" cameras rely on supplemental IR lighting. When you are trying to image a thunderstorm 15 miles away over nowhere Oklahoma at 2AM, however, IR lighting is not an option.
 
Check out this link for low light comparisons of several board cameras, although neither of the ones you are interested in are included- http://ve6sbs.sbszoo.com/projects/ipcam/compare/comparison.htm

The IMX225 seems quite interesting for low light use. Not sure how it compares to, say, the IMX185 though. The IMX225 is quite cheap, so it'd be worth a shot to include it in your comparison. If you get all three, I (and I'm sure lots of others) would love to see a side by side test.
 
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Images towards the bottom of this listing show a comparison of 178 vs 185. 185 looks magnitudes better at night, but of course it's much lower res.
 
kkm said:
The data sheet imx290 best in low light conditions( more sensitivity ) , but the image quality is not as good as 178 and 185
http://www.sony.net/Products/SC-HP/new_pro/february_2015/imx290_291_e.html
Click to expand...

Based on this spec, the IMX225 sensor cameras have "Sensitivity (F5.6) 2350 mV" which is almost twice the low light sensitivity of IMX290 with "Sensitivity (F5.6) 1300 mV". IMX185 has "Sensitivity (F5.6): 1120mV", and IMX178 has "Sensitivity (F5.6): 425mV".

I can confirm IMX225 sees much more in low light than IMX178 (see this post) but the 178 has much less tendency to overexpose faces, plus the higher resolution makes it much better for security unless you really need to operate in low light levels. If you want to photograph stars or track clouds, I think IMX225 is the most sensitive sensor around. At least Sony claims it's the world's most sensitive sensor as of August 2014. Ask around on a star gazing forum and you might find more people with actual experience using the best low light sensors.

BTW, if anyone can explain how to interpret the "Saturation signal" figures on the spec sheets I'd appreciate it.
 
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IMX185_starlight.jpg

I've owned and used both and they're both awesome, it just depends on what you want. 185 is better with light, 178 is higher res. Attached are the Texas stars through my 185. Waning gibbous, camera is due east. I can see the bright stars once my eyes adjust, but the dimmer ones can't be seen with the naked eye but can through the 185. Lens is a CS mount 8mm F1.4.
 
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I bought an IMX 185 board from hscctv.com and have tested it for several months now. The sensor is very good both day and night but the firmware can not utilize the full potential as the automatic day/night switching only works with a minimum exposure time of 1/25s. It also can not be set up for longer exposure than 1/25.
The software never crashed, no artefacts even with 25 fps and very good h.264 compression, powerful chipset.IMX185a.jpg
 
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Looking at Sony_IMX178 + Hisilicon_3516A (up to 5MP) I found also this Super low light mini PTZ version: HAB-MC2592PIP-6SL from JCO Security
The price is higher than Longse S500 series, but you get at least a mini PTZ (PT actually, since it has fixed lens)

BTW: the same PTZ can be delivered with IMX185/H3516D sensor: JCO-IHAB-MC1080PIP-6SL (up to 2MP)
Here the specs in brief:

JCO_PTZ.png
 
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