Cam catches thieves - makes me wish I bought better camera

[suddenstop]

Two thieves caught stealing from our cars. This is a hikvision 2032, and the low light of this camera has always been not that good. Thieves are 5-20ft from the camera and look at it. I have decided to invest in a better camera and am searching for a premium replacement fixed bullet cam.

 

[fenderman]

Dahua starlight turrets...see thread..

 

[suddenstop]

Thanks - I was looking at this one from the threads:

Dahua Ultra Starlight Varifocal Bullet (IPC-HFW8232E-Z)

I have realized that having a recording system isn't that great if you can't see anything. Funny how everyone wears hoodies. Thoughts on that one? If you look at 2:10 into the video, the second thief walks right by the camera.

 

[randytsuch]

Why a bullet instead of a turret?
I just got a starlight turret for my front door but not installed yet.
Takes great pictures of my garage though

Randy

 

[suddenstop]

I'm open to anything, I just need to wall mount. Here's a pic of existing cam:

 

[looney2ns]

Appears the car wasn't locked. Never good.
The ir reflection from the cars is messing with the cam exposure. Although you still wouldn't have gotten an Id. Think choke point viewing if possible.

 

[pozzello]

yup. first thing would be to keep the vehicles locked. those cams can do better.
i would try lowering the gain and shortening the exposure...

 

[mat200]

Thanks - I was looking at this one from the threads:

Dahua Ultra Starlight Varifocal Bullet (IPC-HFW8232E-Z)

I have realized that having a recording system isn't that great if you can't see anything. Funny how everyone wears hoodies. Thoughts on that one? If you look at 2:10 into the video, the second thief walks right by the camera.

I'm picking up one of those to go with the turrets. Really looking forward to getting it setup.

Good question "How to ID those wearing hoodies and masks?"

Hmmm.. there maybe ways to add more information into the video captures, for example:
By my front door I am thinking of placing something - not certain what exactly, that will act as a measure - 5 feet high.

Also, in this case, there maybe cars associated with these people, and placing a couple of cameras covering the street approaches maybe useful.

In my case, gang/taggers are hitting the neighborhood - and often a car does a quick drop off - and 1-2 min later the tag is done and they hope back into the car. When I have seen it they were too quick for me to grab my cell and capture it.

I plan to use the Ultra Starlight in color mode to help get more information ( color of clothing ) than a normal IR view would give me in a location which has fair lighting. Thus if I am able to catch someone in the act I can describe the suspect on the 911 call to the police better than "Oh - they looked sort of grey"

Thank You

 

[cainrand]

I have 2032's and they look far superior to this.

If there is nothing wrong with your camera I am wondering if the close proximity to high voltage is affecting it.

 

[Fruit]

You might want to lower your gain or dwdr due to the close distance. Try to enable smart IR as well.

At worse, you can set it to day (color) mode then install a motion detection flood light while you wait for your starlight (or leave the lights on).

Are you using shielded network cable? might help as well due to the high voltage.

I think that camera has a grounding screw on the back, might also clear up those interference.

 

[mat200]

I have 2032's and they look far superior to this.

If there is nothing wrong with your camera I am wondering if the close proximity to high voltage is affecting it.

Excellent point, didn't notice at first... plastic conduit won't stop EMP.

Maybe a good test to move the camera away and see if it improves

 

[suddenstop]

Thanks for all the responses. Yes, it would have been better to have the car doors locked. Usually we do, probably 1 in 30 chance they are unlocked.

I also agree with the choke point idea and better angles. I am going to get at least 2 new cams to get a better angle. It probably is some kind of tagging thing - last night, they hit all the houses on my street.

Based on the feedback - so far here's my list:
Go from 1 to 2 maybe 3 cameras.
Get better camera. I'm sure the hik can be tuned/improved, but I'm done with it.
Improve the sensor lighting, so that I can get decent lighting when triggered at night.
Look at angles - I don't have anything that catches the street.

Anything I've missed so far?

 

[suddenstop]

Excellent point, didn't notice at first... plastic conduit won't stop EMP.

Maybe a good test to move the camera away and see if it improves

Very interesting - I'll see if that's related.

 

[suddenstop]

Interestingly enough I don't have noise and interference during the day, only at night. That leads me to think its not the power issue. Here's the same pic in daylight:


I did turn on smart IR, and I will try moving the camera. I will need to wait for night to try that.

 

[randytsuch]

I'm open to anything, I just need to wall mount.

You can wall mount a turret, I just ordered a junction box for wall mounting mine.

Turrets are recommended because of less spider webs.

 

[Camit]

I don't think even a starlight would of got a face Id at the view you had. You needed a different angle and added zoom.

 

[hmjgriffon]

Interestingly enough I don't have noise and interference during the day, only at night. That leads me to think its not the power issue. Here's the same pic in daylight:


I did turn on smart IR, and I will try moving the camera. I will need to wait for night to try that.

Looks like you'd be better off parking the cars more in front of the camera and pointing at it so you see the front windshields perhaps in the middle so you can see them no matter what door they mess with, though one camera covering two cars is gonna be pretty wide of an angle dunno how much pixel density you'll have, tis why I have one cam for each car lol.

 

[bigredfish]

I came to the conclusion that it was gonna take 2 cameras to cover our vehicles and driveway. I like that I can keep one in color and one in B&W IR with the Starlights. The coach lights have 1200 lumen LED bulbs in 'em. I've tweeked the image since these clips and get even sharper video, but you get the idea.

 

[hmjgriffon]

I came to the conclusion that it was gonna take 2 cameras to cover our vehicles and driveway. I like that I can keep one in color and one in B&W IR with the Starlights. The coach lights have 1200 lumen LED bulbs in 'em. I've tweeked the image since these clips and get even sharper video, but you get the idea.

that's what I'm talkin about, hoping my replacement ultra starlight bullet comes next week (finally) and I will run that mofo in color all night to overview the front of the property and street, we have LED street lights so I should get very good images.

 

[cainrand]

I came to the conclusion that it was gonna take 2 cameras to cover our vehicles and driveway. I like that I can keep one in color and one in B&W IR with the Starlights. The coach lights have 1200 lumen LED bulbs in 'em. I've tweeked the image since these clips and get even sharper video, but you get the idea.

Impressive, really!

Interestingly enough I don't have noise and interference during the day, only at night. That leads me to think its not the power issue.

Just for the record... that is not normal night quality in your 2032 - It is definitely crap quality, but it isn't what that camera should be giving you.