Camera Recommendation

[TuckNTruck]

I want a camera to watch my mailbox. The closest I can mount the camera is about 80' away. I live in the middle of nowhere, so there aren't any lights from neighbors around, but there is a single street light mounted on a utility pole 15' away from the mailbox. Camera will be mounted on a shed with no lights on/around it at all, but it will be pointed towards a reasonably well lit area thanks to the street light. I'm not using this as a license plate camera, but I do want it focused on my mailbox and I want it "zoomed" in close enough that a person standing at the mailbox would take up most of the frame. Definitely not wanting an overview camera.

So I need something that is color, not IR, and works well enough to pick up good details/facial features/colors from a distance. I'm guessing any camera with appropriate focal length will be fine during daylight hours, but concern is how it works in low light. Yes, the street light is in a position so that someone standing at my mailbox would have their face illuminated by the light.

Any suggestions? Prefer to not go with a PTZ due to size - I don't want a big expensive camera out there visible from the street that people might want to steal.

 

[bigredfish]

Color at night, especially at distance, takes a shit ton of ambient light. You may or may not have enough to run in color with minimal motion blur. and noise

You may get by with the 5442-Z4, typically I recommend 60ft but 80 ft will likely work. It has the latest sensor and is very good about picking up light. It also has good IR so you can fall back to that.

IPC-HFW5442E-Z4E - Dahua International

IPC-HFW5442E-Z4E

www.dahuasecurity.com

The Z12 has more than enough distance, but 2MP instead of 4. It also has the latest sensor and is often used for LPR (I use it at 120ft)

IPC-HFW5241E-Z12E - Dahua International

IPC-HFW5241E-Z12E

www.dahuasecurity.com

 

[Ri22o]

You will likely struggle to be in color at that distance.

Also, I would recommend the 5442-Z4 over the Z12. I tried using a newer Z12 model at distance and still did not have enough IR to consistently get a good image behind my house.

 

[TuckNTruck]

Color at night, especially at distance, takes a shit ton of ambient light. You may or may not have enough to run in color with minimal motion blur. and noise

You may get by with the 5442-Z4, typically I recommend 60ft but 80 ft will likely work. It has the latest sensor and is very good about picking up light. It also has good IR so you can fall back to that.

IPC-HFW5442E-Z4E - Dahua International

IPC-HFW5442E-Z4E

www.dahuasecurity.com

The Z12 has more than enough distance, but 2MP instead of 4. It also has the latest sensor and is often used for LPR (I use it at 120ft)

IPC-HFW5241E-Z12E - Dahua International

IPC-HFW5241E-Z12E

www.dahuasecurity.com

You will likely struggle to be in color at that distance.

Also, I would recommend the 5442-Z4 over the Z12. I tried using a newer Z12 model at distance and still did not have enough IR to consistently get a good image behind my house.

Thanks, y'all. I was thinking about the Z12 b/c I figured if it didn't work for my intended use I could always use it for LPR even though I don't have much interest in that.

Looking at the specs, each camera has the "correct" sensor size / MP ratio. Comparing DORI numbers, identify distance is 129 vs 181 ft, but obviously I wouldn't expect to get that in the low light conditions I'm trying to work with and staying in color.

The 5241 has a 5-60mm (12x zoom) focal length and the 5442 is 8-32mm (4x zoom). Since low light color image quality is the goal, which camera would get more light at their max zoom? I know with my PTZ, the image gets darker and darker the more it's zoomed it, so maybe the the 5442 would produce the better image even though the 5241 is better on paper?

 

[wittaj]

As mentioned by others, the Z12E for anything but plates will do poorly in low light conditions at distance. Would be lucky to get identify at 60 feet at night under ideal conditions with infrared - in color forget in unless you have stadium quality light. The Z4E at 60 feet would blow the Z12E away.

DORI you have to take with a grain of salt. Personally I cut the number in half during the day and cut that half-day number in half for night. Those numbers are under IDEAL situations with no movement.

Like @Ri22o I tried the Z12E at distance for people and it just doesn't cut it.

 

[Ri22o]

This is one of the few captures I got, and I had to manually take it, so it's in sub stream. AI didn't even pick them up and trigger the IVS rule.


This is me standing still, no IVS trigger here either.


This is with some adjustments, more exposure, and standing very still. There was a lot of noise and I was a blur if I moved. I still could not get consistent IVS triggers.


But, these were captures during the day; it was great for that.

 

[bigredfish]

5442-Z4
50-55ft - there is additional IR on the scene as I have a close in driveway cam mounted right on top of this one.
Cats on porch are 65ft

Zoom is at about 65-70%

Microphone is the best out of all of my cameras by far



View attachment Home_ch8_20241021065104_20241021065116.mp4
View attachment Home_ch8_20241128003733_20241128003749.mp4
View attachment Home_ch8_20241128060821_20241128060840.mp4

 

[bigredfish]

I routinely get good ID pics from the far end of the porch and driveway - Lady is at about 80-85ft

Remember I'm only 70% zoomed and not aimed that way

 

[TuckNTruck]

Thanks everyone. Looks like the 5442 is the clear winner. Think I'll give it a shot.