Camera recommendations for narrow corridors

faiz_syd

n3wb
Oct 1, 2024
8
2
Sydney
Hi looking for Dahua camera recommendations for the narrow corridors that will only cover my side of the fence, and do not overlook the neighbour’s fence. Please see the photos of the areas I am trying to cover.
IMG_9063.jpegIMG_9066.jpeg
I have shortlisted two models
Varifocal: IPC-HDW3849H-ZAS-PV-ANZ-S2 - Dahua Oceania
Fixed: IPC-HDW3849H-ZAS-PV-ANZ-S2 - Dahua Oceania


Should I go with a varifocal turret or rotate the lens of a fixed turret? I am new to the CCTV world. Appreciate the help! Thanks.
 
Zoomed varifocal will give You give you a big blind spot under the camera.
For that configuration the best is to use simply fixed turret in corridor mode (rotated 90 degrees).
2.8 and 3.6mm will work (2.8 will be little wider, 3.6 will give You face identify for 1-2 meters longer distances)..

if we talk about cams, the best & most popular on this forum Dahua cam is 5442.
if have much bigger 1/1.8" sensor which gives much better image at night.


We buy those cheap in Andy shop:



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Thanks for the detailed explanation. I am looking for the 4K cameras just to future-proof this installation. When I look at the camera specs, it mentions three focal lengths 2.8 mm; 3.6 mm; 6 mm for IPC-HDW5442TM-ASE - Dahua International.
Are these different models or settings in the camera?

those are fixed lens specifications.. As I wrote 2.8mm see wider, 3.6mm is less compressing people at distance...
For You situation 3.6mm will be better (very narrow corridor)..
Everything is in specification:

Screenshot 2024-10-01 at 10.09.54.png
 
Thanks again. Highly informative. I am yet to finalise the order for the corridors. I will ask the installer to get the 3.6mm for the sides.
 
Most here feel 4MP is the sweet spot for these cameras.

The 4K cameras suffer from showing these types of cameras are not infinity focus and outside the sweet spot of 15-18 feet, anything shorter or longer than that distance will be soft/blurry.

The 4MP doesn't suffer from that and given your long corridor I suspect you want this more for IDENTIFY than OBSERVE.

Most use the 4K for observe to get color at night and use 4MP to identify.
 
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Just be aware that some cameras can't run at full resolution when in corridor mode.
I have a HDW3549 on one side of my house and I tried it on corridor mode.
I forget the specifics but it wouldn't let me run it at the full resolution. I had the drop it down.
I just put it back to normal mode instead.

On the other side of my house I have a varifocal camera zoomed in to the full 13mm and while it does have a blind spot underneath as mentioned above, it is able to cover all doors and windows on that side just fine.
 
My 4kt runs in corridor mode, but it would not let me rotate the image in camera at full res. But I can rotate it in Blue Iris after, with the camera still at full res. But using the 4Kt in corridor mode (sideways) makes IVS ineffective. (the camera doesn't trigger well using IVS when rotated). The workaround for me was to have another camera that sees mostly the same area, horizontally, trigger the corridor cam.