Camera recommendations

[Shbek1]

I'm looking into dramatically improving my home surveillance from a couple of webcam wielding Raspberry Pi's. I'd like to start out with 5 cameras with a budget of about $120 per camera. I'l like one with 2.8mm focal length/minimum 90° viewing angle, the rest 3.6mm/70°+. I'm quite partial to turret style cameras, bullet would be my second choice.

Most of my property is well lit at night, and the areas I'm really concerned about will be within 20' of both the cameras and exterior lighting, so great night vision isn't a huge deal in my situation. It's so well lit my awful webcams actually function reasonably well at night. Haha. But seriously, I'm not expecting to see license plates on the road 50' away. They'll be outside, so they all need to be waterproof, and they need to be PoE and Blue Iris compatible. I think that's about it.


So based on that, I think the IPC-HDW4421EM would fit my needs well, but I'm open to suggestions.

My plan is to eventually have 8 cameras, and I'm seriously eyeing the IPC-HDW4421C as well simply because I could get all 8 cameras now and still be within budget. Any huge downfall with China Dahua's?

Here are my approximate camera views

 

[Camit]

I wouldn't buy any 2.8 mm or 3.6mm unless you have already have all your enter/exit spots with good facial ID. Then I would look into a wide view camera. Get your choke points first! Check out the starlight in this forum

 

[Camit]

Read here Dahua 4mp, 6mm turrets (IPC-HDW4421C)

Again the most important thing you can do is camera placement. I wouldn't recommend the 4421 in most cases I think you need the starlight it takes the guess work out of the install

Dahua Starlight Varifocal Turret (IPC-HDW5231R-Z)

 

[nayr]

China region Dahua's are not offered with English firmware and they are made w/plastics and lower quality components.. They been hacked to english so if you update it'll go back to Chinese unless you apply a hacked firmware.

Buy the Dahua Starlight Varifocal Turret (IPC-HDW5231R-Z) and be done with it; 2.8mm is terrible outside, and so is 3.6mm.. most people really need 6mm and up... check out Camera Calculator / Design Software and keep PPF > 100

the 4MP will perform considerably worse in low light than your PiCam; you seriously underestimate there capabilities.. they require Excellent lighting conditions, good is not good enough.. they are quite terrible in all but ideal lighting conditions.

 

[Shbek1]

Thanks for the replies! The recommended Starlight Varifocal looks really great, but my budget.... That extra $50 really stacks up with 5 cameras. Is there a version that's not varifocal and closer to $120?

I could definitely be off on my focal lengths, I'm definitely not an expert at this, but I do have rather small, tight spaces to cover. I've been referring to the camera calculator a LOT while planning. I'm trying to cover an L shaped porch with several windows (and of course the front door and where packages are left), a shorter driveway (going for two angles), an 8' long section between my gate and house, and the backyard to see what the kids are up to (That's the 2.8mm).

The PPF breakdown on that is that the porch coverage is 120-148PPF with my planned 2 3.6mm cameras, that's definitely crappier for the porch camera's driveway coverage, like 60+ but I try not to park outside the garage. Driveway camera is 70+ PPF, but I'm trying to cover a broader area. The gate... Using a 6mm pointed at a gate 8' away seems way too close - thoughts? Proper aiming would negate that. Backyard is... bad. But I basically just need to see where the pink blob -err child is. I probably should be using two cameras for that. Point taken.

 

[tangent]

Check out this thread to get a sense of the advantage of the bigger optics on the varifocal model compared to some of the fixed lenses. It's over you $120 budget but well worth it.
Starlight: Varifocal vs Fixed

 

[TVT73]

If you look on this thread, comparing HBDW4431 to HDBW5231. Its amazing how less the difference with the cheap sensors is compared to the sony exmor.

You are using your cam outside, you will really prefer for security reason a much clearer and smoother picture.
For Indoor use, with less distances, maybe under some circumstances the hdw4431 is also aceptable, i use it for my rabbit housing (5*3m with 2,8mm) it works fine for day and night view. the detail level is for me good, but anywhere far away from hdw5231.

 

[TVT73]

All captured from hdw4431EM-AS 2,8mm
The last picture shows the disadvantage. Although a still picture look really good, fast moving objects are for security reasons really unusable.

 

[hmjgriffon]

China region Dahua's are not offered with English firmware and they are made w/plastics and lower quality components.. They been hacked to english so if you update it'll go back to Chinese unless you apply a hacked firmware.

Buy the Dahua Starlight Varifocal Turret (IPC-HDW5231R-Z) and be done with it; 2.8mm is terrible outside, and so is 3.6mm.. most people really need 6mm and up... check out Camera Calculator / Design Software and keep PPF > 100

the 4MP will perform considerably worse in low light than your PiCam; you seriously underestimate there capabilities.. they require Excellent lighting conditions, good is not good enough.. they are quite terrible in all but ideal lighting conditions.

2.8 is good for over views.