Cameras for marine environment?

[sailingsail]

Hi everyone,

I am in the process of upgrading our cameras onboard a boat (currently using Lilin cameras, which are horrendous).

I require the following cameras:

- 8 x PTZ dome cameras (both interior and exterior use)
- 4 x HD weather-resistant cameras (wide angle is a bonus) - these also need to be ceiling mounted, not wall mounted, as they will be fitted underneath spreaders.

So far, I have been looking at Amcrest, Dahua, Milestone and Axis.

Since they will be in a harsh marine environment, they need to be 100% watertight and pretty robust to stand up to the elements.

Cameras of interest so far include:

• AXIS Q6135-LE
• AXIS P5655-E
• Milesight AI 36X/42X Speed Dome

The cameras will be running off either Frigate, Scrypted or Blur Iris.

Budget for the HD cameras should ideally be around 2000 euros or under, and the dome cameras around 1000 euros or under - unless the price can really justify the quality.

Based on the above, I would really appreciate any advice on available options that I could have a look at.

Thanks so much in advance!

 

[steve1225]

1. how big boat? what type?

2. All profesional cameras on the market are air and watertight - they are designed to mount outside..

3. there are some dedicated anti-corrosion models from some vendors - which have extra solutions for high humidity areas - but product catalog is very limiting..

Anti-Corrosion Cameras - Dahua International

Anti-Corrosion Cameras

www.dahuasecurity.com

Anti-Corrosion Series

The next-gen anti-corrosion cameras: special materials & designs, corrosion-resistant accessories, and expandable AI analytics in various product forms.

www.hikvision.com

AXIS Q3538-SLVE Dome Camera | Axis Communications

Stainless steel 8 MP dome for corrosive areas

www.axis.com

4. none of models specified by You are labeled as anti corrosion model...

5. You selected also models with small image sensors (1/2.8") which will give You bad night performance..

6. You have very strange ratio of cams - 8 PTZs and only 4 fixed cams ..
can You explain why?

normally there is a lot of fixed cams (they are much cheaper) and only a few PTZ...

BIG plus of modern PTZ is that they have auto-tracking - so can automatically zoom/focus at some person.
popular problem with PTZ is that they see narrow (max 60 degree horizontal) and they usually are looking in wrong direction.
if they focus on one person they don't see the rest of the area..

Fixed cams can be very cheap and most system are usually based on much higher numbers of fixed cams - to cover are area...
fixed cams can be mixed - wide fixed lens (2.8mm gives You 110 degree horizontal view) and varifocals with zoom to cover bigger distances at a lower horizontal view..
There are 180 degrees cams with 2 lenses - which can be something interesting for You if You want lots of overview in the middle of area..

7. One more problem with ptz cams. The boat swings non-stop and so does the camera.
PTZ cameras are designed for permanent mounting, to surfaces that do not swing.
I don't know how the mechanism that moves the head will react to constant swinging.

8. dome cameras can be problematic (dome creates a lot of IR reflections, require frequent cleanings).. much better are turrets (to mount under something) or bullets...

9. there are PTZ cams with wipers - which can be handy for You...

WizMind Series - Dahua International

WizMind Series

www.dahuasecurity.com

WizMind Series - Dahua International

WizMind Series

www.dahuasecurity.com

10. Buying a profesional cams for a lot of money and connecting them to some pc with frigate/scripted/blueiris?

today cams have a lot of AI options (perimeter protection with people/car filtering, people capturing and describing by look which can be later searched, area incident searching)..
the best solution is to stay in one brand and use NVR from that brand to have access to all AI features offered by camera..
NVR will allow to fast search by different actions and parameters..

11. here on the forum, the most popular cams are Dahua 5442 series.. they are 4Mpx with big very bright at night image sensor, very good image processing and AI functionality.. they come in many many variants (chassis, fixed or varifocal/zoomed optics, colors).. they are cheap (150-250 USD depending of chassis/optics/models)..

WizMind S Series - Dahua International

WizMind S Series

www.dahuasecurity.com

Search: 9 results found for "54ir"

Building security systems for home and business offices. Protecting customers' personal safety and property security. All the security cameras and NVRs we sell are of great quality and at affordable prices.

empiretech01.com

in theory some of the 5442 models (5442H) can be ordered in anti-corrosion coatings.

Network Cameras - Dahua International

Network Cameras

www.dahuasecurity.com

Network Cameras - Dahua International

Network Cameras

www.dahuasecurity.com

 

[TonyR]

+1^^ regarding domes. The domes themselves are problematic inland, I can only imagine how negatively they would be affected on or near water.

 

[sailingsail]

1. how big boat? what type?

2. All profesional cameras on the market are air and watertight - they are designed to mount outside..

3. there are some dedicated anti-corrosion models from some vendors - which have extra solutions for high humidity areas - but product catalog is very limiting..

Anti-Corrosion Cameras - Dahua International

Anti-Corrosion Cameras

www.dahuasecurity.com

Anti-Corrosion Series

The next-gen anti-corrosion cameras: special materials & designs, corrosion-resistant accessories, and expandable AI analytics in various product forms.

www.hikvision.com

AXIS Q3538-SLVE Dome Camera | Axis Communications

Stainless steel 8 MP dome for corrosive areas

www.axis.com

4. none of models specified by You are labeled as anti corrosion model...

5. You selected also models with small image sensors (1/2.8") which will give You bad night performance..

6. You have very strange ratio of cams - 8 PTZs and only 4 fixed cams ..
can You explain why?

normally there is a lot of fixed cams (they are much cheaper) and only a few PTZ...

BIG plus of modern PTZ is that they have auto-tracking - so can automatically zoom/focus at some person.
popular problem with PTZ is that they see narrow (max 60 degree horizontal) and they usually are looking in wrong direction.
if they focus on one person they don't see the rest of the area..

Fixed cams can be very cheap and most system are usually based on much higher numbers of fixed cams - to cover are area...
fixed cams can be mixed - wide fixed lens (2.8mm gives You 110 degree horizontal view) and varifocals with zoom to cover bigger distances at a lower horizontal view..
There are 180 degrees cams with 2 lenses - which can be something interesting for You if You want lots of overview in the middle of area..

7. One more problem with ptz cams. The boat swings non-stop and so does the camera.
PTZ cameras are designed for permanent mounting, to surfaces that do not swing.
I don't know how the mechanism that moves the head will react to constant swinging.

8. dome cameras can be problematic (dome creates a lot of IR reflections, require frequent cleanings).. much better are turrets (to mount under something) or bullets...

9. there are PTZ cams with wipers - which can be handy for You...

WizMind Series - Dahua International

WizMind Series

www.dahuasecurity.com

WizMind Series - Dahua International

WizMind Series

www.dahuasecurity.com

10. Buying a profesional cams for a lot of money and connecting them to some pc with frigate/scripted/blueiris?

today cams have a lot of AI options (perimeter protection with people/car filtering, people capturing and describing by look which can be later searched, area incident searching)..
the best solution is to stay in one brand and use NVR from that brand to have access to all AI features offered by camera..
NVR will allow to fast search by different actions and parameters..

11. here on the forum, the most popular cams are Dahua 5442 series.. they are 4Mpx with big very bright at night image sensor, very good image processing and AI functionality.. they come in many many variants (chassis, fixed or varifocal/zoomed optics, colors).. they are cheap (150-250 USD depending of chassis/optics/models)..

WizMind S Series - Dahua International

WizMind S Series

www.dahuasecurity.com

Search: 9 results found for "54ir"

Building security systems for home and business offices. Protecting customers' personal safety and property security. All the security cameras and NVRs we sell are of great quality and at affordable prices.

empiretech01.com

in theory some of the 5442 models (5442H) can be ordered in anti-corrosion coatings.

Network Cameras - Dahua International

Network Cameras

www.dahuasecurity.com

Network Cameras - Dahua International

Network Cameras

www.dahuasecurity.com

Thank you so much for such a detailed and helpful response! This has really helped a ton!

To answer some of your questions:

• At the moment, all cameras onboard are PTZ. But you raise some very valid points regarding fixed cameras - I'll definitely be looking at converting most of them to fixed.
• In terms of tracking people etc - the cameras are more used for engine monitoring, monitoring single walkways and then general surroundings of the boat, so it's not overly crucial to hone in on a specific person or such - especially as there isn't that much room to walk off frame anyways on the boat Which makes even more sense then to go with fixed camera with a wider view angle.
• Regarding the NVR - the reason I am going with BlueIris/Frigate is that I can then be hardware independent. The plan is to run BI for live viewing and continuous recording, and then Frigate for object detection with Google Coral.
• Definitely interested in that Dahua 5442, thanks very much for pointing me in that direction And then the WizMind cameras for the mast-mounted cams. Seems like a good combo.

Once again, thanks so much for being so helpful, your post has really given me a clearer path on this camera upgrade. Super appreciated!!

-

 

[steve1225]

Thank you so much for such a detailed and helpful response! This has really helped a ton!

To answer some of your questions:

• At the moment, all cameras onboard are PTZ. But you raise some very valid points regarding fixed cameras - I'll definitely be looking at converting most of them to fixed.
• In terms of tracking people etc - the cameras are more used for engine monitoring, monitoring single walkways and then general surroundings of the boat, so it's not overly crucial to hone in on a specific person or such - especially as there isn't that much room to walk off frame anyways on the boat Which makes even more sense then to go with fixed camera with a wider view angle.
• Regarding the NVR - the reason I am going with BlueIris/Frigate is that I can then be hardware independent. The plan is to run BI for live viewing and continuous recording, and then Frigate for object detection with Google Coral.
• Definitely interested in that Dahua 5442, thanks very much for pointing me in that direction And then the WizMind cameras for the mast-mounted cams. Seems like a good combo.

Once again, thanks so much for being so helpful, your post has really given me a clearer path on this camera upgrade. Super appreciated!!

5442 line is most popular here on the forum.
Very nice performance at all possible scenarios, very universal (varifocal models)...
Price (150-230 USD depending of model) is crazy comparing to brands like Axis...
in case of bigger areas to monitor, where You want to see details near and far from cameras at a cost of WORSE night performance (more pixels = smaller pixels = less light capture) - there is also 8MPx 5842 (58IR) variant...

You can order one 54IR-ZE and 58IR-ZE - and play/test with them on the ship.
Both have varifocal zoom (something like 1-3x optical zoom)..
they works by web browser (You can init and use them with web browser).

Search: 8 results found for "IR-ZE"

Building security systems for home and business offices. Protecting customers' personal safety and property security. All the security cameras and NVRs we sell are of great quality and at affordable prices.

empiretech01.com

One of the big features of 5442 is a lot of AI modes and AI power built-in into camera...
Look into my post, where I show Video Meta Data in FULL mode - something like Object detection.. Here You have full Human / Faces / Vehicles and non-motor vehicles detection with FULL describing by camera (human age/sex/clothes type and size etc...). This AI is done FULLy on camera, NVR works here only as searchable database...

https://ipcamtalk.com/threads/revie...-ze-s3-8mp-4k-turret-camera.77546/post-879670

there are other modes - like IVS (Perimeter Protection) - where You would draw lines after which tripping camera generates notification..
And You can use both IVS and Video MetaData in parallel (AcuPick 2.0 mode)..

I like Frigate, but AI detection done by Frigate with Google Coral is a TOY comparing to AI models built-in to 5442.. Lots of false positives..
And You require a lot of AI power to support more higher pixel cameras...
in case of Dahua AI done on 5442 - AI power scale with count of cameras. Each camera simply have AI processor inside (with much higher AI performance that Google Coral - which is very old product).

BlueIris is very popular here on the forum - but this works on Windows (stability) and is more for tinkering people.
It's need someone who understands how it works, configure and service them...
I don't know what is Your position - but if You someone from ship's crew, there is always risk that in future You will be not there on that ship.
And other people will have a big problems..

Dahua NVR's are standalone devices (like Dahua cameras) - once properly setup they works 24/7 for years...
They support ALL Dahua cams protocols / features / AI modes. Which very often are not available to external software, because they don't use Dahua Private Protocol (but universal ONVIF / RTSP, which supports mostly video streaming).

You can easy choose between smaller and bigger models (8-64 cameras, 2-8 disks) and price is not a big.
You can mount NVR next to TV/monitor, it have HDMI (one or more) which can display 24/7 feed from cameras...
You can use NVR over HDMI/mouse or web browser - web interface is 95% copy of HDMI interface..
There are mobile apps with some functionality (not all), which can be run on mobiles or tablets..

If Dahua NVR will fail (hardware fail), in each country/bigger city You will find Dahua/HIK camera installers - which will deliver and configure a new Dahua NVR on Your ship in a 1-2 hours work.. Or You can Buy and mount 2 NVRs working in parallel. One easy accessible by ship's crew, second hidden somewhere only to knowledge of ship captain / owner.

Three 32-channels models, from smaller to bigger.. they differ by HDD count and HDMI count.. Last one have much more AI power, which can be used to add more AI functions to cameras (You can mix AI done on camera with different AI done on NVR)..

EmpireTech NVR32CH-AI 32 Channels 1U 2HDD Network Video Recorder

Smart H.265+/H.265/Smart H.264+/H.264/MJPEG decoding format 32-channel 1080p self-adaptive decoding capability Max. 384 Mbps incoming/recording/outgoing bandwidth AI by recorder: 2-channel face detection and recognition, 4-channel perimeter protection, and 8-channel SMD Plus AI by camera: Face...

empiretech01.com

EmpireTech NVR32CH-4AI 32 Channels 1.5U 4HDD Network Video Recorder

Multiple decoding formats AI by recorder AI by camera Security baseline 2.3

empiretech01.com

EmpireTech NVR32CH-8XI 32 Channels 2U 8HDDs Network Video Recorder

Support multiple decoding formats Max. decoding capability: 32 × 1080p@30 fps Supports AcuPick with up to 32 channels AI by Recorder AI by Camera Supports N+M cluster Raid 0/1/5/6/10, ISCSI Allows for HDD hot swapping Supports EPTZ One-click Arming & Disarming Security baseline 2.3

empiretech01.com