* Cams are up * Camera selection for placement (my 1000th post!)

[CanCuba]

To celebrate my 1000th post, I would like to ask the awesome members of this amazing forum their opinion on camera selection for two different placements. I'm anticipating the arrival of a refurbed Color4K/X from Andy and two 5449 dual-lens cameras. Really looking forward to playing with the 5449s as I'm intrigued by the color/IR stitching and some of the possibilities. The cameras being replaced are 2431-S-S2 with 1/3" lenses so going colour at night is challenging even with the Cuban Runway Lighting(tm) setup. Also, the 2431s are a bit "dumb" and can't separate cats, dogs and plastic bags from humans and cars. So reviewing footage will get much easier now.

So, without further verbiage, here we go!



This above pic will have a 5449 installed. As well as the 5449 will be mounted so that the IR (currently off) doesn't bounce off the wall and wash out the pic. I've neglected this placement too long.

Now here's the question... Which placement gets the 4K/X (2.8mm) and which gets the 5449 (3.6mm)? I've been going back and forth with this in my head and I think I know, I just want to run it by you folks first.









I'm leaning towards the 4K/X for this view. The only thing stopping me from being 100% certain is that there are some really dark areas in the garden which I think the 5449 would cover better. I'm really trying to avoid not making the install permanent as it's bit of a hassle to get the ladder out and switch cams as they're mounted 6m (20') off the ground. And, no, I can't mount them lower as then they would be on the downstairs neighbour's property.

And here's the other view where I'm leaning towards the 5449. I'm certain that I can get an overlap between the two 5449s mounted side by side (so to speak) even though they're both 3.6mm. With the 2.8m 2431s, I get a decent overlap. About 4m (17') is mounted one of the 200 watt dual-panel LED reflectors. So light is not an issue and I know the 4K/X would eat it up.

What sayeth the forum?

 

[CanCuba]

So only 10 days after getting the new-to-me cams in my hot little hands, we got the new cams up today. About an hour each which isn't bad considering they're mounted about 6m off the ground and require an extension ladder to access. I'm happy with the results but with a couple of caveats. But these can be overcome, I believe. These new cams replaced 2431-S-S2s which served me well but the small sensor just wasn't cutting it. As well, they didn't have SMD which made my daily review a bit more tedious. Every stray cat, dog and plastic bag would trigger the tripwires.

Cam 6, an overview cam of my intersection, got the Color4K/X. It's a 2.8mm like the 2431-S-S2 it replaced but gives an even larger field of view. We installed a 4"x6" box to support it as the 2431 was mounted to a small, round box which never would have supported it. This larger box also gives me the option of remounting the 2431 and using a POE duplexer to share the single cable.

Here's the before pic (yes, cam was out of focus):



After:



Larger FOV and once we do some tree trimming, we'll have an even better view of the intersection. This cam is already doing some great face captures of people on motos. For whatever reason, I find my face detection cams (all Dahua) seem to love getting multiple captures of people on/in moving vehicles. It's quite impressive. This will do IVS at night but I may try FD for a couple nights to see how it does.

Cam 7 is to the left of cam 6 (notice the tree). Going to 3.6mm from 2.8mm meant losing the sidewalk on the other side of the street. Another day, we'll get back up there and try corridor mode. But I'll lose resolution (see below) which is a bummer. Hard to accept a 4MP camera giving a 2MP feed. 2MP is still more than enough so it may be the price we have to pay.

Before:



After:



Definitely missing the other sidewalk.

Finally, cam 8. I didn't mount the 2431 as it was mounted too far back and I could never turn on the IR as the bounce off the wall would make the picture unusable. We mounted the new cam as far forward as possible (and a bit lower) to remove any washout from the IR and/or warm light on the 5449.

We also rotated it 90 degrees to get a better FOV without wasting pixels capturing cement walls. At the time, I didn't realize that the resolution has to be dropped to 1080. Surprised me as the 2431s could be rotated at full resolution with only the loss of backlighting options (WDR, etc). We'll try to rotate it to see how the FOV is. The 3.6mm (from 2.8mm on the 2431) is much better. May point it up a bit. Gets the sidewalk across the street but I'll probably lose that if I rotate to normal orientation.

Before:



After:



So, install went about as I expected. We split the one box making the whole (covered in another thread) but the engine seal maker will keep the water out until I can have another one printed.

Very happy and now the fun of dialing in the new cams!

 

[CanCuba]

What a difference with night images! Need to spend a bit more time dialing the cams in, especially cam 7 which is set too bright, but I need a night when the wife is working away on her own stuff. All cams are set to 1/120 shutter so the rolling black bars from the LED runway lighting don't appear. Need to adjust the noise reduction, etc but we're very, very happy with the improvement.

The nighttime pics are quick screen captures off my laptop, not snapshots.

The 4K/X is really doing its thing.



This image is blown out. Just needs a bit of adjustment.



Loads of improvement over the 2431 due to repositioning and much larger sensor. Excuse the improper aspect ratio.



And here are some face captures from today. The 4K/X already has north of 300 captures despite its less than ideal location being high up and a ways back. But it's an overview cam. Cam 7 won't get nearly as many face captures due to 80% of people walking perpendicular to the cam. But I found a good one for @Arjun and fellow connoisseurs! lol Cam 8 is pulling them in a decent rate. The captures from cam 6 and cam 8 are the same fellow on an e-bike moving at least 25km/h (11mph).

 

[CanCuba]

4K/X did this face capture. Furthest I've seen at 2.8mm focal length. Measured on Google Earth @ 33m (108 feet)!