Dahua PTZ Sizes

[Drummerboybisch]

Recently, we moved to a new home and I have been working to plot out locations for cameras.

I have a SD5A425XA-HNR and worry it is a bit too much for our new neighborhood. Looking at other PTZ options with Dahua and struggling to get an idea of comparative sizes. Needs to have IR functionality but was hoping to find something in the 10-15x zoom range that was less conspicuous.

Any specific recommendations? I run a Dahua NVR so it would need to be Dahua or ONVIF compatible.
Thanks!

 

[bp2008]

I'm in kind of the same situation. All the PTZs with a good amount of zoom are really big. I used to have a fairly large PTZ in front of my house before I moved. One with a dome cover that makes it a bit harder to tell which way the camera is pointing. It was basically an older version of this that pre-dated the Starlight branding.



The trick is they don't have their own IR LEDs. They can use IR from other sources but don't emit any of their own because it would reflect and glare off the dome.
There's a much lower profile (recessed) version of it if you have a compatible place to mount it, that way most of the guts of the camera are hidden within your roof and only the bubble dome part is exposed.






This one is more of a middle-ground. Not recessed. Also not as big as the first one.





Anyway now what I use is a pair of these (dahua link) (amazon link). I love them for their tiny size, but the zoom absolutely does not compare to a larger PTZ. They are kind of like a regular varifocal cam in terms of their zoom range. These do have integrated IR in a ring around the outside but it is weak and short range. The picture is a bit deceptive, these are actually one of the smallest cameras Dahua makes and indeed the smallest PTZ I know of. Note the cable cutout on the edge of the base for size. The whole camera is about 128mm (5 inches) diameter and 63mm (2.5 inches) deep from base to tip of dome.

 

[bp2008]

Hikvision has more relatively-small PTZs available, but you still need to go fairly large to get good zoom.

PT Series

Discover the power of our PT cameras. HikVision's Pan-Tilt security cameras offer seamless control, ensuring comprehensive imaging for heightened security. Explore More!

www.hikvision.com

Pro Series

Hikvision Pro Series pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) Cameras: abundant options for various camera sizes and amazing zoom capability. Explore More!

www.hikvision.com

 

[sebastiantombs]

A big zoom lens is, well, big. No way to make them compact.

 

[bp2008]

Higher zoom could absolutely be made more compact, but with tradeoffs of course. The lenses in the mini PTZs I run are not really great. Depth of field and focus quality seems a little worse than a varifocal turret for example.

 

[wittaj]

It is always interesting to me that photographers use these big @$$ lens to capture action at the opposite endzone 100 yards away, and we expect to get that same quality at 100 yards with a camera that fits in the palm of our hands LOL.

 

[zexoni70]

Sometimes the lens is more expensive than the camera!

 

[tangent]

Hikvision has more relatively-small PTZs available, but you still need to go fairly large to get good zoom.

PT Series

Discover the power of our PT cameras. HikVision's Pan-Tilt security cameras offer seamless control, ensuring comprehensive imaging for heightened security. Explore More!

www.hikvision.com

Pro Series

Hikvision Pro Series pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) Cameras: abundant options for various camera sizes and amazing zoom capability. Explore More!

www.hikvision.com

Any notion of why they call some of these 1inch, 2 inch and 3 inch? I'm struggling to see a correlation to the specs without some extreme rounding.

 

[Griswalduk]

@EMPIRETECANDY Is the SD42C212T-HN(-S2) still available or is there an updated version?

The physical size and the 12x zoom are appealing

 

[Drummerboybisch]

I really like the larger camera, it works fantastic, but just not sure I’m ready for it in our new neighborhood. I think one of the soffit insertion style cameras are amazing, just wish Dahua would take the 1/1.8 sensor and put into a design that allowed the electronics to be hidden away and just reveal the turret with IR capabilities. That would be a fantastic camera for homes.

 

[aadje93]

Sometimes the lens is more expensive than the camera!

When the lenses are white, you can be sure it was more expensive then the camera if its canon

Bird photographer here

 

[fergenheimer]

I took this picture to illustrate to a friend how big the different cameras are. They are a SD29204 and SD49225. He is on 10 acres and wanted a large zoom in a small foot print. After this, I use an empty gallon jug to hold up to the location I want to mount the camera at and can judge without moving an expensive camera around. It is easy for the wife to lift an empty jug on a broomstick while I look from different angles.

 

[tibimakai]

This is how I installed mine. Sorry about the quality, it is from Google Maps.