Dahua Starlight Varifocal Turret (IPC-HDW5231R-Z)

On a lighting related topic, I've already got led floodlights setup in the three locations this camera will go, can I just check that will be OK? Anything I need to be aware of when I consider positioning of the cameras in relation to the floodlights? The starlight is obviously very good in low light but I'm hoping it will only help if the floodlight is triggered.
 
If the floodlight is non ir as i assume, you would want to leave the camera in color mode, so image is rater dark withouth the floodlight. That than depends on the light level in the environment.
Once the floodlight switches on, the camera will adjust to that light level rather quick i would think.

For recognition of people color mode might be better than ir in general, you only need sufficient level of it for what you want.
 
dont put the cameras too close to the floodlights or the'll reflect light back off plates/etc and back in, read on Retroreflectors (in this case the drivers eye is the camera, the headlamp is your flood light and you want to keep that angle high)

if your just watching a driveway or something it just needs a few feet separation from my experience, depends on how far the camera can see really.. the further away the object the further away the light source to stay out of that reflection range.

I believe the quick adaptation to my face and not overexposing you see in the videos is more due to the auto aperture from the varifocal lens than the SmartIR, it dont seem to be dimming the IR nearly that fast from what I can tell.. it will adapt to light changes pretty damn quickly but shining light into the camera just hurts its night vision.

that and you dont want bugs attracted to the visible light and spiders finding your camera an opportune spot.. shadows generally provide depth detail as long if they are not too harsh, built in IR gives you no shadows and will flatten out the image when its coming dead on in total darkness.
 
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Received 1 & Installed last night.
This is my first Experience with Security Cameras, Blue Iris (Still using evaluation Copy).

I had to turn the IR completely Off as I have too much "Urban City Lighting" (Street Lights & My own House Porch, Driveway Accent Lights)

I need to keep reading to get a handle on optimum Settings in Blue Iris for this Camera.

I have More Cameras in route literally on a slow boat from China (other Make, Ali Seller) to add & Play around with

I'm going to Order a few more of these Turrets in the Near future as I'm impressed with the Build Quality.

Big Plus is Working With Andy on Ordering & Delivery.
 

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Four images for comparison. Wide and Tight, with Internal IR On (manual: 100%) and Off. From the tone of the car in the driveway in the two "no IR" images, it looks black zoomed in, but is gray in the wide shot. So like most lenses, this lens gets dimmer as it is zoomed in. All photos same settings: Manual, Shutter 1/30, Gain 20, 3D NR off.
Tight-IR-off.jpg Tight-IR-on.jpg Wide-IR-off.jpg Wide-IR-on.jpg
Interesting that I can see some effect from internal IR on the diagonal-cross-street-neighbor's white garage doors, which are 175 feet away from the camera. Also, that the roof overhang in the wide shot is not blown out from the internal IR as I would have expected.
 
Last edited:
Received 1 & Installed last night.
This is my first Experience with Security Cameras, Blue Iris (Still using evaluation Copy).

I had to turn the IR completely Off as I have too much "Urban City Lighting" (Street Lights & My own House Porch, Driveway Accent Lights)

I need to keep reading to get a handle on optimum Settings in Blue Iris for this Camera.

I have More Cameras in route literally on a slow boat from China (other Make, Ali Seller) to add & Play around with

I'm going to Order a few more of these Turrets in the Near future as I'm impressed with the Build Quality.

Big Plus is Working With Andy on Ordering & Delivery.

What other cameras did you order?
 
*********************
Updates, just finish sending all orders before 20th Dec, worked till middle night, guys waiting my tracking tomorrow. This time we use DHL.
The left ones we will ship out this weekend, we will work then and sort all out to make sure all guys get the camera within next week.
Last week's shipping speed not bad, i think most guys already got the cams.

Thanks for all guys support.

Happy new year!
Andy
 
*********************
Updates, just finish sending all orders before 20th Dec, worked till middle night, guys waiting my tracking tomorrow. This time we use DHL.
The left ones we will ship out this weekend, we will work then and sort all out to make sure all guys get the camera within next week.
Last week's shipping speed not bad, i think most guys already got the cams.

Thanks for all guys support.

Happy new year!
Andy
So if I ordered after the 20th mine will go out this weekend correct?
 
I just made my second order with Andy, and all I had to do was call my bank, tell them where I was going to use my Visa. 5 minutes later, it was good to go, and order placed. First order went fine as well.
 
Four images for comparison. Wide and Tight, with Internal IR On (manual: 100%) and Off. From the tone of the car in the driveway in the two "no IR" images, it looks black zoomed in, but is gray in the wide shot. So like most lenses, this lens gets dimmer as it is zoomed in. All photos same settings: Manual, Shutter 1/30, Gain 20, 3D NR off.
View attachment 13454 View attachment 13455 View attachment 13456 View attachment 13457
Interesting that I can see some effect from internal IR on the diagonal-cross-street-neighbor's white garage doors, which are 175 feet away from the camera. Also, that the roof overhang in the wide shot is not blown out from the internal IR as I would have expected.

you just need more light if Noise Reduction is messing with you; lil more light and there wont be any noise to reduce.. you also wont have to run a fixed shutter, with mine on AutoExposure w/decent lighting the shutter speeds are higher than 1/30 typically.

What does have light seems to be very nice detail, didnt you have another camera here? do u have any before/after shots with the other camera?
 
*********************
Updates, just finish sending all orders before 20th Dec, worked till middle night, guys waiting my tracking tomorrow. This time we use DHL.
The left ones we will ship out this weekend, we will work then and sort all out to make sure all guys get the camera within next week.
Last week's shipping speed not bad, i think most guys already got the cams.

Thanks for all guys support.

Happy new year!
Andy

According to AliExpress you've moved ~120 cameras through your two store fronts so far, and thats not including side channel paypal orders.. all the other listings on Ali for this camera have moved a mere 16 units combined.. now that you have decent stocks and faster turn around I'd only expect that to grow faster than before.

We have a large audience here and this is why the elders of this forum wont tolerate members suggesting junk.. when a model becomes popular on these boards alot of cameras get sold and we dont want or need another Huisun MiniPTZ fiasco. (Over Hyped and then High Failure Rates started getting reported), Im confident Dahua wont let us down, its not there modus operandi.
 
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I just made my second order with Andy, and all I had to do was call my bank, tell them where I was going to use my Visa. 5 minutes later, it was good to go, and order placed. First order went fine as well.

What bank do you use? Was it a large purchase? I bought one starlight turret and it went through my bank just fine.