Dahua Ultra 2mp Starlight, 6mp or 12mp camera?

E

E86Dreamer

n3wb
Jan 16, 2017
5
4
Hi Everyone,

I'm new to the forum and I'd like some help with identifying which cameras to buy. There's a recent string of burglaries around the neighborhood, so I'd like to add another layer deterrent. I repurposed/upgraded an old gaming rig with an Ivy Bridge Xeon to act an NVR and bought a couple of 4mp Dahua cameras, but I'm not very satisfied with image quality - especially at night.

I'd like to thank nayr for sharing his experiences with the two Starlight cameras. I browsed through the Turret thread and read through the Ultra thread and they were both very insightful. I'm considering two Ultra Starlight Varifocal Bullet for the front of the house. All else equal, is there was any reason I should consider the 6mp Ultra or 12mp Ultra camera instead?

Thanks!
 
as Nayr mentioned to a similar question that i had, although the 6MP and 12MP are part of the Dahua ultra lineup, they are not all created equally. The 2MP is sensitive down to 0.002 Lux with its 1/1.9" Sony sensor, the 6MP and the 12 MP require 10x that amount of light even though they use a 1/1.8" and 1/1.7" Sony sensors respectively, thus looking like more noise at the lower end of the lighted scene. I am not sure where they would cross in quality (higher light giving more signal to overcome the noise) so that the more pixels is worth something, but for now, i went with the 2MP.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Solar Deity and nayr
bug99 said:
the 2MP is sensitive down to 0.002 Lux with its 1/1.9" Sony sensor, the 6MP and the 12 MP require 10x that amount of light even though they use a 1/1.8" and 1/1.7" Sony sensors
Click to expand...

It does not only depend on the sensor size. As I have said many times, the technique used in the sensor is just as important.

The 1/1.9" 2MP sensor is a normal Exmor sensor. It is very good but old.
The 1/1.8" 6MP sensor is a modern back-illuminated Exmor-R sensor. This technique is much more sensitive to light compared with an equal sized Exmor sensor.

I just test the 6MP dome camera and I like it very much. It is not as sensitive to light as the starlight-cams, but much better than most of you think. The 14-Bit-AD conversion together with the DWDR does its job very well.

Here you can find further information regarding standard FSI sensors and the new BSI sensors.
Back-illuminated sensor - Wikipedia

And more:
The document is not from Sony but from OmniVision, but the differences are similar.
http://www.ovt.com/download_document.php?type=document&DID=35
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: triumph202, Cupofschmoe, bug99 and 1 other person
that 6MP Big Sensor Dahua seems to be one of the better UHD cameras out there.. but Ive also seen impressive video from the 12MP Big Sensor PTZ's, neither are slouches at all and would spank the 1/3" 4MP Dahuas all around.. but neither can be had in the economy price range.

If the big sensor Ultra Starlight had the same equal tech that the Eco Starlights have with back-illumination the OP's question would be easy.. but at this point its going to largely depend on the objectives.. I highly suspect comparing the Ultra vs Eco Starlights is not as large of difference as comparing the Eco vs Ultra UHD cameras
 
Thanks @morpheus. You seem to know the guts of the sensors. this quote from wiki lends hope to more lower cost higher end cameras in the near future.

"a back-illuminated sensor could theoretically cost less than a similar front-illuminated version. The ability to collect more light meant that a similarly sized sensor array could offer higher resolution without the drop in low-light performance otherwise associated with the megapixel race. Alternatively, the same resolution and low-light capability could be offered on a smaller chip, lowering costs. "

I wonder how hard it is to create 1 lux of illumination vs see in the dark ($ and pain) at 30-50 ft either IR or visual range?
 
Thanks for the response everyone! I decided to go with two 6mp Ultra for the front of the house and one 2mp Starlight Ultra for the front gate of the house. There's a street light directly in front of my house and I have a motion sensing light, so I think the 6mp work.
 
  • Like
Reactions: looney2ns and nayr
E86Dreamer said:
Thanks for the response everyone! I decided to go with two 6mp Ultra for the front of the house and one 2mp Starlight Ultra for the front gate of the house. There's a street light directly in front of my house and I have a motion sensing light, so I think the 6mp work.
Click to expand...

Please let us know how they work out for you. ;)
 
Were the 6MP about $400? I am anxious to hear haw they compare. Based on the comment from @morpheus, i would think they would be better than 1/10 as sensitive to light compared to the 2MP bullet (8232).
 
  • Like
Reactions: kevkmartin
There was a bit of a delay getting all the cameras, but I just got them earlier this week. So far, I've only upgraded the firmware with an NTSC version, but I'm planning on installing them this weekend. Compared the Dahua cameras with a 1/2.8" sensor, these cameras are huge! So far, I don't have any complaints. I'll try to post some pictures and do a quick review after I'm finished with the install.

Thanks again @EMPIRETECANDY for getting the cameras.
 
bug99 said:
Thanks @morpheus. You seem to know the guts of the sensors. this quote from wiki lends hope to more lower cost higher end cameras in the near future.

"a back-illuminated sensor could theoretically cost less than a similar front-illuminated version. The ability to collect more light meant that a similarly sized sensor array could offer higher resolution without the drop in low-light performance otherwise associated with the megapixel race. Alternatively, the same resolution and low-light capability could be offered on a smaller chip, lowering costs. " ....
Click to expand...

Sony STARVIS and Exmor R Cameras
 
  • Like
Reactions: Michael Bareno
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom