yes i know, thats the one i am replacing if the dahua is a lot better, im going to ditch the current system in there and replace with new IP one.
the system is around 2 years old and im wondering why the even put in an analogue one. price???
That depends on the specific application. Keep in mind there is a latency, delay, that is inherent with IP cameras while an analogue camera is "real time". You wouldn't want to use an IP camera for a backup camera in your car or truck as an example.
A simple Google search will bring up both spec sheets. The Hic has a min illumination for color of 0.008 Lux @ F1.2 while the 5442 is 0.003 Lux at F1.8. So the Hik has a larger aperture but shoving those 5MP on the sensor gives it a less low light sensitivity. But that is spec wise, not IRL testing. The only real way to answer that is to get both and do a comparison.
The aperture is how big the shutter opens up. It is a photography term. With a nice SLR camera, like NIkon, a large F-number (like say 22) is a very small hole (why large number is small hole is...who knows, maybe just to confuse people) and lets in a small amount of light. But it has a very deep depth of field (things are in focus over larger distances). A smaller F-number (like say 1.2) is a bigger hole and lets in more a larger amount of light. But it has a very shallow depth of field (things are in focus over a very short distance range).
I doubt you could tell the difference between these two cams in the daylight, even if they were side-by-side. But if you want color in low light, the Dahua 5442 should perform better.
cool, yeah thats what i thought but wanted to check. i had another look at these cameras last night, they are shocking compared to my 5442's i have at my place. at midnight you can hardly see anything at all with minimal light but with my 5442's it is still colour in minimal light and you can see better on the camera than you can see with your own eyes.