DS-2CD2335FWD-I - Hikvision Ultra Low Light 3M camera

Parley

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From this store SECURE LIFE Surveillance System - Small Orders Online Store, Hot Selling and more on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group - but I would check they have stock (don't believe their fast processing times!) There was a 2-3 week delay until they had the 6mm in stock and the 12mm I originally ordered wasn't coming in until the 8th of May!!! I opted for the 4mm instead- which they did have stock of.
That is who I have my 2MP/4MM Hikvision low light bullet camera on order with. They had my 3MP/6MM Hikvision turret low light camera in stock and I got that fairly quickly.
 

triumph202

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Here's the time line of my order:

20/3 Paid for 6mm and 12mm 2335
23/3 Got a message saying no stock and could I wait 2 weeks, I extended order time as requested.
10/4 Got message 12mm wouldn't arrive to them 8th May, asked to wait again or opt for in stock 2.8, 4 or 6mm. Replied same day saying I'd opt for a 4mm instead of 12mm. Received a DHL tracking number, which I assumed was for the single 6mm.
12/4 No responses to request for change for two days. In the mean time I'd discovered the DHL tracking number I'd been given wasn't for my order. It was for another person in another state! They actually hadn't sent me anything. The 6mm and 4mm correct tracking number was given to me same day.
18/4 Order received.
 

Parley

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Here is a picture of my Huisun 10X PTZ at night. With this camera I have the IR off but there is a nice street light in that area and so it stays in color most of the time at night. I have 4 of these and no problems with them. The main purpose of this camera is to check on the cars going up and down this street. I live on a corner and have two other Huisun PTZ cameras for the same purpose. In the daytime I can get all the license plate numbers. At night, only if they are parked. I would say the far cars are 150-200 feet away.

front_IP Camera2_front_20170424200439_22745695.jpg
 
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triumph202

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Looking at things today, I have to say my 6MM Hik 2335 seems to have a focus issue (or perhaps I'm just being picky?)

Everything past an imaginary line close to the letter box seems out of focus to me? Leaves on the road and the front yards across the road are very "soft" in detail. When I initially posted it I was just looking in my yard.



Now I've noticed it, it's going to annoy me! Perhaps enough to try and focus it myself- has anyone opened a Hik turret and done a refocus?
 

wxman

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Looking at things today, I have to say my 6MM Hik 2335 seems to have a focus issue (or perhaps I'm just being picky?)

Everything past an imaginary line close to the letter box seems out of focus to me? Leaves on the road and the front yards across the road are very "soft" in detail. When I initially posted it I was just looking in my yard.



Now I've noticed it, it's going to annoy me! Perhaps enough to try and focus it myself- has anyone opened a Hik turret and done a refocus?
Hard to tell when it's resized smaller to fit in the forum page, but I can definitely notice it when blowing the image up to full size. Although it's always going to do this to some degree, especially with a cheap lens, I suspect it could be improved some with a focus adjustment.

How far away would you estimate the road is from the camera?
 

triumph202

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The road would probably be 14 metres from the camera at a guess? It's disappointing given how good the focus is on my 4MP Hiks- they're very sharp all over the frame.

For anyone using the 2335 I was checking full size bitmap captures at night and I checked "BLC Auto" on and off. On, it reduces the detail in the shadows- things like the bricks on the houses across the road aren't as well defined. It's a slight difference, but something to keep in mind.
 

Parley

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The road would probably be 14 metres from the camera at a guess? It's disappointing given how good the focus is on my 4MP Hiks- they're very sharp all over the frame.

For anyone using the 2335 I was checking full size bitmap captures at night and I checked "BLC Auto" on and off. On, it reduces the detail in the shadows- things like the bricks on the houses across the road aren't as well defined. It's a slight difference, but something to keep in mind.
Thank you for the information. I will have to say after reviewing the pictures that lighting makes all the difference in the world for the night views. Some of those night photos are outstanding but then you have to look at all the street lamps in the area.
 

triumph202

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Yes, any street lighting helps out a huge amount with either the Starlights or the new Hiks.

My floodlights barely look like they throw any light onto the houses across the street (to my eyes), but the cameras still pick it up. I'm thinking about how I can establish a better spread of lower intensity light across the front of my house and garden. At the moment I've got three high intensity areas with some light spill from them into other areas.
 

sharpharp

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Beginning to see a pattern emerge here with the 6MM Hik ULL and focusing, is this just a one-off or a problem with the 6mm in particular?
 

triumph202

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From what I've seen (and experienced :( ) it's more than just the 6mm having problems. My 4mm is out of focus on the LHS; @MrRalphMan did have his 6mm sent back, but his 12mm seems slightly out of focus on one side (see page 1 brick wall photo.)

It's put me off buying another one (I was going to get a 12mm.) I'll have to look into opening them to see if I can do a refocus myself- sending them back to China will be too expensive.

If you're swapping out old cameras it might not be as noticeable, but I replaced two current model 4MP's that had perfect focus across the frame. I'm also comparing them to the Dahua varifocal 2MP Starlight and a fixed lens should be better at this price point for sharpness and focus.
 

tigerwillow1

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When I used Hikvision cameras I experienced low resolution images not because of the optics, but from lousy data compression. In was very pronounced in low-contrast portions of images, and not a factor at all in high-contrast areas. There's an easy way to check if this is affecting you: Just put an ROI area around where you think the image is out of focus. If it get better it's the compression, if it doesn't it's optics-related.
 

wxman

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The road would probably be 14 metres from the camera at a guess? It's disappointing given how good the focus is on my 4MP Hiks- they're very sharp all over the frame.
Yeah, you should be able to get a sharper image of the road at only 14m with a 6mm lens. Looks like the lens is just not set at the hyperfocal distance. I would try to refocus. With a slight twist of the lens, you should be able to get a better depth of field (providing the lens is installed correctly and isn't defective).
 

triumph202

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I tried the ROI suggestion (thanks) and it made no difference.

As they say "A picture says 1000 words."





Both of the above are capture bitmaps directly off the camera- cropped in Paint to show the relevant area that was out of focus and then saved as jpegs. Not something for the faint hearted to do, but a focus adjustment by an amateur with no specialised equipment (other than a brick wall on the house across the road) is better than what Hikvision can do at the factory!

I stand by what I said about the 2335's having focus issues from the factory :mad: .

Here are the full frame captures for before and after:





It has introduced softness in other areas (eg. bush on LHS foreground) but overall is a lot better.
 
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tigerwillow1

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I have a similar situation with one of my Dahua cameras where part is focused ok and part isn't. Refocusing didn't help. I posted a thread about it and some of the thoughts were an imperfect lens, the lens or barrel threads not being aligned correctly, or the sensor itself not being perfectly aligned. I'm guessing that the factory focus is fully automated and some algorithm determines what it thinks is the best compromise.
 

triumph202

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The thread on the lens was a lot coarser than I was expecting, so just 1/4 turn made a huge difference in the focus. It had been well and truly glued in place so wasn't a transit issue.

I sent a message to the seller with some pictures and asked them to forward the issue onto Hikvision. I mentioned I'd seen other examples. The Ultra Low Light would be using a lens with a wide aperture so depth of field would be more critical than other models. There was no part number or anything on the lens, it's highly likely a cheaper/ lower quality option than the dearer Darkfighter cameras.

PS: I also discovered a seller who can supply the lenses for the Sony sensors used in the Starlight/ Ultra Low Light. They had two different aperture lenses, the wider supposedly for the more expensive/ sensitive cameras. I'm tempted to order a couple of lenses as they're not that expensive. Now I know how to pull it apart it won't take long to do a lens change. I took measurements while it was apart to compare.
 

MrRalphMan

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The thread on the lens was a lot coarser than I was expecting, so just 1/4 turn made a huge difference in the focus. It had been well and truly glued in place so wasn't a transit issue.

I sent a message to the seller with some pictures and asked them to forward the issue onto Hikvision. I mentioned I'd seen other examples. The Ultra Low Light would be using a lens with a wide aperture so depth of field would be more critical than other models. There was no part number or anything on the lens, it's highly likely a cheaper/ lower quality option than the dearer Darkfighter cameras.

PS: I also discovered a seller who can supply the lenses for the Sony sensors used in the Starlight/ Ultra Low Light. They had two different aperture lenses, the wider supposedly for the more expensive/ sensitive cameras. I'm tempted to order a couple of lenses as they're not that expensive. Now I know how to pull it apart it won't take long to do a lens change. I took measurements while it was apart to compare.
Was there a tutorial for this or did you just pop it open. My camera has reached China and I'm offered a refund or replacement.

I'm swaying towards the replacement, but would like to know I can tweak of needed. Paul

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk
 

triumph202

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Was there a tutorial for this or did you just pop it open. My camera has reached China and I'm offered a refund or replacement.

I'm swaying towards the replacement, but would like to know I can tweak of needed. Paul

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk
No tutorial- just some determination to fix it. I did take some pictures, so can post some up?

If you're familiar with disassembling small electronic devices it's not too hard. There are common plug styles used, so if you've seen them before you'll know how to release them. I've got a background in electronics so knew what to expect, but it was only my second IP Cam disassembly (my first was pulling apart one of my Hik 4MP 2342 turrets earlier today to see if a lens swap was feasible.) It was obvious the 2335 was a later generation design.

It's put me off buying another. Buying from China I wasn't expecting any warranty support, but having to disassemble a brand new camera to fix the focus is ridiculous. It's not like it's a one off random thing- going by both our purchases.
 

MrRalphMan

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Yeah, it's a little worrying.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk
 

alastairstevenson

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but having to disassemble a brand new camera to fix the focus is ridiculous. It's not like it's a one off random thing- going by both our purchases.
It seems to me we're kindof used to, and expect, an infinite depth of focus in these camera lenses - something we don't expect or get with a normal handheld camera.
There is presumably a design compromise between a small aperture, which gives a larger depth of focus but reduced amount of light, and a larger aperture, which gives more light but a reduced depth of focus.
So perhaps the lenses on the ULL camera have moved towards the 'maximise the light end' giving a more obvious finite depth of focus.
So in the case of your camera, you have just tweaked the setpoint out further than the factory-set compromise.

I have to say that, being familiar with how you have to compromise with a handheld camera, I've always been impressed with the depth of focus that's normally achieved with your average IP surveillance camera.
 

aster1x

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....... I took measurements while it was apart to compare.
What were those measurements? Do you have any pics from the internal of the camera? How long is the lens to reach the front glass? Since the length of lens can be varied due to focusing adjustments, how do they handle the length slack from the front glass? The pics would be usefull.
 
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