Great example of Dahua Starlight 2MP Verifocal Performance in low light

[thomaswde]

Link to full res:
https://goo.gl/photos/LmbmjqS6qPFWWQvi8

I did both images at native size so as not to cheat either cam of quality, or you of a great example. The HDW5231R-Z is 1920x1080 (2MP), the "dark" Note 5 photo is at 5312x2988 (16MP) which is why the size is so different, you can just scroll-to-zoom the Dahua details. To the naked eye I'd say the Samsung Note 5 was pretty spot on, further exaggerating the "wow" factor you get when you see a starlight take on dusk!

Here's my mounting point to give some perspective on distance, etc.

 

[GuiBou]

Link to full res:
https://goo.gl/photos/LmbmjqS6qPFWWQvi8

I did both images at native size so as not to cheat either cam of quality, or you of a great example. The HDW5231R-Z is 1920x1080 (2MP), the "dark" Note 5 photo is at 5312x2988 (16MP) which is why the size is so different, you can just scroll-to-zoom the Dahua details. To the naked eye I'd say the Samsung Note 5 was pretty spot on, further exaggerating the "wow" factor you get when you see a starlight take on dusk!

Here's my mounting point to give some perspective on distance, etc.

What a great post.

Sorry nothing else to say.

Tapatalk on Nexus 7 (2013)

 

[hmjgriffon]

Link to full res:
https://goo.gl/photos/LmbmjqS6qPFWWQvi8

I did both images at native size so as not to cheat either cam of quality, or you of a great example. The HDW5231R-Z is 1920x1080 (2MP), the "dark" Note 5 photo is at 5312x2988 (16MP) which is why the size is so different, you can just scroll-to-zoom the Dahua details. To the naked eye I'd say the Samsung Note 5 was pretty spot on, further exaggerating the "wow" factor you get when you see a starlight take on dusk!

Here's my mounting point to give some perspective on distance, etc.

good mounting location for a PTZ above the garage door.

 

[nayr]

Zoom in a bit til just your mailbox is in range, not like it can ID anyone out there but still..

looks good though

 

[thomaswde]

Zoom in a bit til just your mailbox is in range, not like it can ID anyone out there but still..

looks good though

Thanks for the tip! I actually have brought it in a mm or two since I grabbed these screens the other night, I might tighten it up even more though. The population here is 5k and my wife grew up here, her aunt is the local real estate broker, her dad's neighbor is a sheriff. If I even get a blurry profile on someone my wife will figure out who it is in 30 minutes, haha. Was not like that when I lived in DFW with a million people. @hmjgriffon I thought that when I was pulling in earlier today. Might have to spring for a Starlight PTZ to put there soon.

Sidebar:
Everyone has their own motivation for getting into this right? For me, I've never been burglarized or vandalized (at least not here). I travel doing work in data centers, I had over 200 flights last year which leaves my wife and daughter home a lot without me. Very low crime area but she asked me to start looking into cams a couple months ago so that she could see outside at night when she hears a noise, etc and I'm not here. I like being able to check on the place from wherever I am and if someone ever does try to hit it during the day, I've got a decent shot at an ID (once I add a few more angles).
I feel pretty confident moving forward with this project that I know what cams I need and feel like I made a great choice on my first camera. Couldn't have done it without IPCAMTALK and the excellent advice found here!

 

[hmjgriffon]

yeah I've never traveled for an IT job and I don't think I ever want to lol. Gettin too old for that noise anyways.

 

[nayr]

If you want to watch that mailbox check out the Dahua Starlight Varifocal Bullet Z5 7-35mm (IPC-HFW5231E-Z5), then with a driveway camera you can zoom this one in on the approach nicely.

If your wife's home alone consider putting a fixed monitor up somewhere she can see all the cameras easily; sometimes using tech in a high stress situation ends up backfiring heh.

Glad I dont have to travel that much for work but when I do its nice having a few indoor cameras in the living room and kids rooms that I can pull up.. I dont have em record though unless security system is activated, but its nice to see that everything is normal when spidy senses are tingling or I'm just feeling a lil home sick in a hotel room somewhere.

 

[hmjgriffon]

I record indoors, that could be good or bad if anyone ever breaks in, in the middle of the night and I have to fill them full of lead, lol.

 

[thomaswde]

Yeah I got a promotion midway last year to a role that travels much less but it took until this year before I started reaping the benefits of that. I've only traveled about 6 times so far this year so the original reasoning has subsided some but I do still travel, it's just at a more sane pace. I actually get to work from home 2-3 days a week now

We are going to do a couple indoor cams, living room, end of hallway to grab a face on a midday intruder, and toddler's room. Probably use the starlight minidomes for those roles, maybe do some kind of verifocal for end of hall so I can get a tighter angle down the coridor.

yeah I've never traveled for an IT job and I don't think I ever want to lol. Gettin too old for that noise anyways.

If you want to watch that mailbox check out the Dahua Starlight Varifocal Bullet Z5 7-35mm (IPC-HFW5231E-Z5), then with a driveway camera you can zoom this one in on the approach nicely.

If your wife's home alone consider putting a fixed monitor up somewhere she can see all the cameras easily; sometimes using tech in a high stress situation ends up backfiring heh.

Glad I dont have to travel that much for work but when I do its nice having a few indoor cameras in the living room and kids rooms that I can pull up.. I dont have em record though unless security system is activated, but its nice to see that everything is normal when spidy senses are tingling or I'm just feeling a lil home sick in a hotel room somewhere.

 

[nayr]

I went into the office for the first time in 2 years last month, my boss flew into town so I could meet him face to face finally.. they gave my cube away eons ago, everyone in the building thinks I left a long time ago heh.. I got alot of 'Whoah your still here!?', ever since they moved the datacenter out of the downtown office I've had little reason to visit since nobody else on my team is even in this State.. being a permanent teleworker is pretty nice, but now I almost never leave the house thanks to Amazon Prime..

 

[hmjgriffon]

I went into the office for the first time in 2 years last month, my boss flew into town so I could meet him face to face finally.. they gave my cube away eons ago, everyone in the building thinks I left a long time ago heh.. I got alot of 'Whoah your still here!?', ever since they moved the datacenter out of the downtown office I've had little reason to visit since nobody else on my team is even in this State.. being a permanent teleworker is pretty nice, but now I almost never leave the house thanks to Amazon Prime..

#FirstWorldProblems

 

[nayr]

#FirstWorldProblems

Obligatory:

 

[thomaswde]

I went into the office for the first time in 2 years last month, my boss flew into town so I could meet him face to face finally.. they gave my cube away eons ago, everyone in the building thinks I left a long time ago heh.. I got alot of 'Whoah your still here!?', ever since they moved the datacenter out of the downtown office I've had little reason to visit since nobody else on my team is even in this State.. being a permanent teleworker is pretty nice, but now I almost never leave the house thanks to Amazon Prime..

Nice! I was doing appliance Integration services and storage engineering, mostly for NetApp so I was flying everywhere, 6 jets a week on average. Now I'm doing mostly consulting for our accounts team. (sales engineer stuff) So I work from home half the time and then go to long meetings with sales guys the other half. 75% of my job now is making the solution actually do what the account executive said it would, haha.

 

[thomaswde]

If you want to watch that mailbox check out the Dahua Starlight Varifocal Bullet Z5 7-35mm (IPC-HFW5231E-Z5), then with a driveway camera you can zoom this one in on the approach nicely.

If your wife's home alone consider putting a fixed monitor up somewhere she can see all the cameras easily; sometimes using tech in a high stress situation ends up backfiring heh.

Glad I dont have to travel that much for work but when I do its nice having a few indoor cameras in the living room and kids rooms that I can pull up.. I dont have em record though unless security system is activated, but its nice to see that everything is normal when spidy senses are tingling or I'm just feeling a lil home sick in a hotel room somewhere.

I think I will put up a monitor somewhere dedicated to this for her, especially once I've got a half dozen cams up. . . In the mean time I'm just borrowing a monitor for it at "the bridge"

 

[Bradmph]

I record indoors, that could be good or bad if anyone ever breaks in, in the middle of the night and I have to fill them full of lead, lol.

What?? you don't want video of that scene? I would like to see in slow motion how that turned out if someone tries coming in our home. Funny thing, I am a graveyard camera surveillance watcher and will probably be behind the door when it opens, LOL.

Damn great cameras also. Marks list: Get one of them for high tip of house.

 

[thomaswde]

@nayr I tightened up the cam a little more, 5.5mm-ish i think as suggested. Give or take. I think this is as good as I'm going to get until some more of the Starlights I ordered get here and I can grab more angles.

 

[nayr]

that looks great, but delete that approach line cross and put in an intrusion detection zone set to trigger on appears.. might also delete that driveway one and put another intrusion box over your car.. car door checkers will walk right across your yard and bypass that.. its too close to the edge to catch a car pulling in either, mebe leaving.

 

[hmjgriffon]

and test test test, pretend to be a bad guy and make sure your own system gets you.

 

[Bradmph]

Just purchased a Dahua Starlight Varifocal Bullet Z5 7-35mm (IPC-HFW5231E-Z5) Now I have to bite nails until it arrives, lol.

 

[thomaswde]

that looks great, but delete that approach line cross and put in an intrusion detection zone set to trigger on appears.. might also delete that driveway one and put another intrusion box over your car.. car door checkers will walk right across your yard and bypass that.. its too close to the edge to catch a car pulling in either, mebe leaving.

and test test test, pretend to be a bad guy and make sure your own system gets you.

Thanks for the feedback! I've not tried using intrusion zones, I'll do it now and see if it catches my wife when she gets home
I'm too far out in the sticks with too much walking between houses to worry about "door checkers" (there are 5 houses on my whole street) unless said door checker is in hella great shape Somehow that driveway tripwire has caught all but one car pulling in / out since I set it on Friday I think, I am using target filters so maybe that's why? I will definitely follow your instructions and replace both with intrusion zones, set to "on appears".
Thanks as always!!
@hmjgriffon haha, you know I've been out there creepin'.