Hikvision bullet IP cam recommendations

[JMSCA]

Hello All,

Some of my cams are getting to end of life. I'd like to replace some of them with Hikvision bullet ip cams. Also looking for ones that have a flood light. Minimally 4mp and connect to a Hikvision NVR. I know that these are minimal requirements, but any thoughts or recommendations?

Thanks in advance.

 

[aadje93]

with such wide requirements, its like 40% of the whole HIK catalog.

what resolution do you prefer, variofocal or fixed lens, colorvu or IR and the list goes on...

 

[calypsoZA]

Hello All,

Some of my cams are getting to end of life. I'd like to replace some of them with Hikvision bullet ip cams. Also looking for ones that have a flood light. Minimally 4mp and connect to a Hikvision NVR. I know that these are minimal requirements, but any thoughts or recommendations?

Thanks in advance.

As far as tech goes, I really favour the ColorVu's these days. IR feels like really old tech.

 

[aadje93]

As far as tech goes, I really favour the ColorVu's these days. IR feels like really old tech.

for me its bit double edged sword. Indoors in small rooms yes, colorvu is great with its onboard LED to capture color details. But outdoors for nightly "observer" IR mode with some artifical light is still better, or you need to light the place up in floodlights which draws a bit more power then IR beams, and looks less nature friendly.

 

[wittaj]

It comes down to if you have enough light at night or are willing to use the built in white LEDs as to if a Full Color camera is the right choice.

Check out this video at midnight. You see this and it looks like daytime and be like WOW I want that camera. But any motion in the frame and it is crap and will be a ghost blur. You notice they do not show anything with motion. I can make all my cameras look like this at midnight with no other light, but we want good motion video, not still images video. This is a very nice camera with enough light at night - and as and with some light, this camera rocks. But all cameras, regardless of what they are called, need light - either white light or infrared. Simple physics.


While this camera is not what we would call a consumer grade camera and this is a really good camera, it is these games played to make it look good at night - but then a person walking by is a blur and people simply say well the camera isn't good at night. If you have the ability to change the settings, you can make it work. Just remember that every increase in shutter speed needs more light. So I can set mine to 1/250 second and eliminate blur at night, but then all that is visible is a 5 foot diameter around the camera IF I have enough light.

If your camera doesn't have enough light, a 24/7 full color camera will not be of much good and now you have a camera with no IR and even if you added external IR, the camera will not see it since it does not have an IR filter.

I also want to point out that many people have come here after buying the Hikvision ColorVu series (or any full color type camera) expressing their disappointment in the picture quality of the camera because they were expecting magic. If you do not have ambient light outside or do not like the white LED lights on, you are better off with cameras that can see infrared. ColorVu type cameras cannot see infrared, so you can't add infrared later.

Here is link to a thread of many that shows the disappointment of many thinking a ColorVu camera was magic and could defy physics. Full Color type cameras are great if you have light, but will be horrible if you do not have enough light (as is any surveillance camera).

Initial review of the DS-2CD2347G2-L(U) ColorVu 2.0 IP camera.

 

[ipcamuser11]

the camera will not see it since it does not have an IR filter.

It does have IR filter and is fixed, IR filter is used to block IR light of the sunshine. All cameras have IR filters or image will be purple during daytime, some are fixed like the corlorvu series, most have an electric IR-CUT and can be removed at night to allow light of all frequencies

 

[wittaj]

It does have IR filter and is fixed, IR filter is used to block IR light of the sunshine. All cameras have IR filters or image will be purple during daytime, some are fixed like the corlorvu series, most have an electric IR-CUT and can be removed at night to allow light of all frequencies

Thanks for the technical correction for forgetting the word "removable" LOL.

But the point I was making remains in that at night you cannot use IR with most full color type cameras like you can with other cameras - the camera will basically be blind without any visible light since it won't see the IR.

 

[ipcamuser11]

Thanks for the technical correction LOL.

But the point I was making remains in that at night you cannot use IR with most full color type cameras like you can with other cameras - the camera will basically be blind without any visible light since it won't see the IR.

Yes that’s true, since the IR filter is fixed, all IR light will always be blocked.

Another reason of why most full color cameras won’t work with IR is that they usually use lens with very big aperture, usually F1.0, which result in a very small DOF(depth of field), the focus range is much smaller than a typical F1.8 lens which is commonly used in IR cameras. Since human visible light and IR light has different refractivity when coming through the glasses, the focus point will be slightly different. This is usually not problem when the aperture is smaller than F1.6 which has a long focus range. But when the aperture is F1.0, image will be defocused for IR light if the lens is adjusted for visible light. So no wonder they choose to use fixed IR filter