Hikvision DS-2CD2142FWD-I Night Quality

[Leyth]

Hey guys,

I am new to the scene and I set up my first camera today. I fiddled with the settings a bit in my living room the other day and everything seemed fine. However, today I mounted it outside and noticed the night vision isn't very good. I can't remember if this is what it looked like before and I am just expecting more or something is not right. Can anyone take a look and let me know what you think?

Here are my settings:

2688x1520
Variable Bitrate Type
Highest Video Quality
Frame Rate: 20
Max Bitrate 16384
I Frame Interval 20
Smoothing 50
SVC off
Profile High Profile

Image settings:

Exposure Time 1/25
Gain 10
WDR Off
Normal Digital Noise Reduction
Level of 50

It's obviously hard to tell how much light there is on my street at the moment, but does this even look like the IR is being used? Do any of my settings look off? Thanks ahead

 

[nayr]

your going to have to crank that gain way the hell up w/4MP.. but its still gonna suck at night.

 

[Leyth]

Hmm ok, so higher mP tends to be better for day time? I need more cameras so i can move this one. Any recommendations for a camera in that type of environment for night?

 

[nayr]

Dahua Starlight Varifocal Turret (IPC-HDW5231R-Z)

the only good use ive found for 4MP right now is LPR and Pets, otherwise the 2MP Starlights beats the 4MP even in the daytime.

I tried two 4MP Cameras outside; and even with a ton of external IR light they didnt come close to the Starlights w/out it.. but now I have all that IR lighting for starlights and everything is very high detailed.

 

[Leyth]

Awesome, thanks for the advice. I will look into that.

 

[Leyth]

Oh, by the way, does that mean if I lower the resolution that night visibility will work better with my camera?

 

[nayr]

unfortunately no, just scales the output.. the Starlights have particularly sensitive sensors.. the 4MP Sensors are smaller than the Starlight and 2x the pixel density and a smaller aperature.. they have alot going against there photon gathering abilities, for low light its about photons not pixels.

Megapixels dont == more quality, unless lighting conditions are ideal.. and outdoor security cams rarely is that the case.. you need something thats capable of a wide range of conditions without constant tweaking.

 

[Leyth]

unfortunately no, just scales the output.. the Starlights have particularly sensitive sensors.. the 4MP Sensors are smaller than the Starlight and 2x the pixel density and a smaller aperature.. they have alot going against there photon gathering abilities, for low light its about photons not pixels.

gotcha, thank you for the information