How to compare two cameras side by side?

[Erik]

Hello,
I have two cameras from the same manufacture to compare side by side. I am going to end up sending one of them back. I have a 2mp, and a 4mp. The 4mp is quite a bit more expensive than the 2mp, but it's hard for me to get a good comparison to see if it is worth it. Are there any good ways/techniques how to compare two cameras for quality?

Thanks for any input!

 

[Kawboy12R]

Walk in front of them at various distances and speeds and then take freezeframes of facial detail. The cam that gives the best detail, particularly of moving targets, is the best cam. Especially important to do this at night. A cam that only gives you good pics of rock steady targets is only great for studio portraits or nature shots, not security. Unfortunately, most cheap cams require the target to be stopped so keep the cam that gives the least crappy pic of moving targets.

 

[Ryan00]

Hello,
I have two cameras from the same manufacture to compare side by side. I am going to end up sending one of them back. I have a 2mp, and a 4mp. The 4mp is quite a bit more expensive than the 2mp, but it's hard for me to get a good comparison to see if it is worth it. Are there any good ways/techniques how to compare two cameras for quality?

Thanks for any input!

What cameras are they? Most likely the 2mp give better night image. But not necessarily, all the time, I know when I first setup my cameras I had to mess with the shutter speed / gain a lot until I was happy.

 

[tigerwillow1]

I set up 2 cameras, literally touching each other, and let them record 24x7. Lets you look at the images taken at the same time. What brand cameras? I found a comparable Dahua camera to have a far superior image to an LTS camera. This is not an across-the-board statement, just 2 particular models compared. I never could have made a detailed comparison without the recordings to look through.

 

[Ryan00]

I set up 2 cameras, literally touching each other, and let them record 24x7. Lets you look at the images taken at the same time. What brand cameras? I found a comparable Dahua camera to have a far superior image to an LTS camera. This is not an across-the-board statement, just 2 particular models compared. I never could have made a detailed comparison without the recordings to look through.

Wish I could say the same about my dahua 4431c. My hikvision 2342wb has much better image quality and I messed around with the dahua settings until I was blue in the face. Anyways just remember still image doesn't mean anything, you can make most security cameras look good until someone starts moving and you realize you can't make anything out. Also remember your getting a double ir out put if both ir lights are on at the same time. I would test them separately same location and distance .

 

[Erik]

LaView (rebranded HikVision) 2mp and 4mp

 

[Erik]

One thing i forgot to mention. The 2mp is 30fps, and the 4mp is 20fps. Does that matter much?

Thanks!!

 

[Kawboy12R]

Doesn't matter to me. 15fps is plenty unless you want to publish the video.

 

[Erik]

If you were trying to recognize a moving face, 15 would do the job?

 

[Kawboy12R]

One clear frame is all you need. After maybe 6 or ten frames per second, if they stop or slow down briefly at night then more frames won't help much capturing the best instant. Lighting and exposure time is more important. 15 fps is plenty and will save you a lot of storage space or increase your backwards record with a fixed volume size. 30fps will look smoother while viewing video, particularly of cars, but won't improve the quality of the freeze frames (consider them mugshots) you get.

 

[Dodutils]

Also try to move in front "fast" at night (are they both IR ?) to see which one provide better result less wash/shadow effect, also try to see how they react to quick light change, try to use some flashled put it quick in front of camera they rmeove it and see how long it will take to get good vision again.

If the camera is meant to record mixed ground/sky view check if they handle light/shadow mixed situation well, some cameras do not like such mix and will darken a lot the whole view to handle the most enlighted one even worst with mixed sun&cloud situation so you may get horrible result like this one with first view OK but second not OK because of the cloud situation :

 

[bigredfish]

Those two images are a prime example of why true WDR can be helpful. WDR will even out the dark and light areas of the bottom image and make an amazing difference.

 

[Dodutils]

This is why I showed this example that is a good one but there are 4 factors that are envolved in this situation :

1. Field view of the camera, in this example the camera is viewing a lot of sky that is useless and is the source of the problem so lowering the view field will mainly fix the problem
2. Dynamic range of the sensor, the largest range the better it will be able mixed light situation
3. Light balance calculation point(s) (centered, average...) depending the camera you can change that setting ... or not...
4. HDR/WDR or whatever it's called, on low cost camera this is usually useless feature not really effective, active or not you get nearly the same result and also it may lower the picture's sharpness because it works based on two or three consecutive frames to mix them and produce "best" light balanced picture but the result depend so if you have fast moving objects they can be not as sharp, all depend the quality (and $$$) of the camera sensor/chipset some show good results, other do not.

 

[bigredfish]

Thank you, once again I learned something useful on this forum. I have a similar scene, though not as severe, and will try adjusting the FOV