Installed a ColorVu turret

[bigredfish]

Yes sorry to confuse

I’m simply saying ColorVu and Dahua’s “Full Color” while being Starlight/Darkfighter have special versions of those with the addition of white light LEDs

There are plenty of Starlight/Darkfighter models which do not have white LEDs

 

[Jono83]

got it thanks bigredfish!

I am leaning towards ColorVu because of these reasons (appreciate any comments on this from those more knowledgeable than me).

1. In the $160 ish price range it sounds like all the low light color cams are close in terms of color night video quality. At this price range I am sensing the ColorVu may have a slight advantage, but sounds like they are all pretty close.
2. Related to #1 it sounds like the ColorVu in low light without supplemental IR or LED (which is my plan) is a little more auto adjusting in terms of tweaking parameters that impact quality of color low light video, which would be good for this rookie.
3. Probably the most important consideration after color quality in low light without supplemental IR or LED is detection alerts. Appears ColorVu is only a few weeks away from having their ColorVu cam available with onboard Acusense. Important to me because I will be using micro sd on cam storage and the vendors app to manage alerts (so no NVR, BI, etc.)

I get everyone's individual use case may drive different recommendations but for me as described above I think I am on the right selection process.

Am I missing anything?

 

[bigredfish]

Hikvision ColorVu Hikvision Core Technology
Hikvision ColorVu Cameras’ powerful ability to capture details in low lighting comes from two specific breakthroughs in hardware technologies: advanced lenses and high-performance sensors. Coupled with a supplemental light for extremely dark scenarios,


Dahua Full Color https://www.dahuasecurity.com/products/keyTechnologies/732?us
Provides warm and smart auxiliary light to guarantee image clarity even in total darkness.


same same

 

[sebastiantombs]

The "Color View" and "Full Color" are nice if you don't mind the camera being an obvious flood light.

 

[aristobrat]

Related to #1 it sounds like the ColorVu in low light without supplemental IR or LED (which is my plan) is a little more auto adjusting in terms of tweaking parameters that impact quality of color low light video, which would be good for this rookie.

I wouldn't bet on any Dahua/Hik camera being auto-adjusting enough that you'll never have to go into settings and tweak the image settings.

If you haven't seen this thread on tuning, it's worth a quick browse-through and bookmark for later:
Common issues with camera image | IP Cam Talk

I get why you wouldn't want to use this camera's built-in LED light (I think @sebastiantombs nailed it above), but if it turns out there isn't enough ambient street light for this camera to record in color with an acceptable amount of motion blur, then you're kind of stuck with a camera that isn't too useful.

You also mentioned you didn't want to run supplemental IR. The ColorVu/Full Color cameras actually can't use IR to help them out if there isn't enough ambient light. If it turns out there isn't enough ambient light to run in color mode, is that something you'd reconsider? If so, you could use one of Dahua's 5442 models. IMO, Hik doesn't have similarly priced models. The 5442s will stay in color mode at night (if there is enough ambient light), but if there isn't enough ambient light they will switch to B/W mode and use the built-in IR (which isn't visible to human eyes). The extra IR can significantly help the performance of the camera. While it wouldn't be a color recording, the image quality could be significantly better (if the ambient light level is low).

 

[LJR_2019]

I have one of these with 4mm lens. In hind sight, I should have went with the 2.8mm lens. Impressive camera. I wish they made one in 8MP

 

[sebastiantombs]

With the same sensor size it wouldn't perform as well at 8MP in low light compared to the 4MP. Double the pixels, for 8MP, halves the light to each pixel as compared to 4MP.

 

[LJR_2019]

Yea, but I have the supplemental light set for 1% and its plenty enough to create a color scene at night. I'm sure it would work fine at 8MP. Still have 99% more light I could add.

With the same sensor size it wouldn't perform as well at 8MP in low light compared to the 4MP. Double the pixels, for 8MP, halves the light to each pixel as compared to 4MP.

 

[sebastiantombs]

The camera will not perform as well in low light is the point if using 8MP versus 4MP. Simple physics of the situation. Adding more light does not increase the actual performance of the camera. That only makes a camera that can't perform at low light work at higher light levels. That was my point.

 

[LJR_2019]

Nah, you dont even need to use the white light to get good color night images.

The "Color View" and "Full Color" are nice if you don't mind the camera being an obvious flood light.

 

[aristobrat]

Nah, you dont even need to use the white light to get good color night images.

That’s dependent on how much ambient light there is at your location. IMO, getting good night images is a lot easier than getting good night recordings of motion with minimal motion blur.

 

[LJR_2019]

Perhaps that is true. My application only covers my driveway, and not heavy motion, like cars passing by. However, I have very little ambient light out there, and I have the LED set to 1% and its enough to make the scene look like around dinnertime light levels/dusk, when its pitch black out. Do you have any recordings of motion that are bad? I'd like to see what you mean by bad motion recordings.

That’s dependent on how much ambient light there is at your location. IMO, getting good night images is a lot easier than getting good night recordings of motion with minimal motion blur.

 

[bigredfish]

Recordings with motion blur. Which we see a lot here. Beginners dial in a great nighttime static image using a slow shutter speed and brightness etc and fail to realize that when you actually need the video to see who was there, you get a big blurry blob.

if your not testing with human movement in the scene your just making pretty pictures.

 

[LJR_2019]

I guess it's a good thing I include my cameras in the walk-test when I do my alarm system. No blurry blobs here, video or snapshots. The camera is incredible. I have seen people complaining about such issues in IR cameras, though, but this is not IR.

Recordings with motion blur. Which we see a lot here. Beginners dial in a great nighttime static image using a slow shutter speed and brightness etc and fail to realize that when you actually need the video to see who was there, you get a big blurry blob.

if your not testing with human movement in the scene your just making pretty pictures.

 

[aristobrat]

Do you have any recordings of motion that are bad? I'd like to see what you mean by bad motion recordings.

In the thread below, first see post #10 then scroll up and view the 2nd video in post #7.
https://ipcamtalk.com/threads/new-colorvu-cameras.41381/

In this thread, you can look at folks talking about adjusting the shutter speed to reduce motion blur on the ColorVu.
https://ipcamtalk.com/threads/review-of-the-hikvision-oem-model-ipc-t2347g-lu-colorvu-ip-cctv-camera.42747/

The camera is incredible. I have seen people complaining about such issues in IR cameras, though, but this is not IR.

Cameras running in color mode at night (like this model) don't see "IR" light in a useful way. When it's dark and supplemental lighting is needed, the light needs to be visible to the human eye. That's why this camera has built-in LED instead of built-in IR.

The fact this camera uses LED (vs IR) doesn't make it more immune to motion blur in low light situations than cameras that use IR. IMO, what helps this camera the most is that the lens has a bigger aperture (F1.0) that captures more light.