IP Camera Recommendation

[jitesh_88]

Hi Guys,

new member here. I have been reading all about IP cameras over the last 2 days.

So much that my brain has fried with all that information. I have understood the fact that i should not be chasing MPs and that it’s important to focus on my property rather than wide angle neighborhood watch.

i have attached the photo if my house from the street and also the street from the location where the camera will be installed.

the distance is roughly 7meters from the camera location to the street.

i am hoping to be able to Recognize and Identify for strangers walking into the property.

i have been looking at the EmpireTech cameras. The color4k-t and also the 4MP varifocal one.

which one would be more suitable for my usecase. If going for the fixed focal, should i consider 2.8mm or 3.6mm lens.

Also, would be nice If i can intrgrate the smart functions with synology ds920

 

[mat200]

Hi Guys,

new member here. I have been reading all about IP cameras over the last 2 days.

So much that my brain has fried with all that information. I have understood the fact that i should not be chasing MPs and that it’s important to focus on my property rather than wide angle neighborhood watch.

i have attached the photo if my house from the street and also the street from the location where the camera will be installed.

the distance is roughly 7meters from the camera location to the street.

i am hoping to be able to Recognize and Identify for strangers walking into the property.

i have been looking at the EmpireTech cameras. The color4k-t and also the 4MP varifocal one.

which one would be more suitable for my usecase. If going for the fixed focal, should i consider 2.8mm or 3.6mm lens.

Also, would be nice If i can intrgrate the smart functions with synology ds920

See the DORI section of the cliff notes .. if you want to see and potentially I'd at 7m .. 21 feet you will want a tighter for than 2.8mm for a 8mp camera .. personally I would go with 2 cameras .. one varifocal 4mp 1/1.8" sensor tightened to get 100 ppf at 7m or 21 feet .. and another 3.6mm for camera for those closer to your garage ..

 

[jitesh_88]

We made an allowance for only 1 camera to run the ethernet cable back to the hub. So for now we will have to work with that. Also, the only available lighting is from the floodlight which is PIR activated.

 

[wittaj]

Agree on two cams.

Many of us use one of these because we didn't run enough wires LOL

Amazon.com

Amazon.com

 

[jitesh_88]

That is very interesting so i have the TPLink POE switch to power the camera, will that poe port be able to send through enough power for both cameras.

so with that assumption, if i want to get started with 1 for now and maybe add the 2nd later when the budget permits, what should i start with?

 

[wittaj]

The fixed lens gives you the wide angle view.

The varifocal allows you to OPTICALLY zoom in to a pinch point, but that comes at a cost of a more narrow field of view.

Whatever your immediate goal is should dictate the first camera.

As long as the POE switch has enough power it will be fine. If it is just POE and not POE+ it might struggle a little if you have to run infrared on both.

See this thread that shows the importance of focal length to OPTICALLY zoom in to the area you want to IDENTIFY

The Importance of Focal Length over MP in camera selection

At the urging of several folks here, I created a thread to show the importance of focal length and how focal length can be more important than megapixels (MP). I mentioned some of this in the post regarding The Hookup’s latest video demonstrating different cameras, including one sold from a...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[jitesh_88]

So sounds like it might make more sense to get the varifocal first and then maybe add the fixed focal later based on the results of the varifocal. It might also help to find out whether i need 2.8 or 3.6

 

[flynreelow]

So sounds like it might make more sense to get the varifocal first and then maybe add the fixed focal later based on the results of the varifocal. It might also help to find out whether i need 2.8 or 3.6

this is the way

 

[samplenhold]

Most here will say get a good varifocal (like the 5442) first. Place it on a test rig and use that to determine positions and which cams to mount. Walk those positions day and night to see what you can expect for the view.

Here is my test rig with a couple of cams mounted next to a cam already mounted for a driveway view.

 

[samplenhold]

To give you an example of two driveway cams.

This is the view from the street. The cam on the left is a Dahua 5442 fixed focal of 6mm. The cam on the right is an older model, 5432 varifocal set at 7.5mm. I really need to upgrade this one.


The stills show the 5442 6mm fixed day and night.


Compare that to a test of the 5442 2.8mm fixed cam. This cam was mounted on the test rig at the same location as the 5442 fixed 6mm.


These stills are from the varifocal at 7.5mm day and night.


You really can't judge the two against each other as they are vastly different cams. But you can see what the FOV are like in this setting.

 

[Ri22o]

This is my varifocal driveway cam at the full 12mm and me 40ft away.


This is the same camera, at night, with me much closer. Maybe 17ft?


My Color4K-X 3.6mm with me in the same position as above.

 

[alekk]

Great advice from various people (LOL @samplenhold on your test rig!) about getting a varifocal to scope things out - they are only $200 on Amazon (and my delivery in Colorado was next day), so yea, that seems like a logical first step.

@Ri22o - impressive low-light performance from your Color4K-X (assuming not super slow shutter speed) - how much better do you feel it is (same light - both in color) than the 5442 ... especially the newer S3 version as outlined in this thread?

 

[alekk]

If you only have a single run and want to run multiple camera's, you might consider a PoE extender switch. I got this one a few weeks ago and it's been running with no problem in production - it ran three camera's with no problem - just make sure you size the upstream PoE injector appropriately. The construction is a bit flimsy, but does protect against the elements and it's mounted on a (shaded) wall that is under an eave ... so hopefully won't fall apart for a while. And when/if it does, super cheap/simple to replace.

You could mount this on the back-side of your rig @samplenhold and then just run a single cable! ;-)

Note that at least for the 5442's, the NIC is only 10/100 ... not GigE ... so you can save a few bucks by ordering the lower speed version.

 

[guykuo]

Being able to split a POE run to add another camera view can save your bacon. Should be doable, unless you have a power hungry PTZ on the existing line.

Everyone starts out with a wider view and then reconsiders after an event occurs. The wide angle camera that let you see everything turns out to get so little detail during criminal activity with motion and in the dark. It's totally frustrating to capture enough only to know what happened, but NOTHING usable for identifying who did it.

The experience, old timers, tell again and again to get something tighter framed for the info to be useful. Yet, the human desire to be aware of the entire surroundings makes 2.8 mm cameras enticing. So, simply know that eventually you will want two cameras, one for overall view and another to capture actionable info. Run two lines. If you already ran just one in a difficult position, these POE extender/splitters are a practical solution.

If a vari focal is within economical reach, they are well worth it. You can get exactly the framing you need rather than being limited to a angle of view.

 

[Ri22o]

@Ri22o - impressive low-light performance from your Color4K-X (assuming not super slow shutter speed) - how much better do you feel it is (same light - both in color) than the 5442 ... especially the newer S3 version as outlined in this thread?

I have no experience with the S3, so I am not sure how they compare. Exposure for the 4K-X is set to 8.33 and gain 35. The two coach light bulbs are Edison style and 1500 lumens each, so that definitely helps.

I could probably run the driveway 5442s in color but feel I get better low light detail with them in B/W.

 

[The Automation Guy]

Agree on two cams.

Many of us use one of these because we didn't run enough wires LOL

Amazon.com

Amazon.com

Great suggestions.

I will just add that you need to play close attention to the POE capacities. Running 2-3 CCTV cameras with a 30w max POE capacity usually won't be a problem as long as they aren't PTZ cameras. Luckily the 5 port model allows a 90w POE supply and provides three ports at 30w and one port at 60w which is enough for even most of the larger PTZ cameras out there. Obviously you can't run all 4 ports at their max POE limit because the total (150w) will exceed the supplied power limits (90w).

Also be sure that the POE being supplied matches the needs. If you hook the switch up to something that only provides 15w of POE power, you are going to have issues faster than if you hook it up to a 30w supply.

 

[alekk]

I have no experience with the S3, so I am not sure how they compare. Exposure for the 4K-X is set to 8.33 and gain 35. The two coach light bulbs are Edison style and 1500 lumens each, so that definitely helps.

I could probably run the driveway 5442s in color but feel I get better low light detail with them in B/W.

That's pretty impressive by the 4K-X at 1/120s exposure and only 35% gain ... I'm looking at the dark areas across the street.
If easy for 'ya to do, be interesting to see a comparison shot (at night) with the 5442's in color with similar settings.

 

[Ri22o]

That's pretty impressive by the 4K-X at 1/120s exposure and only 35% gain ... I'm looking at the dark areas across the street.
If easy for 'ya to do, be interesting to see a comparison shot (at night) with the 5442's in color with similar settings.

Yea. Our street is pretty dark since the street lights are only at intersections and they rely on the coach lights on the houses; I think mine are some of the brightest in the neighborhood. I will make some changes and try to get some comparison shots tonight. I have not tried to set the 5442 to color, so it might be a struggle getting the settings correct.

 

[alekk]

Yea. Our street is pretty dark since the street lights are only at intersections and they rely on the coach lights on the houses; I think mine are some of the brightest in the neighborhood. I will make some changes and try to get some comparison shots tonight. I have not tried to set the 5442 to color, so it might be a struggle getting the settings correct.

To be clear, shoot at EXACT same settings ... so we can see the difference between sensor, lens, and image processing.
Sure, gain (and noise reduction) might be different between the two camera's, but exposure is exposure.

Thanks in advance!
P.S. You probably want to snarf PNG's from the web interface (or your NVR) since if you use the API to grab JPEG's via snapshot.cgi, at least on the 5442 Series 3's, there's a flattening of the dynamic range.

 

[Ri22o]

To be clear, shoot at EXACT same settings ... so we can see the difference between sensor, lens, and image processing.
Sure, gain (and noise reduction) might be different between the two camera's, but exposure is exposure.

Thanks in advance!
P.S. You probably want to snarf PNG's from the web interface (or your NVR) since if you use the API to grab JPEG's via snapshot.cgi, at least on the 5442 Series 3's, there's a flattening of the dynamic range.

For the most part, all of my images come from the UI3 web interface.