I guess some time has passed since the new IPC-Color4K-T came out. I was wondering if anyone went from the 4MP IPC-T5442 to the 8MP IPC-Color4K-T? What was your opinion of the nighttime performance? Was it worth the upgrade for you? Any gotchas with the upgrade that wasn't obvious in the reviews? Were you able to mount the new IPC-Color4K-T on the same flange thing as the old IPC-T5442?
Greater daytime clarity is a nice plus. But I'm hoping the night time sensitivity with the 1/1.2" sensor would make up for the greater megapixels.
I set up an
IPC-T5442TM-AS 2.8mm in my driveway as an "overview" camera. I have since replaced it with an IPC-Color4K-T 2.8mm and moved the 5442 to a different location and absolutely do not regret making the "upgrade." I feel the additional cost of the 4K-T is definitely worth it and in my view was even worth the cost of outright replacing the 5442, but I understand everyone's situation will be different. Reading the last sentence of your post, I imagine you understand a bigger sensor equates to more capturing ability but more megapixels results in the total captured light being increasingly divided amongst each pixel. More factors come into play with a camera's performance, but that is an important initial guideline to keep in mind. For the lighting present in my driveway (2 60 watt sconces and nearby streetlight,) I still felt I had to run the 5442 in IR at night to get acceptable captures at the shutter speeds and gain I like to run. The larger sensor size of the Color4K seems to more than offset the increase in MP and allows me to run color at night with no changes in the lighting; however to allow me to further reduce my shutter speed and gain, I do run the Color4K's built in spotlights. Subjectively, the Color4K is absolutely better at night in color than the IPC-T5442TM-AS!
My cameras are mounted directly to the walls of my house and I don't use junction boxes or wall mount brackets. The Color4K is larger than the 5442 and uses a different base plate, but from what I've read, that base plate affixes to the junction boxes and wall mount brackets just fine.
The "gotcha's" I've run into with the Color4K are the inability to have the camera automatically switch between day and night profiles, the shallow depth of field, and possible hot pixels. Again, I'm new to this stuff so it's very possible that I'm overlooking something, but I haven't figured out how to get it to switch day/night profiles using it's onboard light sensor like I can with the 5442. I have a nearby streetlight so I need to run an appropriate anti-flicker shutter speed at night, but want to have full control over my shutter speed range during the day. I can apply time plan settings to have it switch profiles and customize the times for each month, but sometimes it's cloudy in the morning when I have it switch profiles so the streetlight is still on causing a bit of flicker until the sun gets high enough. I believe this is being discussed in
@Wildcat_1's IPC-Color4K-T review thread, but the discussion is a bit advanced for me to understand quite yet. I highly recommend you read through that entire thread if you haven't already.
The depth of field for the Color4K seems to be shallower to me than the 5442 and as a result the factory focus setting prevents a short close focus distance. The close focus specification for the 2.8mm Color4K is 13.8 feet. I haven't pulled out a tape measure to check, but the two I have set up don't seem to have a good focus until a few feet further than that. The 3.6mm Color4K close focus is stated as 16.1 feet and that seems to be about where the two of those I have set up start to focus at. I suppose this isn't a "gotcha" but more to just be aware of when planning their use.
I've also noticed what appears to be quite a few hot pixels (little white dots) with each of my Color4K's. I've tried a few tricks to "reset" them to no avail. They don't significantly affect the image for my purposes, but they are a bit annoying and your standards may be different than mine.
Last bit of information just in case you're not aware. The IPC-Color4K-T is a visible light only camera, it is not designed to work with infrared. The Color4K has built in white light spotlights to help it at night if needed. If you have enough ambient light you don't need to use the built in spotlights as the Color4K's do not need much light, but these are not "see in the dark" type of cameras that use infrared. I've read that their built in spotlights are similar to a phone's flashlight, but to me they seem quite a bit brighter than a phone and put out about the same amount of light as my solar motion lights, but the camera's lights are a bit more focused and intense than the solar lights.
Good luck...
