Quick update, been using this camera for around a week now and have the settings pretty dialled.
The night vision was a pleasant surprise, looking over its specs pre-purchase I was not expecting much improvement over the 4MP VF bullets I currently have - the specs seemed pretty close with the lux ratings, however in reality there is no comparison. Running the camera in colour at night on a dimly lit road and have no problems picking out licence plates on parked cars or details on most people’s faces etc, all with less motion blur then the 4mp.
To work around the no-record on PTZ movement (manual or smart-tracking) i've linked its recording to all other nearby cameras and extended the post movement record time - not the best way but it works for most situations.
Initially I thought there was no scheduled switch available for image settings however completely missed the fact that there is an entire dedicated page where you can setup image switching for up to 4 periods instead of the normal 2, so can have night settings with longer exposure (using 1/50) with all the other options you like, I have a morning setting with shorter exposure 1/1000 with defog enabled and a day mode same exposure with HLC before it goes back to night mode. Can easily pick out licence plates on fast moving vehicles with these although a bit of an ask for smart tracking to really work on fast moving cars.
I may look at repositioning the camera to face down the road as currently have it centre on the property looking directly across a street which isn't giving smart tracking a chance to really do its thing.
Although you could consider this an expensive camera, for a PTZ with the features you actually get it’s a steal.
