Some general camera questions + thermal cameras?

R

robjk22

n3wb
May 7, 2025
6
7
Switzerland
Hello!

I am a new member of this forum; I had previously set up a Reolink-based surveillance system but, thanks to what I've read in the different posts here, I am now preparing to set up something that going to be way more effective for my new home ;)
I have a few questions for you, please:
  • I am looking around for Dahua and Hikvision cameras, but despite my searches I have some issues having a clear comparison of the different models/advantages/disadvantages --- for instance I went to the official Dahua website and there they list all the cameras, great, but from there to getting a clear picture of what would fit my needs (and budget)... Is there a way to get a clear comparison of the different cameras (e.g., the Eureka cams are for this, this others are best for that, etc.)?
  • I have seen that most people here use Blue Iris. I have nothing against that software, other than in runs in Windows and I have no Windows machines around (and, for security reasons, I am not that motivated to have one virtual machine with it). True, I can always lock down as hell network-wise, so here's my question: do you feel that the gap wrt something like Frigate is worth the hassle?
  • I was thinking about having a setup with Frigate (on a mini-PC) and recording on my Synology drive, with notifications & co via Home Assistant. I know that this works well with Reolink, but is this the same for Dahua and Hikvision?
  • I have seen that both brands offer some hybrid optical+thermal cameras (some with even "reasonable" prices, like ~300 EUR), but I was unable to have a lot of info about them... I live in a chalet in the mountains, and the weather can get very nasty (heavy storms, fog, snow). Also, with the previous (ok, crappy) Reolink system I was getting lots of false alarms from optical detection (especially in those nasty conditions, but not only). Do those thermal cameras combine the two channels to have more reliable detections? I've seen that they allow to detect conditions like people smoking, but I don't really care about that, I would love to have a trigger on humans entering my property that fuses the two channels... If they are more effective, why so few people use them? (I have searched "thermal" in the forum, but it seems that not so many people use them...)

Thanks a lot in advance for your help! :)

Best,
Rob
 
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Welcome!

As far as cameras, without knowing what your goals of the camera is, this thread is used as the go to for the new person here outlining the commonly recommended cameras (along with Amazon links) based on distance to IDENTIFY that represent the overall best value/best bang for the buck in terms of price and performance day and night. It might be a 2MP camera in some instances. Many here feel 4MP is the current sweet spot for these cameras.

The Importance of Focal Length over MP in camera selection

And coupled with that thread is this great thread which will show why all of the same 2.8 or 3.6mm cameras is the wrong choice (these are the common focal lengths consumer brands sell):

i-want-2-8mm-cameras-everywhere-to-see-everything-this-is-why-you-need-specific-fovs-with-purposeful-focal-lengths.70053/

We would encourage you to look at those threads in detail.

It will probably raise more questions than answers LOL.



Thermal cameras are great. They are considered as two separate cameras.

As you pointed out, the thermal is immune to weather.

Here is one thread of many discussing thermal.


You will also generally find the AI on these cameras better than a consumer Reolink. Many of us here rarely get false triggers due to weather.

The true test....I have found the AI of the cameras to work even in a freakin blizzard....imagine how much the CPU/GPU would be maxing out sending all the snow pictures for analysis to CodeProject LOL. My non-AI cams in BI were triggering all night. This picture was ran through AI (without the IVS or red lines on it) and it failed to recognize a person in the picture, but the camera AI did. This pic says it all and the video had the red box over it even in complete white out on the screen:

1746637419330.png


See this thread on how using just Dahua AI may be sufficient for your needs (and other cameras with AI would perform similar):

Who uses Dahua AI capable cameras? Reliable AI for triggering events? Pro's/con's?
 
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Ok, I've spent several hours digging into a ton of information, and now I'm back with more precise questions ;)

From what I saw, I tend to prefer Hikvision to Dahua, and I've looked around trying to match the specs you've outlined in your excellent post (thanks a lot!!). I have focused on 4 MP and dropped the thermal for the moment (since I've just discovered that I will need a LOT of cameras, and my budget is not infinite...). Unfortunately I saw that no camera I was able to find has both a turret case and a large sensor (typically they have a 1/3" sensor, to have a 1/1.8" a bullet is needed).
Also, I'm in Switzerland, and importing stuff is a nightmare (costs a lot, and thus it is not worth for the single camera I'd like to buy for a first proof-of-concept). I am therefore restricted to what the Swiss market offers (which is not much, and is much more expensive...), with the idea that I can place a big order once I am set on what I'd like to get.

I've narrowed down to two cameras:
  • DS-2CD2647G2HT-LIZS
  • DS-2CD2H43G2-IZS
I was planning to mix both types, using the former for monitoring e.g., the short driveway to home. What do you think about this choice?

I am also a bit puzzled about an area I have to cover with cameras: the main entrance is on the same level as the driveway, and the entrance is a bit recessed wrt the main wall (say 1 m), with two garage doors on its side. Everything is under a balcony, so no way to see it from above. In my original plans I was planning to install a 180 degrees Reolink dome camera on the wall between the two garages (and too bad if I have no visibility on the door, anyone would be caught first by the cameras on the floor before on the way in, then on the 180 degrees camera). Now I have thrashed the Reolink idea, I discovered that dome cameras are bad, and so I am totally lost... Do you have any good suggestion on this? Note that I am very limited in where wires can be put --- I cannot just punch a hole a pull wires, so I have to re-use existing tubes from the electrical installation, removing lights to free the tubes... :rolleyes:

Thanks again for your help!!
Best,
Rob
 
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The Dahua 5442 (54IR) series (1/1.8" sensor) offers turret varifocal.

What is it with Hikvision that you preferred over Dahua? I have had both and recently got rid of my last Hikvision LOL. The GUI was more cumbersome than the Dahua and the image was harder to get dialed in than the comparable Dahua.

@EMPIRETECANDY is a trusted vendor here and has an Amazon store in Europe and sells direct. He knows all the tricks to sell cameras all over the world at very competitive prices. Get a quote for a camera from him and see how it compares to the pricing you see.
 
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Well, I am a bit scared by the vast number of crappy versions of the Dahua cameras that are on the net (reputable Swiss distributors do not have many of them), the lack of clarity in model names (at least for me, I cannot get a clear "hierarchy" as it seems to me that a tiny change in the model number can result in vastly different performances), and the fact that there are so many discussions on the firmware (kind of "do not install this version, put that and then the other, otherwise it won't work", etc.). But I'll have a look at the model number you've indicated (I just saw your post on the subject, now I'll investigate a bit more in that direction).

I am not very concerned about the GUI, since I do not plan to use their NVR but rather install either Frigate or BI.

I'd rather buy from Empiretecandy (for both the support and the super prices), but for Switzerland it is not a matter of skills: Switzerland is in Europe but not in the EU, therefore shipping companies got very creative to extract from you every single drop of blood (beside the import duties, they add crazy sums for their so-called "processing fees" --- I had once paid 90 EUR of shipping+import on a 80 EUR product.....). Plus, since I live in the mountains, they tend to deliver whenever they feel like (I had once to wait for almost a month and waste hours complaining on the phone...). It would be my go-to shop for the full installation (as I could split their "processing fees" over a larger sum), but for getting a single camera for the proof-of-concept system it is unfortunately not worth it.

Thanks for your help! :)
 
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(and I was forgetting about the Internet Explorer thing for the Dahua... not really sure to have understood, but do they really expect me to use IE to configure their cameras?????)
 
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Hikvision sells many crappy models as well like that turret on a 1/3" sensor above.

You need to get into the camera GUI even if you use Frigate or BI if you expect to get the most out of the camera. Running a camera on default/auto settings is a recipe for disaster.

Hikvision makes you go thru several steps to make the camera capable to work with third party, they hide gain in many models, and the GUI is just harder to navigate.

Except for like Axis, you will find most cameras are still built around IE, including Hikvision and Dahua that make many camera brands. Doesn't mean another browser won't work, but those that can get "under the hood" of the firmware have shown that for full capacity, IE may be needed.

Of course YMMV.
 
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I haven't needed to use IE in a very long time. Most new stuff has a web interface that is highly compatible with Chrome and similar. For older cameras, I use Pale Moon 32 bit to run their plugin, but even that is only necessary for things that require clicking around on a video surface (such as moving the timestamp overlay). However I'm not normally doing anything with on-camera motion detection, AI, etc. Maybe that is where IE is still necessary?

Since you're intrigued about thermal cameras, it wouldn't hurt to see if ebay has any good deals in your area. Search for "thermal ip camera" and "thermal network camera". A lot of companies bought thermal cameras for fever screening back in 2020 and occasionally these get sold off for a tiny fraction of their original price on ebay at least in the USA. Trouble is most of these have very narrow field of view which makes them rather less useful I think for a typical home install. Beware that you'll get a lot of search hits that aren't actually thermal cameras, or are older and crappy, so if something looks good, do a little research about it. And also consider asking the seller if they can share the login credentials. Last thermal cam I bought on ebay was a PTZ for around $400 USD (amazing deal honestly), but the seller didn't know the credentials. Luckily I was able to use Hikvision's automated email system to get the cryptographic code to reset the password.
 
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robjk22 said:
Thanks to both of you for the very helpful insights!
Click to expand...

Hey robjk22

Good to see you are in Europe ..

As you are using reolink I would pickup one good dahua oem or hikvision oem varifcal 4mp 1/1.8" ip poe camera from andy or other vendor to test and play around with.

Both Hikvision and Dahua make tons of models and it gets challenging to keep up for comparisons. Thus I like to see what others here have already tested out.
 
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