The better night cam

Joined
Jul 23, 2019
Messages
19
Reaction score
13
Location
USA
Could someone help me to verify to my understanding about cams with night shot is correct.

This first camera Cam 1 5mp is better than Cam 2 8mp at recoding at night right? If i had to pick between the two the cam 1 is the better choice. I know its not the best but trying to stay within a budget (im cheap af).

im stil trying to grasp all this information.

Thanks
 
As an Amazon Associate IPCamTalk earns from qualifying purchases.

sebastiantombs

Known around here
Joined
Dec 28, 2019
Messages
11,511
Reaction score
27,690
Location
New Jersey
I'd say neither. Both are using a 1/2.7" or 1/2.8" sensor. That is too small for effective use at night. Don't chase megapixels, chase sensor size -

720P - 1/3" = .333"
2MP - 1/2.8" = .357" (think a .38 caliber bullet)
4MP - 1/1.8" = .555" (bigger than a .50 caliber bullet or ball)
8MP - 1/1.2" = .833" (bigger than a 20mm chain gun round)
 
Joined
Jul 23, 2019
Messages
19
Reaction score
13
Location
USA
I'd say neither. Both are using a 1/2.7" or 1/2.8" sensor. That is too small for effective use at night. Don't chase megapixels, chase sensor size -

720P - 1/3" = .333"
2MP - 1/2.8" = .357" (think a .38 caliber bullet)
4MP - 1/1.8" = .555" (bigger than a .50 caliber bullet or ball)
8MP - 1/1.2" = .833" (bigger than a 20mm chain gun round)
when you say dont chase MP why does your chart have a MP next to the size? i know the lower the number is better. Im kind of of confused.
 

Sphinxicus

Getting comfortable
Joined
Aug 30, 2017
Messages
174
Reaction score
341
Location
Ireland
I would read the above chart as;

If buying a 720P Camera, make sure the physical size of the sensor is at least - 1/3" = .333"
If buying a 2MP Camera, make sure the physical size of the sensor is at least - 1/2.8" = .357" (think a .38 caliber bullet)
If buying a 4MP Camera, make sure the physical size of the sensor is at least - 1/1.8" = .555" (bigger than a .50 caliber bullet or ball)
If buying a 8MP Camera, make sure the physical size of the sensor is at least - 1/1.2" = .833" (bigger than a 20mm chain gun round)
 

sebastiantombs

Known around here
Joined
Dec 28, 2019
Messages
11,511
Reaction score
27,690
Location
New Jersey
Those are the minimum sensor sizes at those resolutions to get a reasonable night video with blur free motion. Note that there is no 5MP sensor listed. That is because there is no suitable 5MP sensor with an appropriate size.

Think of sensor size versus resolution as if your looking through a screen. A small mesh screen represents a higher resolution, like a 400 mesh. It won't let much light reach your eyes or much light get to each individual pixel on the sensor. Now change that fine mesh to a normal window screen, say a 24 mesh, and you can see pretty well and lots of light, comparatively speaking, will reach each pixel of a sensor.
 

wittaj

IPCT Contributor
Joined
Apr 28, 2019
Messages
24,428
Reaction score
47,544
Location
USA
+1 on all of the above.

Those are budget cameras on budget sensors. A 2MP will blow them away at night. The 5MP over double the amount of light, and the 8MP needs over 4 times the amount of light.

This camera would be a far better choice if you are looking to keep the budget down:


And the 5442 series or 4K/X would be even better choices, but they are almost double in price.
 
As an Amazon Associate IPCamTalk earns from qualifying purchases.

sebastiantombs

Known around here
Joined
Dec 28, 2019
Messages
11,511
Reaction score
27,690
Location
New Jersey
Alternately, for a few dollars more (thank you Clint) and includes basic AI and a microphone -

3241T-ZAS Review
 

mat200

IPCT Contributor
Joined
Jan 17, 2017
Messages
13,649
Reaction score
22,738
Could someone help me to verify to my understanding about cams with night shot is correct.

This first camera Cam 1 5mp is better than Cam 2 8mp at recoding at night right? If i had to pick between the two the cam 1 is the better choice. I know its not the best but trying to stay within a budget (im cheap af).

im stil trying to grasp all this information.

Thanks
Hi @Oohitztommy

The 8MP Amcrest model here has a smaller sensor than most of us like for a 8MP camera .. 1/2.7" ..

If you need low light image capture, you will need to spend more for a decent option .. otherwise look to get less pixels ..


1650568413985.png
 
As an Amazon Associate IPCamTalk earns from qualifying purchases.

bradner

Getting comfortable
Joined
Aug 15, 2019
Messages
426
Reaction score
757
Location
PNW
(im cheap af)

Thanks
Get a Dahua 5442 cam. At least you won't be totally frustrated with the night shots from it as you would with the Amcrests. What's worse is buying a sub-par cam and then spending more to get a better one.
 

The Automation Guy

Known around here
Joined
Feb 7, 2019
Messages
1,374
Reaction score
2,734
Location
USA
Here is a reply that I wrote on another post here today that goes into the "why" of why we give some maximum resolution based on the sensor size.

Most cameras will look great during the day. It's at night/low light situations where cameras will start to give less than stellar results. At night, if the camera is set for auto exposure, then the camera will slow the shutter speed down and crank the gain up until it produces a very nice bright image. These images look great - until there is something moving in the frame. Then the slow shutter speeds and high gain will result in blurry and ghosting subject (ghosting is where parts, or even all of the moving subject will disappear in some frames of the recorded footage). A PTZ with autotracking can have a slightly slower shutter speed than a fixed camera and still produce decent images because it will track the subject which counteracts the slow shutter speed blurring the motion, but there is still a limit before the subjects will by blurry.

We are judging these things on physics. You camera has a known number of pixels (5mp) and a known image sensor size (1/2.8" which is roughly 1/3"). Experience has told us that the pixel size that these two things create is not going to give great low/no light images. Of course if you have your camera mounted in a bright area (perhaps there are some bright street lights nearby), then it may produce great results. But the vast majority of people are going to have a tough time getting the gain low enough to prevent ghosting, the shutter speed high enough to prevent blurring, and still be able to get an image that is bright enough to be useful.

A camera with only 2mp that uses the same size sensor (1/2.8") will have pixels that are more than twice as large as the pixels in your camera. This means each pixel is able to absorb more than twice as much light in the same amount of time as your camera. This results in much brighter images and it is generally the highest resolution (2mp) that we suggest on a 1/2.8" sensor size to ensure that we can set the gain low enough to prevent ghosting, set the shutter speed fast enough to prevent blurring, and still have a bright enough image to be useful. Any higher pixel count and the image will be too dark after setting appropriate shutter and gain settings.

So what are you to do? Well as I already mention, this is highly dependent on the amount of available light in your setting. The more light you have, the greater the chance that you can break our "maximum pixel rule" and still get usable images. Outside of adding more available light, you need to put your camera in manual exposure mode and play around with the settings (gain, aperture/iris, and shutter) to get the best compromise. You might have to live with some blurring and some ghosting in order to get an image bright enough to be useful.

Hopefully that helps. We aren't trying to crush your excitement about your new camera, but we do want you to look at the performance of it with open and honest eyes. You are going to have to play around with the shutter, gain, and aperture/iris settings with a moving subject at night to find the right combination of settings to give you the best result. If you leave the camera set on auto, it will look great with static images, but as soon as you have a subject moving in the frame, you are going to have really poor results (ie unusable footage to identify a subject). By finding the right combination of settings for your location, you will maximize the chance that you will get good identifiable footage of a moving subject at night.

I hope that helps explain it a little further. We are here to help, so don't be afraid to ask questions or even ask for help dialing in your settings.
 
Last edited:
Top