Worlds First Review - Dahua DH-IPC-HFW5449T1-ZE-LED / IPC-Color4M - 4MP Full Color At Night Vari-Focal Bullet Cam

Wildcat_1

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Intro

Just before the holidays and another Worlds First review coming your way. This time I am taking the new Dahua DH-HFW5449T1-ZE-LED / IPC-Color4M (@EMPIRETECANDY model number) for a spin. I’ll be putting this full color 4MP camera through its paces and pitting it against its bigger brother, the IPC-Color4K-X that I previously reviewed HERE.​
A big THANK YOU as always to @EMPIRETECANDY for providing this unit in exchange for a fair, honest, unbiased and no holds barred review.​
I’ll attempt to answer any and all comments as always BUT please keep those to the main topic of this thread.​
Lets go….​

The Camera

Now, this being a full color at night (like its 4K brother) let check out some of the key areas we would all like to see:​
  1. Full Color At Night = CHECK
  2. Vari-Focal = CHECK
  3. Low Illuminance Sensor = CHECK
  4. Wide Aperture (f1.0) = CHECK
  5. Large 1/1.2” Sensor = NO
While a number of the features above are great including the fact this is a Vari Focal camera which is good to see, this bottom point (number 5 above) could be a deal breaker as this cam actually employs it 4MP across a 1/1.8” sensor NOT the 1/1.2” used by its bigger brother. Not that this is a potentially bad pairing per se BUT definitely will impact its light gathering at night which will be important to performance and detail. Will be testing this extensively at night to see how it does. With that said it is good that the lens (1/1.8” sensor) features an f1.0 aperture therefore by spec is on par with the Color4K-X.​
From a body/footprint perspective this camera is inline with the Color4K-X which means a now, well known size and above average build quality.​
Layout of Posts - Post 1 - Intro, Post 2 - Day Test - Videos, Post 3 - Night Test - Videos, Post 4 - Bug List (new), Post 5 - Wrap Up​


Without further ado lets get onto those specs
——

Shipping FW Version
Thought I would start adding this for reference

2021-07-09 (VOLT based)​

Mounting Options

The mount options for the DH-HFW5449T1-ZE-LED / IPC-Color4M-ZE are:

  • PFA122 - 3 hole junction box
  • PFA130E - Circular junction box
  • PFA152E - Pole Mount Adapter
  • PFB220C - Ceiling Mount
  • PFB203W - Wall Mount Bracket

Remember my tip about using PFA121 & PFA122 junction boxes and quick switching the plates (4 hole vs 3 hole), very useful here too. Just remember this one needs the PFA122 (3 hole plate)

Onto the specs

This camera is part of the Dahua Wizmind range so not only gets IVS based object filtering (Human, Vehicle, Non-Vehicle) as well as Face Detection, Heat Mapping, People Counting but also SMD 3.0. As this camera features the newer FW you will again see support for Smart Plan schedules + the new Sensitivity and ‘inside’ options for IVS triggers introduced with the IPC-Color4K-x full color cam.​

Camera Details

Image Sensor - 1/1.8”​
Effective Pixels - 2688(H) x 1520(V), 4 Megapixels​
RAM: 512 MB​
ROM: 128 MB​
Electronic Shutter Speed - 1/3s~1/100,000s​
Minimum Illumination
Color: 0.0005 Lux @F1.0​
Illumination Distance (utilizing the additional LED options) - Up to 70m (229.66 ft)​
Illuminator On/Off Control - Auto/Manual (Near & Far Sliders)/ZoomPrio​
Illuminator LEDs - 4 Warm LED’s​
Lens Information
Focal Length (Vari-Focal)
2.7mm - 12mm​
Max. Aperture
F1.0​
Field of View
Vari-Focal
H: 115° (Wide), 48° (Tele)​
V: 59° (Wide), 27° (Tele)​
D: 142° (Wide), 55° (Tele)​
Close Focus Distance
1.7m (5.4ft)​
DORI Distance
Wide
Detect - 60.4m (198.2ft)​
Observe - 24.1m (79.1ft)​
Recognize - 12m (39.4ft)​
Identify - 6m (19.7ft)​
Tele
Detect - 128.6 (421.9ft)​
Observe - 51.4m (168.6ft)​
Recognize - 25.7m (84.3ft)​
Identify - 12.8 (42ft)​
Audio Information

Built In Mic​
Built In Speaker​
 
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Wildcat_1

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Post #2 - Pics & Videos

Day Time Testing


With the holiday in the US rapidly approaching for many, you didn't think I'd leave you waiting for the first video did you ? Of course not so here is the Day test with comparison to the 5442 & Color4K-X.Note that in the comparison videos each camera has exactly the same settings to ensure fairness of the test. As always, select YouTube to watch and the choose 1440p to watch in as close to full quality as YouTube will allow.​
 
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Wildcat_1

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Post #3 - Pics & Videos

Night Time Testing


As promised, I wanted to get this one out for you before the holidays for a lot of people on this forum. Here is the all important night video. Take a look as I put this one through its paces and show side by sides to its bigger brother, the IPC-Color4K-X.​
Timestamps in the video for easy viewing as always. Remember to watch in YouTube and select 1440p.​
 
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kobebeef

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I think this Max Aperture is F1.2
If the lens can adjust the aperture value through the WEB setting page.
then can proves the same lens as HFW7842H-Z
But it is also possible that the SNR1s value of this OmniVision OS04A10 is worse than that of SONY IMX485.
So the night is not that great.
799590.jpg
 
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bigredfish

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I'm very interested to hear your comments on the comparison of the two. To my unprofessional eye the 5841 looks crisper but that's not to say that the 5441 isn't crisp either.
Agreed. The 4K appears crisper, which makes sense, but the 4MP does pick up light well.
So is this effectively a 5442-ASE-NI
with onboard lights and vari-focal ?
 
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Wildcat_1

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I'm very interested to hear your comments on the comparison of the two. To my unprofessional eye the 5841 looks crisper but that's not to say that the 5441 isn't crisp either.
Great questions by all. Some answers and more info from my testing below:
  • 5449T1 / Color4m is sharper and overall more crisp (even when dialed in the same) than the 5442
  • 5449T1 / Color4M is softer than the 5849 but adds clarity and sharpness at distance where the 5849T1 / Color4K-X has focus drop off due to the fixed lens and shallow depth of field (DOF). Therefore in daytime while you would expect the 5849T1 / Color4K-X (pushing 8MP) to be sharper (which it is), the 5449 makes up for this with sharpness through the entire focal range, benefitting of course from the vari-focal lens. The 4K / 8MP will always grab more detail especially during the day BUT just remember the shallow DOF in your installation.
  • 5449T1 / Color4M suffers from a lot more noise in low light (check out the Christmas light only section of night video) which leads to reduced detail in comparison to the 5849T1 / Color4K-X and the amazing light gathering it can achieve with the larger 1/1.2" sensor
  • 5449T1 / Color 4M starts to excel when you add light. If you look at the night video, when I add the 60w bulb plus dial the spotlight to 62.5w you then start to see the 5449 perform. However, the 5849T1 / Color4K-X will always take the lead here due to the superior and larger sensor. The shallow DOF on the 5849 should not be a factor here since the 5449 will lose detail at distance at night UNLESS you throw a ton of light out further. Therefore detail at distance when comparing 5449 to 5849 becomes somewhat similar
  • 5449T1 / Color4M does outperform the 5442T-ZE at night in the same lighting situation when you want color. The 5449T1 / Color4M retains slightly more detail than its 5442 brother and definitely is able to handle the darker / shadow areas better again when in color
HTH
 

redfive

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I've installed a couple of these, on the wall of the Town Hall, just below the roof, location is not easy, always the sun in front, but the purpose here, isn't for security .... :)
cam1
cam2
 

quest100

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I don’t understand why this camera should have any worse nighttime performance than the Color4K-X. It should boil down read out noise (chip set), image processing, and a figure of merit equal to the square of the (pixel size divided by the f number). This camera, my old IPC-HFW4239T-ASE and the Color-4K-X all have 2.9 micron pixels and F/1.0 lenses. For the same external conditions they should all have the same number of photons striking each pixel. Double this figure of merit and the pixel will collect twice as many photons.

I expect that the Color-4M and Color4K-X have the same generation of chip sets with similar readout noise and that they use similar image processing. I just set up a Color-4K-X next to an existing 4239 and was pleasantly surprised how well the 4239 held up at night. I am in the process of trying the 4K camera out to see if I want to replace any of my existing cameras. So far I am not replacing any of the 4239s but I am replacing at least three of my 5231s.

I made the following table some time ago to compare Various cameras that were of interest to me. It’s amazing how poorly all of the variable focal length camera are at their longer focal lengths. The figure of merit indicates that the SD49225XA-HNR will collect 1/20 the light per pixel as the Color-4K-X (0.43 / 8.4). Of course there is a slight difference in the FOVs. :)


IPC-Color4K-X
IPC-HFW5849T1-ASE-LED
SD49225XA-HNRSD5A425XA-HNRIPC-T5442TM-ASIPC-HFW4239T-ASEIPC-HDW5231R-ZE
Cost$250$400$750~ $1,800$170
Sensor8 MP - 1/1.2”2 MP - 1/2.8”4 MP - 1/1.8”8 MP - 4/3“4 MP - 1/1.8”2 MP - 1/2.8”2 MP - 1/2.8’
Lens3.6 mm
F1.0
4.8 mm–120 mm
F1.6–F4.4
5.4 mm-135 mm
F1.6-4.0
16.0 mm–320 mm
F1.6-F5
2.8, 3.6, or 6 mm F1.63.6 or 6 mm, F1.02.7mm ~13.5mm
F/??
HFOV91°62.8°–2.6°61.6°-3.6°58.1°–3.2°113, 89, or 5687 or 54101-31 deg
Pixel Size micron2.92.92.94.632.92.9
(Pixel Size / F#)^28.43.29 - 0.433.29 - 0.538.37 - 0.863.298.4
Min Illumination 0.0005 Lux @ F10.005Lux@F1.6 and 1 sec0.001Lux@F1.6 and 1/3 sec0.0005Lux@F1.6 and 1 sec0.002Lux@F1.60.006Lux/F1.0 @ 1/30s0.05Lux
Identify Distance 39 ft528 ft564 ft761 ft20, 23, or 36 ft
Chips and SNR1sIMX462LQR 0.18
IMX327LQR 0.18
IMX307LQD 0.24
IMX464LQR 0.19
IMX347LQR 0.19
IMX294CJK 0.14IMX464LQR 0.19
IMX347LQR 0.19
 
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