B54PRO-Z4E first impression

[bigredfish]

"...Obviously a different scene, about 50ft, but the 5442 S3 Z4 as far as I'm seeing right now, is superior in B&W/IR to the 54PRO Z4"
Yes, that's exactly what I think also. This B54PRO-Z4E makes me want to like it, but the B54IR-Z4E-S3 beats the stuffing out of it in terms of low-light capture, sharpness, evenly lit IR, and lack of digital artifacts. Since I have a 4K-X on my driveway, I use it for color identification, but if someone was only able to use one camera for a particular placement, I can see how this could serve double-duty with both IR and warm LED (smart illumination). As an example, I did a search for "Guitar Man" on my NVR and found these clips from a few weeks ago. The B&W of the B54IR-Z4E-S3 is superior to the B54PRO-Z4E, but the latter has it beat for color in the daytime.

I obviously don’t have the distance here at the swamp that I did at our previous house, I wonder if you could zoom the 54PRO Z4 to a face at that sign in bright daylight and do same with the 5442 Z4

What I’m seeing is that as you describe the new Z4 appears brighter with better depth and more rich in daytime (as I myself also noted in the plain ZE thread) than the old model, but once you actually zoom enough for facial detail, is it really superior?

(I can and will do this in the coming days but can only do to 56ft)

Unless someone finds the magic switch, my take and intuition based on just a few short 2 weeks of testing all 3 models, AS/ZE/Z4 , is that most if not all of the perceived enhanced brightness and image richness of the new series vs the 5442 S3 is digital AI manipulation and not the actual optics. As to IQ, we’re seeing AI attempt to tell us “don’t believe your lying eyes” which can work in certain scenes at certain distances, but is not an upgrade in image quality.

 

[bigredfish]

Anyone else’s new Z4 just default to 40ms exposure on the switch from day to night?

 

[bigredfish]

More 54PRO Z4 testing
Progress vs previous traditional attempts, still not what I hoped for but bourbon stocks are still plentiful so I'm not giving up yet...


Here's where I started and where I finished on testing the 54PRO Z4 today
Telephone pole is at 56ft

View attachment test1-192.168.1.110_ch5_20251105200716_20251105200807.mp4

View attachment test5-192.168.1.110_ch5_20251105210555_20251105210636.mp4
T

 

[Parley]

I was going to suggest a tad more light, but it looks like you did that in the 2nd video. I do see improvements.

 

[bigredfish]

More gain, more iris, more Exp Comp, more NR, actually a faster shutter. (5ms vs 6)

 

[EMPIRETECANDY]

2nd one much better, yesterday's video have lots of noise. This firmware is using the 1028 version?

 

[bigredfish]

2nd one much better, yesterday's video have lots of noise. This firmware is using the 1028 version?

Still a ways to go but better

V3.146.0000000.2.R, Build Date: 2025-08-27

I'll update it tomorrow

 

[alekk]

I felt the 1028 firmware was a definitive improvement over 0827 ... so I'm real curious to see/hear your opinion @bigredfish

 

[tmxv4128]

Some tests at different shutter settings: 0-8.33ms, 0-6ms, and 0-4ms.
Encoding: H.264.H, 15fps, 12,288 bit rate
Brightness 50, Contrast 54, Sharpness 15, Gamma 50, Gain 0-50, Iris 100, 3d NR 33, 2D NR 22

 

[bigredfish]

Pretty good. Just that digital fuzz but you're clearly getting in dialed in
It does run out of IR at the further distance pretty fast

 

[bigredfish]

Daytime on mine is fine as expected. I did go to manual focus and spent some time on that. It seems to wander a bit? wtf. More testing on that today

Even in daytime, its extremely light sensitive, I mean that shadows and overcast seem to have an exaggerated effect on its clarity

 

[bigredfish]

Hmmmm much better on vehicles


View attachment test6-192.168.1.110_ch5_20251106190054_20251106190110.mp4

 

[tmxv4128]

Hmmmm much better on vehicles


View attachment 231916

That does look good. What settings are you using?

 

[bigredfish]

That does look good. What settings are you using?

I have so many hours in this piece of junk that I could tell you but then I’d have to kill you.

I’ll write it up in a bit but you hit the nail on the head a few days ago. This thing turns everything we thought we knew about dialing in night video on its head.

 

[bigredfish]

Notice the camera label
Both roughly 50ft

 

[bigredfish]

Am updating FW on the 54PRO Z4 today to the 1028 release.

A note: To our resident photog guy @alekk : You were right and I was wrong on the softness out of the box.

I'll wrap up the testing of the 54PRO Z4 DAYTIME later today. I have too many cameras in Test and I need to put a few to bed.

Before the FW update, here's the last of what I'm seeing DAYTIME on the 0827 FW.

• It can't match the 5442 Z4 sharpness and image quality during the day
• Building on the previous settings here are my MAX SHARP settings compared to the same std 5442 settings as above

My Take: Its acceptable and maybe more vibrant and bright during DAYTIME, shows highlights better, but nothing to write home about

NEW MAX SHARP settings 54PRO-Z4




Vs the std settings on the 5442-Z4



Final with the latest 1028 FW. I don't see a huge difference. I did increase the Sharpness to 30 (double) and turned NR OFF. Still results below

54PRO




5442 Z4

 

[tmxv4128]

Interesting about the sharpness. A couple nights ago I tried experimenting with the sharpness. I set up a target 60 feet and 90 feet from the target. Using another computer that could zoom in on the target as I made the adjustments, I started adjusting the sharpness. I found that the best setting was "15." If I started to raise the sharpness setting, noise began to appear and had to be compensated with the 3D NR and 2D NR controls. I am currently at "15" sharpness and "33" 3D NR, "22" 2D NR at night. Daytime settings that result in the best sharpness are "15" for sharpness and "27" 3D NR, "26" 2D NR. Since my nighttime captures are in a location with no added lighting--only the camera's IR--I think the sharpness control is greatly affected by the lighting situation. I'm planning to swap the B54PRO-Z4E for the B54IR- Z4E- S3 today and test the IR output tonight. The recordings I have compared the two cameras have shown the Z4E-S3 to be superior when using the built-in IR. I want to take a closer look at that--especially since the B54PRO settings have been defying conventional logic.

 

[bigredfish]

Agree, 15 is about where I ended up, I simply bumped it to 50 for that top test. No real difference. In DAYTIME I still couldn't get it as sharp as the 5442 no matter what i did

At night its a whole other set of issues

 

[bigredfish]

NIGHTTIME Testing

* I've given up on running color at night with the 54PRO Z4.
It takes a lot of light, probably every bit as much as the 5442 maybe more, to run it in color at night. That said, you may have a scene where it can.
Adding enough ambient light via floods can make any camera do better at night. I just don't have enough light to get a clean enough image for my liking.

Last best color samples. To many it may be good enough.



View attachment test5-192.168.1.110_ch5_20251105210555_20251105210636.mp4



View attachment test7-192.168.1.110_ch5_20251107182941_20251107183000.mp4

 

[tmxv4128]

Agree, 15 is about where I ended up, I simply bumped it to 50 for that top test. No real difference. In DAYTIME I still couldn't get it as sharp as the 5442 no matter what i did

At night its a whole other set of issues

Yes, the 5442 definitely is sharper, but for overall daytime quality I am liking the 54PRO more and more. Colors are a lot better, and the tonal range is far superior. Shadows have detail and aren't just black. Also, no need for WDR compensation, since the camera is providing some wizardry in the background. Now if only the nighttime quality would be equally positive. I still have hope for night settings, but I think I've reached the limit on what I can do. I've tried just about every tweak I could think of. It is going to be interesting to see if setting up the B54IR-Z4E-S3 tonight will validate a lot of what I have hypothesized. I appreciate the effort you have put in testing the camera. It helps to affirm that I am not simply going crazy. ha ha