Yes indeed, that is looking a lot better, NR just kills these at the moment. Remind me what gain you have set? that is another things which seems to affect these more than most cameras, I would like to have mine on 30 but stick with 40 so it eases to transition when light fades. If you can manage the sharpness (off!) and NR also off or very low, the dark days might surprise you. Not S3 brightness but pretty good considering, it is one area these seem to do quite well, not consistent but there we are. They just do not like sharpening and NR, S3 will tolerate both without too many issues, I can only assume on the Pro's it screws with the auto processing/algorithm.
B54PRO-Z4E first impression
- Thread starter tmxv4128
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Yes indeed, that is looking a lot better, NR just kills these at the moment. Remind me what gain you have set? that is another things which seems to affect these more than most cameras, I would like to have mine on 30 but stick with 40 so it eases to transition when light fades. If you can manage the sharpness (off!) and NR also off or very low, the dark days might surprise you. Not S3 brightness but pretty good considering, it is one area these seem to do quite well, not consistent but there we are. They just do not like sharpening and NR, S3 will tolerate both without too many issues, I can only assume on the Pro's it screws with the auto processing/algorithm.
I rarely change Gain from default on most cameras (daytime) unless needed. 50 is default. Its fine on most cameras during the day unless I need to lighten or darken something
Now on that camera, its bright in the morning and much darker towards afternoon as shadows move in so I've left it at 50 to help the afternoon
Now on that camera, its bright in the morning and much darker towards afternoon as shadows move in so I've left it at 50 to help the afternoon
OK, here is the thing, in the daytime you should be running gain as low as possible, this reduces ISO and in turn quality should significantly improve, potentially at least. Your mileage may vary of course, some will notice the quality more than others. If you have lots of light then potentially the improvement might be more marginal. You will see the biggest example at night if you push the gain (in turn ISO) up the image falls apart, detail degrades and bad things happen.
I will always try to run daytime gain sub 40, and sometimes 30 or less if I can manage it. You will get better quality output if you can go sub 40. Some of mine might even be running 20-30, this will force them into B&W/IR early but I am fine with that. During the night gain will almost always need to be 40-50+
Anyway, that is just my take, coming from the camera world, ISO is key and I want it low as possible at all times.
@bigredfish I would have a small virtual 
wager that you will see a nice change in daytime quality on the 54Pro if you knock gain down to 20-30 just for a test, of course it will darken the image somewhat but you have so much light there it should be fine. Pushing the ISO (gain) down will give you a cleaner image, with less digital 'interference' so to speak. Essentially it should bring the finer detail out in the image.
wager that you will see a nice change in daytime quality on the 54Pro if you knock gain down to 20-30 just for a test, of course it will darken the image somewhat but you have so much light there it should be fine. Pushing the ISO (gain) down will give you a cleaner image, with less digital 'interference' so to speak. Essentially it should bring the finer detail out in the image.
I dont have digital interference, I have a soft blurry camera with a low rent sensor that can't keep up with the other 10 of my cameras.
Appreciate it though
Appreciate it though
Chokolinho
Getting comfortable
In the future, I won't buy brand new cameras anymore. It was definitely a lesson learned.
Decided to have a cocktail and try some crazy shit - check out the Encode tab
Best nighttime image so far
Improvement from the ghost rider settings
Best nighttime image so far
Improvement from the ghost rider settings
You know, I had a thought a while ago about these new releases. Maybe they were intended to be Halloween Edition cams, each with their own Ghost In The Machine. 
Re: the white SUV
You know the stuff on the side of the vehicle is actually reflection and not any type of artifact or noise right?
It took me a few seconds to figure out that was reflection of white trellis and house
Whoa, look at the focus point! You need to walk on top of that block wall. How's your balance? Drink some coffee. You'll be fine.Decided to have a cocktail and try some crazy shit - check out the Encode tab
Best nighttime image so far
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Improvement from the ghost rider settings
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A lesson learned doesn't mean much when the next new camera comes out and you want to get your hands on the new toy. I almost bought the B54PRO-Z4E and still thinking maybe I should give a try after you guys proving there are problems with this new camera that needs to work out first. It's difficult to control the impulse sometimes.....
A lesson learned doesn't mean much when the next new camera comes out and you want to get your hands on the new toy. I almost bought the B54PRO-Z4E and still thinking maybe I should give a try after you guys proving there are problems with this new camera that needs to work out first. It's difficult to control the impulse sometimes.....
Best to be cautious, I 'only' bought three to test the water
- turns out it was the deep end. 
So interestingly, the high bitrate with the same low Smooth Stream setting seemed to work just as good as normal daytime settings... not perfect but not bad
Dropping this in here since I was typing something similar as a reply elsewhere. No doubt a lot of this is common knowledge but anyway...
I have found it quite interesting to test the four camera variations I got recently, S3 turret, S3 bullet, 4K-T and of course the 54ProZE!
Still for critical monitoring the S3 bullet series is a clear winner, I am enjoying the 4K-T for its ability to give colour ID, there are times when you essentially need both. The S3 would give detail in B&W, whilst the 4K series could provide the colour of clothing or vehicle. Equally the S3 turret is a very tidy all in one solution, IR power is limited but it is a reliable option for day and night coverage.
There are still times when the 54Pro produces some great footage, mostly during the day but bizarrely it can shine at sunset or sunrise, even when it is quite dark. Not for long but there is a small window where I feel like it produces results that even the S3 or 4K couldn't match. But the window is small and once night falls the S3 and 4K would have it covered. Reminds me of some digital photo camera sensors I have tested in the past, equally they could produce some great detail at times, all be it with fine grain/noise.
This has been a good voyage of discovery for me, especially since I had not purchased a new camera since the 5442 series back in 2021. Similar to the digital camera world, some days you need a large sensor with 24 megapixels, on brighter days you will take 45 megapixels and benefit from good light! In other words, go buy some more cameras
I have found it quite interesting to test the four camera variations I got recently, S3 turret, S3 bullet, 4K-T and of course the 54ProZE!
Still for critical monitoring the S3 bullet series is a clear winner, I am enjoying the 4K-T for its ability to give colour ID, there are times when you essentially need both. The S3 would give detail in B&W, whilst the 4K series could provide the colour of clothing or vehicle. Equally the S3 turret is a very tidy all in one solution, IR power is limited but it is a reliable option for day and night coverage.
There are still times when the 54Pro produces some great footage, mostly during the day but bizarrely it can shine at sunset or sunrise, even when it is quite dark. Not for long but there is a small window where I feel like it produces results that even the S3 or 4K couldn't match. But the window is small and once night falls the S3 and 4K would have it covered. Reminds me of some digital photo camera sensors I have tested in the past, equally they could produce some great detail at times, all be it with fine grain/noise.
This has been a good voyage of discovery for me, especially since I had not purchased a new camera since the 5442 series back in 2021. Similar to the digital camera world, some days you need a large sensor with 24 megapixels, on brighter days you will take 45 megapixels and benefit from good light! In other words, go buy some more cameras
This experience along with the 3449 TIOC PRO (which actually has a better image at least with the fixed lens) have convinced me that Dahua like so many others has gone full speed ahead on AI, bells n whistles, and managed cloud features (DoLynk) , and has either hit an optics or cost brick wall on IQ improvements