Correct and I’m beginning to think that part of the reason I don’t like the image quality compared to my older 5442 ASE 3.6 which was 1.5m
aperture is only about how much light is coming to sensor and how big/small DOF is...
Your liking / dis-liking is more about video image processing.
Wiz-Color processing is very different to classic Dahua Starlight processing.
is something between classic very analog 5442 and awful very digital Full Color cam processing (Color4K in all forms).
But it's much newer / use much modern algorithms which I know from latest Sport cameras & drones...
It's ten times better than awful Full Color - but it has some digital signature in it.
There is huge progress in color processing (color recovery at night) - WizColor beats here everything on the market.
Plus dynamic gamma manipulation - aka always HDR - or always modern WDR..
Much better sharpening algorithms, which don't destroy image like FullColor ones / or over sharpen like 5442..
Though that doesn’t explain the digital noise.
Digital noise is simply artifact of much more strong gain in WizColor cams.
plus fact that WizColor cams are using cheaper / worse sensors from SmartSens in comparison to 5442 (higher/better OmniVision sensors)...
WizColor cams have two level gain - one analog on sensor (very noisy one). Second on AI-ISP - which I call 'always HDR with dynamic gamma manipulation' which don't adds noise that much.
WizColor cams recovers much more image (more brightness, more color) from the same situation than 5442. But also recovers more noise.
Solution for that is to limit analog gain on sensor more, than on 5442. And allow to 'Always HDR/dynamic gamma manipulation' do its magic..