Dahua WizColor 5x59-PRO and SmartLight 5x59-IL new series

[CCTVCam]

This is interesting to me, the 4kt in @jmcu excellent videos looks fantastic quality, I guess it would make sense that 8MP sensor will require more light. I have some of the 54Pro cameras arriving and my guess is these will fair better with the onboard only lighting than the 4kt, would that be a fair assumption?

Regardless the sensor on that 4kt looks superb, path detail and general exposure, I guess the downside is lack of IR if that is an issue for some. It almost looks too good to be true!

The 4KT is on a larger sensor 1/1.2" vs 1/1.8". That's why it can get away with being 8mp and still deliver a better night time image. It doesn't come down to pixel count alone but pixel size when it comes to delivering good pictures in low light and putting more pixels on the same sensor size, means reducing the individual pixels in size, hence why 8mp on 1/1.8" isn't recommended as the pixels size is such that the light gathering ability isn't great. 8mp on a 1/1.2" though is a whole different ball game. The extra real estate allowed for not only more pixels but potentially larger more sensitive ones as well. That's why the 35mm camera from 2016 has the best night picture of all. It was either 8 or 12mp (I forget) but 35mm is huge compared to even 1/1.2" so by comparison, the pixels were huge and gathered much more light. That said all cameras have advantages and disadvantages. eg the 35mm I mentioned came in around $10k with lens!!! The 4kt's have numerous areas some of us would wish were improved. I'm sure you'll find the same with 5442's and even the new 54 pros as you can tell from what some of us are observing. The thing with all of these is not to see it as rubbishing the camera but just critique and realise no camera is perfect. Sometimes feedbakc leads to improvements, sometimes not. However, I'll always give honest critique in the hope it will help improve things and so I and everyone else know what the strengths and weaknesses of any given camera are. IT's all about finding the best of the best, then the best of those that fit your needs / compromise. The perfect camera doesn't exist, so far at least...

 

[Chokolinho]

I know!! how is this possible you have to wonder, my 5442's and other 2MP cameras would never manage that, seems bizarre.

I previously had an HDBW5442H-ZHE, which cannot even begin to compete with the t54pro-AS.

 

[Chokolinho]

Shutter : 16,67 , Gain : 55 , NR 50

 

[CCTVCam]

interesting he’s running 1/60 and very little blur

Sometimes it depends on the angle and distance to the camera, Moving left to right as opposed to straight at or away, also results in more relative movement. When I had my issue with blur I had 6ms set which should have been plenty, but when I was close up one night, when I reviewed the footage, I blurred despite the relatively fast shutter and slow movement. That's why I dropped mine to 4ms max (whenever possible). Prior to that, I'd had no issue at 6ms. 1/60th seems very slow to avoid blur unless eveything in the picture is static or moving directly at the camera.

 

[CCTVCam]

Shutter : 16,67 , Gain : 55 , NR 50

Along way from being blur free. Too much gain, too slow a shutter:

The front kid has become a ghost (classic gain effect). The back two are trailing. You're not identifying anyone from them:

 

[Chokolinho]

Along way from being blur free. Too much gain, too slow a shutter:

The front kid has become a ghost (classic gain effect). The back two are trailing. You're not identifying anyone from them:

View attachment 229710

I'm testing the night 12.67, 50, and 50nr.

 

[CamCrazy]

The 4KT is on a larger sensor 1/1.2" vs 1/1.8". That's why it can get away with being 8mp and still deliver a better night time image. It doesn't come down to pixel count alone but pixel size when it comes to delivering good pictures in low light and putting more pixels on the same sensor size, means reducing the individual pixels in size, hence why 8mp on 1/1.8" isn't recommended as the pixels size is such that the light gathering ability isn't great. 8mp on a 1/1.2" though is a whole different ball game. The extra real estate allowed for not only more pixels but potentially larger more sensitive ones as well. That's why the 35mm camera from 2016 has the best night picture of all. It was either 8 or 12mp (I forget) but 35mm is huge compared to even 1/1.2" so by comparison, the pixels were huge and gathered much more light. That said all cameras have advantages and disadvantages. eg the 35mm I mentioned came in around $10k with lens!!! The 4kt's have numerous areas some of us would wish were improved. I'm sure you'll find the same with 5442's and even the new 54 pros as you can tell from what some of us are observing. The thing with all of these is not to see it as rubbishing the camera but just critique and realise no camera is perfect. Sometimes feedbakc leads to improvements, sometimes not. However, I'll always give honest critique in the hope it will help improve things and so I and everyone else know what the strengths and weaknesses of any given camera are. IT's all about finding the best of the best, then the best of those that fit your needs / compromise. The perfect camera doesn't exist, so far at least...

Thanks for the detail, I am a full frame camera guy so understand the theory, still that 8MP is impressive, I will be adding one to my next order along with a 54Pro AS it would seem! kind of annoyed because I almost ordered the two mentioned and a ZE, instead I got three ZE's which was stupid in hindsight. Not to worry, can never have too many cameras and I still have two which need upgrading anyway. Re the video clip showing blur from the scooter riders, of course that will not be a useful still image but during playback it isn't too shabby considering the shutter speed. The motion is angular to the camera also, half way to the subject coming towards which will help with the motion blur to some degree as mentioned above.

 

[Chokolinho]

Nice @Chokolinho ... albeit those motion activated floods provide some much need light - wonder what motion would look like without those?

Any chance you have a T54PRO-ZE we can see side-by side using same settings?

I could share videos from the ZE tomorrow.

 

[CamCrazy]

I'm testing the night 12.67, 50, and 50nr.

I would drop the shutter to 8 or similar, get the NR below 40 if possible. That is going to require either IR or LED assistance though, almost certainly.

 

[Chokolinho]

I would drop the shutter to 8 or similar, get the NR below 40 if possible. That is going to require either IR or LED assistance though, almost certainly.

8,33 , 50 , 40 nr

 

[bigredfish]

Yeah the 1/60 is fine when the target is under that streetlight, but close in and someone at your door you're going to have to run faster shutter, at least 1/120 (0-8.33) and let the camera turn on the white LED's on motion

You know you can set the white LEDS to come on with the IVS tripwire for a set period of time, like say 20 seconds

 

[Chokolinho]

Yeah the 1/60 is fine when the target is under that streetlight, but close in and someone at your door you're going to have to run faster shutter, at least 1/120 (0-8.33) and let the camera turn on the white LED's on motion

You know you can set the white LEDS to come on with the IVS tripwire for a set period of time, like say 20 seconds

Do you mean the warning light under ivs?

 

[bigredfish]

Yes

 

[CamCrazy]

This is looking pretty impressive so far, the ambient will be helping though. Once the on camera LED's are running this should look very nice! again, thanks for posting these and taking the time

Quite pleased I have some ZE's coming now, nobody mention the AS

 

[alekk]

Thanks for the detail, I am a full frame camera guy so understand the theory, still that 8MP is impressive, I will be adding one to my next order along with a 54Pro AS it would seem! kind of annoyed because I almost ordered the two mentioned and a ZE, instead I got three ZE's which was stupid in hindsight. Not to worry, can never have too many cameras and I still have two which need upgrading anyway. Re the video clip showing blur from the scooter riders, of course that will not be a useful still image but during playback it isn't too shabby considering the shutter speed. The motion is angular to the camera also, half way to the subject coming towards which will help with the motion blur to some degree as mentioned above.

I can only imagine how many cameras are at @CamCrazy's house ... ;-)

The scooter footage is "illuminating" (pun intended) as @CCTVCam points out, since because there the floodlight isn't on, the gain (and NR) has to get pushed up.

This is why I'd be curious to see footage with NO lights (and in color of course) ... and especially if you do a shootout against the T54PRO-ZE (thanks in advance for doing as I saw you responded), that seems like a good test to compare the "raw" capability between the two cameras.

P.S. @CamCrazy - when you do your shootout, you should toss in a picture taken from your full-frame camera ... just to show that when it comes to sensors, size matters! ;-)

 

[CamCrazy]

I can only imagine how many cameras are at @CamCrazy's house ... ;-)

The scooter footage is "illuminating" (pun intended) as @CCTVCam points out, since because there the floodlight isn't on, the gain (and NR) has to get pushed up.

This is why I'd be curious to see footage with NO lights (and in color of course) ... and especially if you do a shootout against the T54PRO-ZE (thanks in advance for doing as I saw you responded), that seems like a good test to compare the "raw" capability between the two cameras.

P.S. @CamCrazy - when you do your shootout, you should toss in a picture taken from your full-frame camera ... just to show that when it comes to sensors, size matters! ;-)

On the one hand too many, on the other not enough. It is a necessity and hobby which got a bit out of hand, no doubt others on here in a similar position. Researching and testing is fun, some of my original 2mp starlight cameras have been up since 2018-19, not a bad service life, I only have 3x 5442 out of 12 cameras in total, one of those is purely ALPR and two are PTZ's, the rest are at critical pinch/entry points. Planning to upgrade 7 by the time I get another order through, then they will all be 4MP with two 8MP added in the mix.

Looks like @Chokolinho could be posting some more videos tomorrow which will be great to see, so far it is looking quite promising.

Once mine get installed I will take a while for proper feedback, although will post first impressions pretty quickly once setup with usual manual configuration. Keep the images and videos coming

 

[flynreelow]

keep up the videos and your settings...

 

[Tinman]

I had a little time to play with some manual frame rates. I first tried to go 1/100 but was very dark and the IVS would not trigger. I then went to 1/60 and was lighter but still no IVS trigger. Finally I tried 1/30 and it did trigger the warm Leds. That's it for me, got my exercise in LOL










The videos do show it is very dark on my porch.

 

[bigredfish]

I think you're going to eventually figure out that with a severe backlit scene like that (same as mine) you'll want to take advantage of the real benefit of this camera (and my 3449 Pro)
And that is making Smart Illumination work for you.
My carport can't run color at night without light just like your porch. Few people.scenes will be able to. Cameras need light, this new model doesnt change that




1- Run Day/Night in Auto mode after sunset


2- And a standard IR mode for the illuminator
This will give you IR until your IVS rule activates the white LEDs. This is a feature the 54PRO has that my 3449Pro doesn't. I can't activate the white LED's by IVS



Notice I have 3 profiles in my schedule. In the evening we dont want the white lights so I run a separate 3rd profile with just IR.
After midnight, I run full scene Smart Illumination



The transition from IR to color is very effective on these cameras. That is their main strength.
AND it allows me to run a much faster shutter of 1/200 or so (5-6ms)



*(By the way I'm not sure if the 54PRO has the "AFSA" setting seen on my screengrab, but if it does, run it in AUTO at night and OFF during the day)


View attachment AFSA-ON-FloodOFF-192.168.1.110_ch3_20250321205508_20250321205535.mp4


Added Motion lights still help. Even a cheap 400 lumen Mr Beams dual will make a nice difference for like $50. I have a small one above the door and a motion 75watt bulb in the lamp.

View attachment AFSA-ON-FloodON-192.168.1.110_ch3_20250321211834_20250321211909.mp4

 

[alekk]

I think you're going to eventually figure out that with a severe backlit scene like that (same as mine) you'll want to take advantage of the real benefit of this camera (and my 3449 Pro)
And that is making Smart Illumination work for you.

Totally agree ... there is too much dynamic range ... you need some light in the deep shadows. And you are going to have to be careful not to "tip" it the other direction by making your porch overly bright.

BTW, I wonder if you put some rope light at the top of your front wall plus some on the "outside roof edge" to light beyond the patio, that might provide enough light to be "helpful" in getting a good balance.

If you can "tuck" it in, the indirect light doesn't look too shabby from the street - in the picture below, that "glow" you see on the garage is from rope light run the whole way.

Since I assume you are trying to identify any perps that come up to your house, so by all means use the LED light to better show 'em ... plus ideally would cause them to leave PDQ.