IP Camera recommendation please?

S

steve1978

n3wb
Jul 5, 2016
26
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Hi, I am looking for a new camera to replace the very cheap one i have at the front of my house. A picture speaks a thousand words so attached is a screen shot of the view at night time.

The area is very dark but i have lights on the floor pointing up at the house, these are blinding the camera. Additionally i have a spider that just wont P*ss off! this seems to upset the focus of the camera, The day time image is fine but night time is horrific.

What I am after is a wide angle camera, rated for ourdoor use. natual light is low but these spotlights are a pain. Additonally i would like the playback to be silky smooth, 30 FPS. or more, these are more like 10fps.

I use Blue Iris as my software, any guidance greatly appreciated. Oh, and as usual I dont have loads of money to spend so not affraif of brands that from Alibaba or Ebay, just want something better!
 

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Thanks Mike, I am in the UK so i dont think this applies to me, unless you have a UK seller account to avoid all the taxes etc?

Also, would this be good enough for what i want, 2mp and 2.8mm? i need recognition in low light at a distance of around 8 - 10m
 
steve1978 said:
Thanks Mike, I am in the UK so i dont think this applies to me, unless you have a UK seller account to avoid all the taxes etc?

Also, would this be good enough for what i want, 2mp and 2.8mm? i need recognition in low light at a distance of around 8 - 10m
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Ahh they aren't avail on Amazon right now for you, sorry. They are on AliExpress https://www.aliexpress.com/item/IPC...-IPCT-HDW5231RE-I-Powered-by/32966469976.html

Read the wiki and look around the forum before buying anything, though. Do some research, look into the Dahua starlights as well
 
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Thats great help, Thanks. I will upload a picture in the morning of the daylight. I want ideally to capture a license plate in daylight at around 20m i know this wont be possible at night time but i would like to be able to see and recognise a face at 10m in darkness. for this reason i have been thinking the 8mp cameras and maybe a 6mm lense? This info is only from looking at lense comparisons on you tube.
 
You will need to study license plate reader,. LPR configuration normally requires a dedicated camera, to capture only the license plates. If configued correctly you will not even be able to tell the make and model of the car.

You may need a 12-25 zoom for LPR.
 
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Ok, I think with my budget and requirements that maybe a stretch to far, it’s just home security and that of my neighbours that I’m interested in. I will pick out some cams from AliExpress and post back for thoughts if that’s ok.
 
Only buy from Andy at empire tech on AliExpress.
There are a number of hacked chinese cameras on AliExpress, eBay, Amazon. These cameras are not upgradable and will cause nothing but problems in the future.
 
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steve1978 said:
Ok, I think with my budget and requirements that maybe a stretch to far, it’s just home security and that of my neighbours that I’m interested in. I will pick out some cams from AliExpress and post back for thoughts if that’s ok.
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Here's a link to Andy's AliExpress store that @SouthernYankee was mentioning:
Empire Technology Co., Ltd - Small Orders Online Store, Hot Selling and more on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

Andy's sold a zillion cameras to forum members here (shipping all over the world). But definitely post links back to what you're interested in.

steve1978 said:
Also, would this be good enough for what i want, 2mp and 2.8mm? i need recognition in low light at a distance of around 8 - 10m
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There's a cool website that will let you type in your address, pull up a Google image of your house, then let you add a camera to the outside of the house and show you what the image will look like. IPVM Camera Calculator V3

2.8mm lens are wide... they're good for squeezing a lot of horizontal space into the image, but the downside is that if someone's further than 3 meters away, you may not be able to ID them.

Here's what a person 10m away from a 2.8mm lens will probably look like...
Not great, but notice how much of the intersection fits into the image.

Screen Shot 2019-02-07 at 9.34.10 PM.png


Here's what the same person looks like 10m away from a 13mm lens.
Notice how much more sharp he is, but how narrow the overall view became .. not much of the intersection fits into the image.

Screen Shot 2019-02-07 at 9.34.20 PM.png


BTW, the camera model used above was a Dahua 5231 varifocal 2MP Starlight turret.... the lens on this camera can zoom from 2.8mm to 13.5mm. You zoom it when you install the camera and then let it be.
 
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what an excellent reply, thanks that link helped massively! i wish i knew about that tool when i first installed my crappy ones! my ideal price is about £100-£130 per camera and after using the tool it has been narrowed down to about 200 cameras, so now it a task of finding the cheapest! it would be good if they had a price filter in the tool too!

after running through the tool this camera appears to tick the boxes, any thoughts?

DS-2CD2083G0-I
 
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If you're looking for good low-light image quality (i.e. the least amount of blur when someone is moving), that should reduce your list down to Dahua Starlight or Hikvision Dark Fighter models. The bigger backlit 1/2.8" image sensor <combined with a 2MP lens> in those models has the best minimum illumination specs for the price. Remember that it's pretty easy to take a good look still image from a camera at night. It's much harder to get a good looking video of movement without blur. Even that can be a challenge with the Starlights/Dark Fighters, ... just less of a challenge than compared to other models.

These Starlight varifocals are the usual "go to" models for most folks on the forum:
Review-Dahua IPC-HDW2231RP-ZS Starlight Camera-Varifocal
Review-Dahua Starlight IPC-HDW5231R-ZE 800 meter capable ePOE
 
thanks, but is 2mp really enough in this day and age, it seems so low def. 1080p at 10-15m is a blur
 
The 2mp with starlight or dark fighter are the best night cameras. If all you need is daylight coverage go for an 8mp. Read the reviews in the forum
 
wow, tough call really! i want high def daytime and clear night time. lol
 
Hi mike, I’m concerned about the 2mp element. I was mainly looking at 4K cams. If I grab one of yours and the image isn’t as clear as I want would you accept a return?
Mike said:
Grab one of Andy's Dahua's or our night eye on aliexpress, both will work great for you
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Attached is a copy of my wsus ring camera in day time. It’s only a 720p but day time pics are ok. Night time are horrible!
 

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steve1978 said:
Hi mike, I’m concerned about the 2mp element. I was mainly looking at 4K cams. If I grab one of yours and the image isn’t as clear as I want would you accept a return?
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I'm not sure how Aliexpress returns works, but the image is going to be much better than your current camera. I think your best bet is to get one of Andy's Dahua cameras :D
 
steve1978 said:
wow, tough call really! i want high def daytime and clear night time. lol
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Of the 66,000+ members on this forum, I'd guess that 95% of them want the exact same thing. The reality is ... nobody makes that camera yet. At least not in the price range that most folks here play around in.

If you want a camera that gives you least amount of motion blur at night, the best models are using Sony STARVIS image sensors (1/2.8") and 2MP lens. I get that '2MP" makes these cameras seem old, but they're not. The specific tech is these cameras (that makes them good in low-light) is new enough that it still hasn't made its way down to consumer brands yet... you can pretty much only find it from pro-level manufactures like Dahua and Hikvision.

There's nothing wrong with getting a 4K camera... Just understand that that the tradeoff is that it's almost guaranteed to not do as well in low-light as a new tech 2MP camera (Dahua Starlights or Hikvision Dark Fighters), especially when it comes to blur in movement. If someone is messing around with your car at night, you're probably going to want to get a face pic as they're moving around your car. Even with a 2MP Starlight/Dark Fighter, that can be a challenge (for it not to have blur). A camera with more MP is almost guaranteed to have more of a problem with that (in low light).

Going back to your OP, turret style cameras usually attract fewer spiders (based on their shape and how the IR lights are placed). Domes are typically the worst when it comes to spiders. Also, with your ground light shining up into the camera, if you can get a varifocal and zoom in (to get the light out of the image), that might help.

The nice thing is that pretty much any new camera you purchase should give you better image quality than what you're currently getting. So stepping up a 4K that's more blurry at night with motion than a Starlight/Dark Fighter may still be a "win". :)
 
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