What do you think of these two cameras for a first time setup

Starlight is simply a marketing term, as is ColorVu and FullColor type cameras. The spec of the camera is what determines it's capabilities.

The 3241 minimum Illumination:0.002 [email protected]

The 2231 "Starlight" camera you were looking at is Min. Illumination: 0.002 [email protected]

As you can see, same Lux rating and Fstop. So same capability.
 
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kolt_ said:
I was looking at the IP5M-T1179EW-28MM before considering any of the Dahuas. They look nice for the price, I might buy a couple in the future to mount around my house and see how they work.
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They're not bad for the money for fill-in cams. Not excellent like the 5442s and the better 2MP cams but better than I expected. With a little light they look great. Complete darkness OK, not great, not terrible. For less than $50 hard to go too far wrong.

This is the 36MM @ 1/120, 0-50 gain, 30 NR. Not complete darkness at that time of day but nearly so. It loses some quality from that in deep darkness at distance but up close to watch that window and roof area it's good.


backyard-2020-12-26-05-20-38-883-pm-jpg.77826


That cam has been replaced now and moved to watch a lighted back porch. It's great there.
 
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wittaj said:
Starlight is simply a marketing term, as is ColorVu and FullColor type cameras. The spec of the camera is what determines it's capabilities.

The 3241 minimum Illumination:0.002 [email protected]

The 2231 "Starlight" camera you were looking at is Min. Illumination: 0.002 [email protected]

As you can see, same Lux rating and Fstop. So same capability.
Click to expand...

Alright, I thought that's what it meant but wanted to make sure of it. Thank you.

Mike A. said:
They're not bad for the money for fill-in cams. Not excellent like the 5442s and the better 2MP cams but better than I expected. With a little light they look great. Complete darkness OK, not great, not terrible. For less than $50 hard to go too far wrong.
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I was thinking about placing one on the deck which is sort of a small area, and perhaps some side doors.
 
kolt_ said:
I was thinking about placing one on the deck which is sort of a small area, and perhaps some side doors.
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If you have some light and/or reflective surfaces for the IR, then it likely would be fine for that.

If my porch wasn't such a mess now I'd post it. With two little 25 watt LED equivalent porch lights for a ~20'x30' area it's bright and crystal clear. Really couldn't ask for any better from any cam. Will stay in color with that but can't handle motion well.
 
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Starlight is simply a marketing term and doesn't really mean anything technically. It is capable of color in fairly low light but all cameras need some light to produce a color image. Have a look at the LUX ratings but keep in mind those ratings are usually, shall we say, questionable to begin with. I can keep one of mine in color at night. It gets light from behind from a streetlight about 200 feet away. I don't run it in color at night though because of the headlight bloom of cars.
 
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Can someone post some general manual shutter setting screenshots for both day and night? Thanks
 
In my opinion, shutter and gain are the two most important and then base the others off of it.

Many people do not realize there is manual shutter that lets you adjust shutter and gain and a shutter priority that only lets you adjust shutter speed but not gain. The higher the gain, the bigger the noise and see-through ghosting start to appear because the noise is amplified. Most people select shutter priority and run a faster shutter than they should because it is likely being done at 100 gain, so it is actually defeating their purpose of a faster shutter.

Go into shutter settings and change to manual shutter and start with custom shutter as ms and change to 0-8.3ms and gain 0-50 (night) and 0-30 (day)for starters. Auto could have a shutter speed of 100ms or more with a gain at 100 and shutter priority could result in gain up at 100 which will contribute to significant ghosting and that blinding white you will get from the infrared.

Now what you will notice immediately at night is that your image gets A LOT darker. That faster the shutter, the more light that is needed. But it is a balance. The nice bright night image results in Casper during motion LOL. What do we want, a nice static image or a clean image when there is motion introduced to the scene?

So if it is too dark, then start adding ms to the time. Go to 10ms, 12ms, etc. until you find what you feel is acceptable as an image. Then have someone walk around and see if you can get a clean shot. Try not to go above 30ms as that tends to be the point where blur starts to occur. Conversely, if it is still bright, then drop down in time to get a faster shutter.

You can also adjust brightness and contrast to improve the image.

You can also add some gain to brighten the image - but the higher the gain, the more ghosting you get. Some cameras can go to 70 or so before it is an issue and some can't go over 50.

But adjusting those two settings will have the biggest impact. The next one is noise reduction. Want to keep that as low as possible. Depending on the amount of light you have, you might be able to get down to 40 or so at night (again camera dependent) and 20-30 during the day, but take it as low as you can before it gets too noisy. Again this one is a balance as well. Too smooth and no noise can result in soft images and contribute to blur.

Do not use backlight features until you have exhausted every other parameter setting. And if you do have to use backlight, take it down as low as possible. HLC at 50, unless for LPR, will certainly degrade the image with motion.
 
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For low budget camera, IPC-T2231T-ZS IPC-T3241T-ZAS , IPC-2431T-AS are much better than those cheap ones on the amazon WITH Thousands review(maybe fake),
Normal people not know well about cameras, so they buy as cheap as they can, but they don't know they just buy a toy.

So that is why members here always can buy the real good camera if they want to make research, sure has some guys bought wrong cams and come for help.
 
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wittaj said:
Starlight is simply a marketing term, as is ColorVu and FullColor type cameras. The spec of the camera is what determines it's capabilities.

The 3241 minimum Illumination:0.002 [email protected]

The 2231 "Starlight" camera you were looking at is Min. Illumination: 0.002 [email protected]

As you can see, same Lux rating and Fstop. So same capability.
Click to expand...
2 YEARS ago, these cams still be the best cams on the market, right now still can beat down 90% cams on the market. :D
 
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I'd save up $$$ and just buy 1 camera. Unless you have a recent NEED to have operational cameras out & about, then get 2 or 3. I started out with 4 x 4231's for basic camera learning. Outdoor 20' in the air just for general overview purposes. Eventually bought 4 more 5231's for the excellent night videos. And finally, 6 more 5442's. Why 5442's? Night time color to get color of shirt/jacket or color of car...and most importantly for my needs, Dahua internal Human/Car AI that made a HUGE difference in what was triggered (still triggers on cats/dogs...but one day Andy will come through for us!). This was before Blue Iris incorporated Deepstack AI (though even this may not be ready for 100% use just yet).
So these camera's you buy today may be repurposed later on. Maybe, indoor garage cameras or such. Cause gotta remember, Dahua AI is super sweet :)
 
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This is going to sound like a very Newbie question, but does Dahau cameras have the same features as Amcrest cameras? I know Amcrest cameras are rebranded Dahau's but I've got zero experience with them.

Does Dahau make any of their own branded camera? I see the same model numbers like: IPC-T3241T-ZAS but when I pull it up on Amazon its a company I've never heard of. One of the reasons why I like the Amcrest camera is because I know what I'm getting....
 
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Yes, Dahua makes Amcrest's cameras. Some of Amcrest's models may not have all of the features of the equivalent model Dahua. In many cases the firmware can be updated to turn the Amcrest into the Dahua with the added features/interface elements. Depends on the cam.

Yes, they make many of their own. Not sure how you searched Amazon but you should find lots. Many on Amazon sell under some other names since they aren't authorized distributors in the US for Dahua. Be careful of those - some are hacked non-US market cams and can't be updated. Andy from this forum is a trusted source for US-market cams on Amazon selling under the names Loryta and EmpireTech.

 
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^+1 - The Dahua equivalent will usually be a better build, better sensor, better options.

Many cameras are Dahua OEM - Amcrest, Lorex, etc. to name a few.

As mentioned, many here purchased from @EMPIRETECANDY here under his Loryta and Empiretech brands.

Loryta and Empiretech are Dahua OEM sold by Andy. Some of my cameras I have bought from Andy from his Amazon store come as Dahua cams in Dahua boxes with Dahua logos, and some are not logo'd - I think it depends on how many cameras Andy buys if he gets them with the Dahua Logo or not. But regardless, they are Dahua cams. If you get a camera that has Dahua on it, then the camera GUI will say Dahua; otherwise it will simply say IP Camera but looks identical except without the logo. Some of his cameras may come with EmpireTech stamped on them as well.

As long you you by from the vendor EmpireTech or Loryta on Amazon (or AliExpress), they are Andy cams.

His cameras are international models and many of them are not available through Dahua authorized dealers in the US, but his cameras are usually better than what you can find from an authorized dealer.
 
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Im not sure if Amcrest has a compareable cam as the 5442 turret variant?
 
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The problem with Amcrest and other re-brands, is that features are stripped out to get the price down. I also suspect that the electronics may not be as "robust" either to help get the price down. Some people have upgraded Amcrest firmware to Dahua and gained those features back, but that is a gamble and can result in a brick instead of a camera.

Andy is definitely THE source for Dahua and can also supply Hikvision. He works with members here to improve firmware and usually has it long before it gets posted on the Dahua site, assuming it does get posted there. He also stands behind the products he sells.
 
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