MP and low light - any side-by-side comparisons?

[Soundy 1]

Anyone done any side-by-side comparisons of various MP cameras in low light? Got any sample shots?

 

There are plenty of samples in the "Images and Demos" thread, but not really any that show two cameras' performance in identical lighting conditions, except like the ones I posted of the IQ511 vs. the Hikvision.

 

I have a site where they're not overly pleased with the IQs (511s and A11s) when it gets really dim, so we're looking at trying both some day/night versions of the IQA11 domes, and a couple of the AV3155DNs (which I've worked with before - PITA but they do seem to handle low(ish) light well).

 

I wouldn't mind other suggestions (really prefer clean-looking domes) but night shots on their own are of limited value because there's no context or anything to show how they are compared to something else.

[Suprfknman 0]

I dont have any pictures to post but I use a variety of 5mp cameras. I have a little overkill but I need facial and license plate identification. There is always someone up to no good in my area. The iqeye's work very well at night in color mode, I have large streetlights and floodlights, they do switch to b/w occasionally and its also pretty clear. I have stardot 5mpdn cameras I have them set to day only they work well in color mode with streetlights. The stardots have a little more focus shift than other cameras in night mode. I did try focusing one of the stardots in night mode it was pretty good but I could never get a crisp focus for both modes at the same time. I have the arecont 5mp they are ok during the day but night mode is grainy and lots of motion blur. I have the avigilon 5mp's they are amazing during the day nothing else compares. Night mode they are ok I leave them in day mode also. Avigilon does make some b/w only cameras they are a little pricey but if low light is what you have to deal with and you need the high res I believe this is the way to go. I have seen plenty of demos of day/night cameras in night mode with tons of ir illumination and they look pretty good but providing a lots of ir light is easier said than done unless you are just trying to cover a small area I have a large storefront and 2 large lots. If I had to choose only one camera for night mode only it would be the iqeye. Daytime would be the avigilon. If the 2 companies got together they would make one heck of a camera. A friend of mine had good luck with the arecont 3.1color/1.3bw cameras at night but I need higher res.

Will

[megapixel man 0]

I dont have any pictures to post but I use a variety of 5mp cameras. I have a little overkill but I need facial and license plate identification. There is always someone up to no good in my area. The iqeye's work very well at night in color mode, I have large streetlights and floodlights, they do switch to b/w occasionally and its also pretty clear. I have stardot 5mpdn cameras I have them set to day only they work well in color mode with streetlights. The stardots have a little more focus shift than other cameras in night mode. I did try focusing one of the stardots in night mode it was pretty good but I could never get a crisp focus for both modes at the same time. I have the arecont 5mp they are ok during the day but night mode is grainy and lots of motion blur. I have the avigilon 5mp's they are amazing during the day nothing else compares. Night mode they are ok I leave them in day mode also. Avigilon does make some b/w only cameras they are a little pricey but if low light is what you have to deal with and you need the high res I believe this is the way to go. I have seen plenty of demos of day/night cameras in night mode with tons of ir illumination and they look pretty good but providing a lots of ir light is easier said than done unless you are just trying to cover a small area I have a large storefront and 2 large lots. If I had to choose only one camera for night mode only it would be the iqeye. Daytime would be the avigilon. If the 2 companies got together they would make one heck of a camera. A friend of mine had good luck with the arecont 3.1color/1.3bw cameras at night but I need higher res.

Will

 

Wow, how many different NVMS platforms are you using for all those cameras?

[thewireguys 3]

I dont have any pictures to post but I use a variety of 5mp cameras. I have a little overkill but I need facial and license plate identification. There is always someone up to no good in my area. The iqeye's work very well at night in color mode, I have large streetlights and floodlights, they do switch to b/w occasionally and its also pretty clear. I have stardot 5mpdn cameras I have them set to day only they work well in color mode with streetlights. The stardots have a little more focus shift than other cameras in night mode. I did try focusing one of the stardots in night mode it was pretty good but I could never get a crisp focus for both modes at the same time. I have the arecont 5mp they are ok during the day but night mode is grainy and lots of motion blur. I have the avigilon 5mp's they are amazing during the day nothing else compares. Night mode they are ok I leave them in day mode also. Avigilon does make some b/w only cameras they are a little pricey but if low light is what you have to deal with and you need the high res I believe this is the way to go. I have seen plenty of demos of day/night cameras in night mode with tons of ir illumination and they look pretty good but providing a lots of ir light is easier said than done unless you are just trying to cover a small area I have a large storefront and 2 large lots. If I had to choose only one camera for night mode only it would be the iqeye. Daytime would be the avigilon. If the 2 companies got together they would make one heck of a camera. A friend of mine had good luck with the arecont 3.1color/1.3bw cameras at night but I need higher res.

Will

 

Wow, how many different NVMS platforms are you using for all those cameras?

 

I was gonna ask the same question ..... also check out Arecont's new 10MP camera they say the low light performance is %50 better then any of there other cameras. Also did you try making any adjustments to the defalt settings in the Arecont 5MP camera to reduce the motion blur? Axis now has a 5MP camera with great image quality too.

[robert 0]

Soundy, I got some comparison/test - Basler/IQ/Axis/Vivotek. Drop me your email, I`ll send you.

[Suprfknman 0]

I have an avigilon 6x5mp camera server and a server with milestone installed 9 cameras. I called arecont they said maybe in the fall they will release the 10mp camera. The arecont 5mp has different low light modes it can be set in the middle of speed and quality but I need license plate identification. The Stardots have a lot of user adjustments it took me a few weeks to get them adjusted. The Iqeyes are easy to set up. I saw 5mpdn Iqeyes on ebay new for around 1200 each you can get a 4 channel milestone software license for a few hundred bucks and an i7 pc with a few extra hard drives and away you go. I buy used sata arrays on ebay and fill them full of 1.5tb drives striped raid 10. Its too much overhead for raid 5 running the cameras I have. If you dont need alot of storage space best buy sells 10k sata raptor hard drives they work really well like twice as fast as a 7200rpm drive you need the speed if you want to read out with heavy writing going on.

Will

[Soundy 1]

Soundy, I got some comparison/test - Basler/IQ/Axis/Vivotek. Drop me your email, I`ll send you.

Thanks! The Basler cameras look amazing... how's their price point compared to the others?

[robert 0]

Soundy, I got some comparison/test - Basler/IQ/Axis/Vivotek. Drop me your email, I`ll send you.

Thanks! The Basler cameras look amazing... how's their price point compared to the others?

 

Expensive. It very high quality and made in Germany, like Mobotix.

 

1600x1200, 2mpix, true day/night, incl. lens DC-Iris-IR 1.4/10-

40mm, 1250Eur/1685$ MSRP.

 

Their software is also woow. You can do all setting via IE. After Basler, next one as you saw comes IQ 752 in terms of image quality.

Edited April 6, 2010 by Guest

[ak357 0]

Soundy, I got some comparison/test - Basler/IQ/Axis/Vivotek. Drop me your email, I`ll send you.

 

Can u plz e-mail to me

Thx

[ak357 0]

Soundy, I got some comparison/test - Basler/IQ/Axis/Vivotek. Drop me your email, I`ll send you.

Thanks! The Basler cameras look amazing... how's their price point compared to the others?

 

Yeaaa after IQ cams any camera will look amazing

Sorry Soundy just could not hold it

[thewireguys 3]

Soundy, I got some comparison/test - Basler/IQ/Axis/Vivotek. Drop me your email, I`ll send you.

Thanks! The Basler cameras look amazing... how's their price point compared to the others?

 

Expensive. It very high quality and made in Germany, like Mobotix.

 

1600x1200, 2mpix, true day/night, incl. lens DC-Iris-IR 1.4/10-

40mm, 1250Eur/1685$ MSRP.

 

Their software is also woow. You can do all setting via IE. After Basler, next one as you saw comes IQ 752 in terms of image quality.

 

I have a Basler 1300 day night on my desk forsale if any one wants one. What software are you talking about?

[robert 0]

Soundy, I got some comparison/test - Basler/IQ/Axis/Vivotek. Drop me your email, I`ll send you.

Thanks! The Basler cameras look amazing... how's their price point compared to the others?

 

Yeaaa after IQ cams any camera will look amazing

Sorry Soundy just could not hold it

 

Whats the problem with IQ? They make quite good cameras by reviews.