3 MP IP camera choices

[jblogh 0]

Hi,

 

As a long term lurker I have learnt a lot from reading the posts here over the years, but am now in need of some advice please!

 

I've determined that some 2-3 MP IP cameras are required for my purposes, I currently have a 1.3 MP Acti ACM-7411 dome that I feel offers poor night time performance with low sensitivity and lots of noise.

 

I've shortlisted the following cameras:

Acti D32/E32/D42/E42 - bullets with/without WDR and fixed/vari-focal lenses.

Acti D72/E72/D82/E82 - domes with/without WDR and fixed/vari-focal lenses.

 

The Acti low light cameras such as E44 are twice the price of the E32 - are they worth the extra?

 

Hikvision DS-2CD2032-I (bullet) or 2132 for the dome equivalent.

 

My main criteria is to work effectively at night, I am going to install PIR activated lighting (not IR) to improve the light levels but won't be using floodlights so the overall wattage will be quite low.

 

So, am I going to benefit from WDR, reading the comments on the forum I suspect I may not, and also the vari-focal lenses offer poorer low light performance than fixed lenses? (for example I read that the E32 F1.8 4.2mm performed better than the D82 F1.4 set to its widest setting of 2.8mm).

 

The Hikvision bullet is roughly half the price of the E32 and is nice and small to can be placed discretely so visits don't feel intimidated, but is it half as good?

 

I did also consider Axis cameras such as P3346-VE but they're twice the price of the E32 but do you get what you pay for?

 

I do have a Bosch LTC0630 with an F1.4 lens that gives just about acceptable low light performance without lights but since it's analogue the resolution/coverage area is too limited, but it does highlight how poor the ACM-7411 is!

 

Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks.

[Razer_SE 0]

I agree with you that the 7411 you have now is not good at all, I have two that I got to test and I got very disappointing results. In fact, without great lighting none of my ACTi domes have preformed as good as I wanted so I switched to Vivotek and they work amazingly well in the exact same locations as my ACTi cameras were.

 

I use the 5611 low light camera and it is markedly better than the 5211 camera, I'd say 4-5 times better nighttime performance.

 

I use many e32 cameras but they are in very well lit areas, in low light they are not really good enough for me anyway. For very low light areas I usually end up with Vivotek cameras as they have less noise and generally look much better than my ACTi cameras. Granted, this is usually 1mp comparisons and not 2 or three.

 

In my opinion, the new low light models will likely be worth the money for truly low light areas, my areas always have lighting of some type and I still suffer with the standard models at times. In my case I can easily get more light usually as it is business oriented surveillance. Residential where the neighbors or owners do not want bright lighting then I'd expect the low light cameras would be a must.

[jblogh 0]

Thanks for the feedback.

 

Which Vivotek models are you using?

 

Yes, being a residential area, I'm limited to "carriage lights" though I am considering ground mounted garden spike lights ~50W each, but since they'd be pointing upwards I'm concerned they'd saturate the cameras so maybe not such a great idea?

[buellwinkle 0]

E44 has other features, like varifocal lens and that's what makes it more expensive, it's also a much larger camera than say the E32, so maybe metal costs more, LOL. I use an E32 at my house and when I do reviews, it sits side by side, so has become my benchmark. During the day, it has a consistently good picture and while the Hikvision can be as good, at different times of the day, the E32 is significantly better. At night, there is noise, but it's not bad. What makes it look worse than it is, is their web interface, looks real bad, but when I look at it via NVR software, the picture looks a lot better. Also, noise reduction is a trade off and I feel I get more detail in the image with the noise than I do with cameras with better noise reduction. I would compare the E32 night time noise levels to Mobotix latest night sensor and to the Hikvision bullet. The E44 is slightly better, but not enough to justify the price premium. As a comparison, Dahua would have less noise, but less detail.

 

What I like about their bullets is they still use the traditional mounts, so more mounting flexibility. The E44, like the Dahua and Hikvision uses an integrated mount but I really hate making 1" holes in the side of the house or in soffits.

[MasterVal 0]

I'm not a pro by any means but did my share of research. I just installed a system at my home with these Hikvision cameras and couldn't be happier!

DS-2532F-I - mini dome

DS-2CD2132-I - small dome 2 axis

DS-2CD2732F-IS - varifocal dome

 

These cameras preform very very well in light, backlight, night, and IR mode.

[Q2U 0]

I run Vivotek FD8136-F2, Acti E33 and Hikvision DS-2CD2032-I cameras (all run inside a warehouse btw). My Hikvision DS-2CD2032-I cameras produce clearer day and night images. Better firmware. Better price. It isn't even close.

[stonewatch 0]

Did anyone ever consider an Arecont camera with a separate IR-illuminator ? eg. AV5155DN.

[MaxIcon 0]

I have a pair of older Areconts - an AV5100 and an AV5105DN. I liked the idea of 5MP, a 1/2" sensor, and CS lenses - seems perfect for low light capture - but the cameras have never worked well. Spec is 9 fps, which it can get if a single client is pulling RTSP only, but if you connect another client (like the camera's web page), or a different client (I use Blue Iris), it barely gets 5 fps. Connecting the web page and BI together drops it to 3 fps.

 

The software is primitive and has limited options by today's standards, and I've never come up with a good use for them. I removed the fixed IR filter from the 5100 to make it a bit more useful, but the basic camera operation just isn't worth the investment to mount them in an enclosure. The 5100 has since died and just power cycles continually. I still use the 5105 for lens testing sometimes.

 

Maybe the newer models are better, with better software and a more powerful CPU, but I'd definitely want to demo one before buying, as they're not cheap.