DAHUA'S IPC HDBW823EP-Z-SL is a 2MP Starlight, anti-corrosion dome featuring a 1/1.9-inch 2MP progressive scan CMOS sensor, 120dB of WDR capability, 60ips at 1080p, a 4.1-16.4mm motorised lens, 50m of IR, IP67 and IK10 rating and H.264 and H.265 compression options. Performance matches the feature set.
In the first part of the test, I have the camera locked in colour and colour rendition, which was solid all afternoon, hangs together at 7 lux in low pressure sodium streetlights. Under the low-pressure lights colours tends to yellow orange but the next light up seems to be LED and the colours are very true without false colour. At one point out here, a car headlight catches the camera and there’s noticeable blooming but control of blooming is generally, very good.
We are at 7 lux, locked in colour mode
Ability to hold colour in very dark conditions is exceptional – there’s a price in the slow-ish shutter speed but the low light ability is excellent – it’s better with pedestrians and face recognition is readily available in colour in sub 10 lux. Moving cars are harder to manage – there’s a point in the afternoon when you are no longer able to secure plates. Something that’s good is the lack of tone mapping around moving objects.
Control of blooming is exceptional as light falls. There are 4-pointed aperture stars. Static plates are great, too. Depth of field stays good into the night, as does detail. For a 1080p camera, detail is very high indeed at wider angles of view. This is a fine camera for the many applications that are heavy on foot traffic at night.
Forced into night mode – there's some motion blur – no plates, but there's strong detail, including face recognition of pedestrians.
Monochrome performance is good, too. Again, details level is unusually high for a 2MP – detail is higher in monochrome and motion blur is reduced, too. For typical street-lit scenes you’d probably leave IR off. Zoom is just as potent in monochrome as it is during the day. I keep an eye on bitrate – it’s around 6200 most the time, even with a lot of movement in the scene. Something else that’s noticeable is the control of noise – it’s very, very good. I get a little pulsing in mono but you have to pixel peep to see noise.
Check out the full review of Dahua’s 2MP Starlight anti-corrosion dome in the May issue of SEN – and check the camera out at SecTech – register here! ♦
