Hikvision DS-2CD2355FWD-I 6MP Turret Camera.

Hikvision DS-2CD2355FWD-I 6MP is a feature-packed turret camera that offers exceptional day and night surveillance capabilities. With its 6MP resolution and integrated IR up to 30 metres, it ensures clear and crisp footage even in low light conditions. The camera’s durable IP67-rated housing makes it suitable for outdoor installations where durability is a priority.

Readers should note that this review is a re-publication of a story from a couple of years ago as part of SEN‘s agonising SEO upgrade…

We tested an earlier version of Hikvision’s 1080p turret camera and found that within the limitations of the form factor, performance was better than expected. So I was mighty keen to get a sense of just how good this updated and recently unlocked 6MP Oceania-only version has become – as well as how effective the high-resolution sensor is as light levels fall.

The specifications are more comprehensive than you’d expect. The Hikvision DS-2CD2355FWD-I 6MP (3032 x 2008-pixel) ½.9-inch progressive scan CMOS sensor gives 20ips colour performance down to 0.01 lux at F1.2 with the support of auto gain and gives monochrome performance in 0 lux with the integrated IR activated. Bear in mind that this 6MP unit is Oceania only – the rest of the world gets the 5MP version, though all other specs remain the same.

The gimbal gives 0–365 degrees of pan and 0–75 degrees of tilt, and the shutter speed ranges from 1/3 of a second to 1/100,000^th of a second. While this Hikvision DS-2CD2355FWD-I 6MP Turret Camera turret comes with a fixed lens, you can choose your focal length – there’s 2.8 mm (97-degree angle of view), 4 mm, (78-degree angle of view), 6 mm giving a 60-degree angle of view), 8 mm, giving a 39.5-degree angle of view and 12 mm, giving a 19-degree angle of view. My preference for the street scenes around the office would be 6 mm, but for most applications, 4 mm or the 2.8 mm that I’m testing would be ideal.

The wide dynamic range is 120dB and there’s backlight compensation and 3D digital noise reduction, triple streams as well as a bunch of compression options, including H.265+, H.265, H.264+, H.264 and MPEG. The Hikvision DS-2CD2355FWD-I 6MP camera delivers 20ips at 5MP resolution in the main stream – the sub and third streams offer 30ips at up to full-HD resolution. Image settings include rotate mode, saturation, brightness, contrast, sharpness adjustable by client software or web browser and region of interest.

This Hikvision DS-2CD2355FWD-I 6MP camera also features comprehensive IVA, including behaviour analysis such as line crossing detection, intrusion detection, unattended baggage detection and object removal detection. There is also exception detection, including scene change and the appearance of a human face in the scene. These IVA events can be used to send alerts or activate recording.

Protocols supported include TCP/IP, UDP, ICMP, HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, DHCP, DNS, DDNS, RTP, RTSP, RTCP, PPPoE, NTP, UPnP, SMTP, SNMP, IGMP, 802.1X, QoS, IPv6; there’s 1-key reset, anti-flicker, heartbeat, mirror, password protection, privacy mask, watermark, IP address filtering and support for ONVIF Profile S and Profile G), along with ISAPI, which allows the creation of operational filters and extensions.

On-board storage is provided by integrated SD/SDHC/SDXC slot 128 GB, operating temp is -30 to 60C, current draw is a maximum of 5.5W and the camera dimensions are 127 mm x 95.9 mm with a weight of 620 grams. That weight is instructive – the camera has a plastic trim ring, but the body is made of cast alloy, and it’s got a good feel and fine finish. I found adjusting the eyeball to require more than the usual amount of force, which is something to consider when mounting the camera on less solid surfaces.

Test Driving the Hikvision DS-2CD2355FWD-I 6MP Turret

My first impressions of the Hikvision DS-2CD2355FWD-I 6MP turret when I set up in the office with settings generally at default but with WDR on auto and night mode set to auto IR, are positive. Given I’ve tested a Hikvision turret before, I had expectations about this camera that over the next couple of days I discovered were behind the times. The image is wide, with some expected barrel distortion – about 10 per cent.

I notice some chromatic aberrations along high contrast borders. Handling of bright points is exceptionally good. WDR performance is also good internally – I’m able to see through to the office kitchen with no issues.

I notice in the internal scene that with a very bright doorway in the frame, colours are slightly muted, and the strong light is throwing a little blooming haze into the scene. When I take the camera outside over the shaded lane with 75,000 lux side light, I notice the same effect, but it’s more pronounced given there’s full sun on the camera. Hopping into settings, I find that with the exposure settings at default minimum, the bright areas are overexposed and there’s regional blooming.

I spend quite a while playing with exposure trying to find an optimum – locking the bottom end at 1/750^th is probably best in terms of control of blooming but go to 1000^th of a second and the scene darkens.

At this point, I also play around with WDR, but I end up leaving it off. BLC and WDR settings can be intrusive and with this camera in this very sunny scene, WDR is putting too much lightening across the image. What that comes down to is hard to say – there’s zero sign of noise or digital artefacts in this scene – it’s rock solid. I can see a typical processing pulse that seems to occur every 3 seconds.

Something this camera does offer is useful digital zoom in the form of 1x zoom – you need to wrangle it to deliver you field of view after zooming. However, the 6MP resolution of the sensor gives you detail you’d never get from a 1080p camera. Even at 16 x 9, I can see deep into the scene. It’s also worth noting the lack of ghosts in the scene despite the intense backlight/sidelight. Over on the bottom right of the scene is a tiny sliver of internal reflection, but otherwise things are very well controlled.

When a pedestrian comes down the lane I try hard to discern some stepping from the 20ips frame rate but cannot. Something else I notice is the quality of the colour rendition, even with the stress of backlight causing some over exposure in the scene.

As the afternoon deepens, the image improves. The human eye works best at dawn and dusk, providing the highest levels of contrast to the brain at those times, and there’s something similar afoot with surveillance cameras – colour rendition improves, detail increases, sharpness increases as light levels fall. The high resolution of this image stream is a contributing factor to depth of field – there’s no chance I’d be getting the sort of detail I’m getting at 70 metres with a 1080p camera.

Something I’ve been wondering about the Hikvision DS-2CD2355FWD-I 6MP turret is how it will perform in low light – a near 1/3^rd inch image sensor and 6MP resolution means photo sites will be smaller. But despite this imperative of physics, the Hikvision continues to look better in failing light. When I push the brightness to 70 per cent, I think I can just see the beginnings of some noise, but it’s nothing to worry about.

That stubby 2.8 mm focal length means I have high levels of detail from a hyperfocal distance of less than half a metre out to infinity. The beauty of a fixed lens is that everything is more or less in focus all the time, though for my higgledy-piggledy scenes I’d prefer to be at the edge of focus, 6 mm.

Light continues falling, and the camera continues to stay bright, though I notice that when I zoom in on pedestrians at 70m I’m starting to get some motion blur. I snare a face close to the camera and quality is court admissible. As the light fades, the camera holds on in good colour, with excellent control of blooming around the solitary streetlight in the scene. A key thing is that I lose what detail I had on plates as the shutter speed drops. There’s no sign of the camera going over into night mode. In fact, there’s barely any amplification noise at all. Modern CCTV cameras really have improved a lot over the past couple of years.

Amplification noise starts to make its presence felt when there’s almost no light left in the sky, but oddly, this also the time the sky is entirely blue, and clouds are visible. During the day, over-exposure out here meant I didn’t get those details (more on this later). When I take the camera off the back fence in full dark and move it to the front, it goes over into night mode. I leave it in night mode – performance in the presence of IR is good – the IR is weighted to one side, but the spread and range are ideal for this type of camera.

Hikvision DS-2CD2355FWD-I 6MP IR Performance

Hikvision rates the IR in the 6MP turret at 30 metres, but it’s stronger than that. IR performance is interesting. There are moments I have admissible face recognition inside 10 metres – I think the shutter speed, while reduced, is not at the minimum setting of 1/25th of a second. I am getting clothing, bags, shoes, gender, glasses – even if I don’t get what, I think, is a recognisable face, plenty of detail is apparent. The camera is mounted high, too. Most applications using this camera will not be so demanding.

Hikvision DS-2CD2355FWD-I 6MP Motion blur

After a while, I locked the camera into day mode out front. Again, performance is surprisingly good for the price and the high resolution – remember that a 6MP sensor means smaller photo-sites, means more amplification, means more noise, lower shutter speed, means more blur. And yet, this camera keeps doing better than I thought it would. There’s a yellow colour cast thanks to the low-pressure sodium streetlights, but overall static colour rendition is very good and performance with movement is worthwhile, too. Control of blooming and ghosting with direct light hitting the lens is also pleasing. I played around with shutter speed for a while, but although I get good face detail at times, I can’t get plates.

Next morning the camera is subjected to ferocious backlight on one side of the scene and in the distance – 78,000 lux – with deep shade underneath the camera and along the other side of the street. To make things even tougher for the little Hikvision, it’s a windless day and there’s been widespread back-burning in the Blue Mountains after an extended late Summer and Autumn dry. Even here in town, the air is hazy with wood smoke, which is reducing the colour temperature of the light, as well as creating the illusion of considerable blooming in the distance.

Regardless, the camera acquits well. The 97-degree angle of view is too wide for this street scene – for other applications it might be perfect – and this pixel spread is costing me detail. Regardless, that 6MP of resolution is again giving me exceptional depth of field – all the way to Albion St, nearly 100m from the lens. Closer in, I’m getting situational awareness that I would never have with 1080p – from about 70m I have clothing and details go on improving until the subject is right under the lens. Wide angle 1080p simply cannot compete.

One thing I don’t have out front in this variegated scene with WDR off is consistent number plates. I hop into settings and plug 1/1000 in as the minimum shutter speed – this makes the image darker, but it doesn’t give me the plates I was after unless cars are at sub 15kmph and closer to the lens. I put a lot of this down to pixel spread with the wide lens. There’s no doubt I’d be getting plates at 4 mm or longer – I usually test cameras at 5.5-6 mm out front, so the Hikvision turret has its work cut out.

Hikvision DS-2CD2355FWD-I 6MP WDR performance

At this point, I remember WDR, which I wasn’t happy within the back lane in full sun. How would it handle the street with one very bright side and one very dark? Well, beautifully, as it turns out. The camera’s WDR seems to have been made for this sort of scene. I have great colour rendition – reds, blues, greens, skin tones are also excellent, and all this comes hand in hand with that big resolution. At the same time, the application of WDR puts a very subtle sense of work into the image – it’s not quite as sharp. Regardless, I’d be leaving WDR set to auto away from direct sunlight.

Next, I up the manual exposure setting to a minimum of 1/500^th of a second. In tandem with the WDR setting, this gives me plates out here, too. They aren’t crystal clear, but they are court admissible, which is fine work for a 2.8 mm fixed camera.

Something else worth mentioning here is the Hikvision camera browser. It’s quick and easy to use, as well as giving me access to tons of functionality – security, maintenance, image settings, storage settings, event recording, including motion detection, arming, video tampering, and exceptions. The whole back end of the camera is so workable as to constitute a considerable operational advantage.

Features of the Hikvision DS-2CD2355FWD-I 6MP Camera

• Up to 6MP resolution
• 2.8 mm, 4 mm, 6 mm, 8 mm, 12 mm fixed lens options
• H.265, H.265+, H.264+, H.264 compression options
• 120dB Wide Dynamic Range
• 3D Digital Noise Reduction
• DC12V & PoE (802.3af)
• IR range: up to 30 m
• Support on-board storage, up to 128 GB
• IP67 weather rating.

Conclusion

As a dollar-for-dollar proposition, the Hikvision DS-2CD2355FWD-I 6MP turret is well worth considering. You’ll find some barrel distortion at this 2.8 mm focal length, as well as widespread chromatic aberration, and the camera also benefits from heavy-handed tweaking of the brightness slider – about 70 per cent is best in my scenes – even with WDR on. I’d also be installing it to minimise direct sunlight to maximise colour and minimise blooming by unloading WDR processes.

The strong IR performance makes it more capable than expected in node mode. The camera engine works best with slower shutter speeds sub-10 lux and while this gives excellent static images, it means motion blur, so no plates in low light. Even so, the 6MP Hikvision turret contrives to regularly deliver admissible faces in low light inside 10m, and this capability would be enhanced with longer focal lengths of 4 mm or 6 mm. I was impressed with nighttime performance using the integrated IR, which exceeded the specification of 30m.

But the over-arching capability of the Hikvision DS-2CD2355FWD-I 6MP is high resolution. Given its compact form factor and affordable price, this little IP67-rated turret really dishes up detail across and throughout a scene. Mounted high in my applications, I was able to extract exceptional levels of detail during the day – especially inside 16m. And while WDR didn’t please me in full sun, it gave an splendid performance in variably lit street scenes.

I finished up with the feeling this camera is a species of hybrid – that dual nature comes down to form factor on one side and raw performance on the other. Price and form factor are economical, yet many aspects of operational capability could serve serious surveillance applications. By the end of the test, I’m surprised to find I feel nothing is lacking in my coverage of the street scene except fast-moving plates in variably lit and darker scenes – that’s something that challenges most cameras.

The capability of the Hikvision DS-2CD2355FWD-I 6MP far exceeds the sorts of SME and residential demands it will likely face, especially when it comes to foot traffic in good light and at large angles of view. Carefully installed with a 6 mm focal length, this Hikvision 6MP turret is perfectly capable of looking right through a typical retail application and giving court admissible faces in the store on the opposite side of the street. In public surveillance applications at either 2.8 or 4 mm focal lengths, it will surprise installers prepared to engage with camera settings.

You can read more Hikvision camera reviews here and more news and other products from SEN news here.

“As a dollar-for-dollar proposition, the Hikvision 6MP turret is well worth considering”.