HIKVISION’s DS-2CD2355FWD-I is a compact, affordable, 6MP fixed lens day/night turret camera with 30 metres of integrated IR and a robust IP67-rated housing making the unit more than capable of handling external applications where vandalism is less of a concern.
Specifications are more comprehensive than you’d expect. The 6MP 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. The camera gimbal gives 0-365 degrees of pan and 0-75 degrees of tilt and shutter speed ranges from 1/3 of a second to 1/100,000th of a second.
My first impressions of the Hikvision 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. 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.
The camera 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 so as to maximise colour and minimise blooming – there’s some modest blooming or veiling flare in the image with direct sun hitting the lens.
The strong IR performance makes this Hikvision turret more capable than expected in night mode. The camera engine works best with slower shutter speeds in 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 sometimes at 15m – this capability would be enhanced at longer focal lengths of 4mm or 6mm. I was also impressed with the integrated IR, which exceeded the 30m specification.
The big image at the top tells the story – some CAs, some barrel distortion, some image work from WDR but loads of detail and great depth of field with the 2.8mm lens – the over-arching capability of the Hikvision 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 excellent levels of detail during the day – especially inside 16m.
Read the full review of Hikvision’s 6MP Turret here!
