LiLin’s Z2R8052EX25 25x zoom bullet camera features IK10 vandal and IP67 weather and dust resistance, 5MP resolution, super low light performance, H.264 and H.265 compression, IVA and 100dB of HDR. But what defines this package is its monster focal length – from 5.3 to 130mm – supported by infrared range of up to 100m. In our street application, Lilin’s 25x long end blows the competition completely away.
This month’s test is the first time we’ve got our hands on a Lilin bullet camera for nearly 10 years. Casting our minds back we can say the technology has changed but the recipe has stayed the same. This Lilin Z2R8052EX25 25x day/night bullet camera, featuring IP67 and IK10 ratings, is a long-range bomber, same as its predecessor, and for end users needing serious reach there’s a lot to love here.
The camera features a progressive scan 1/2.8-inch CMOS image sensor delivering a resolution of 5MP (2616 x 1964 pixels) at 25ips, sees the world through a 5.3–130mm autofocus zoom lens with an aperture that’s F1.6 at wide end and F4.3 at the long end and gives an angle of view that’s 55 degrees at full wide and 2.3 degrees at the long end. Supporting that epic distortion corrected zoom is a smart 100 metre IR array.
The paperbark tree is 25 metres from the lens, the corner of the street is 88 metres from the lens…focal point is tangled up in road furniture…
We start out in a daytime scene at the wide end of the 5.3-130mm range. There’s bright variable light in this scene and without wide dynamic range activated, there’s deep shadow on the near side of the road. The camera doesn’t show any signs of overexposure on the bright side. Something that is immediately apparent are widespread chromatic aberrations – purple fringing – both longitudinal and latitudinal. These are to be expected at the wide end of a lens this long. I notice no pronounced barrel distortion – this is probably due to the slightly longer wide end of this lens.
My first move, given the darkness on the near side of the street, is to activate wide dynamic range. And once I’ve done that, I can settle down and enjoy the image stream. Something I notice, even with WDR activated and leveling out colour and contrast, is that the colour tones are very true. The greens perhaps a little oversaturated, but the silvers, greys, browns, beiges – all these are very subtle at the wide end of this lens. Also discernable is that while there’s plenty of detail from edge to edge, deeper into the scene at the wide end there’s slight blur – it’s not pixel spread – it’s as if those parts of the scene are outside the focal plane at F1.6.
You can see inside Al Taglio across Albion St in sub-4 lux at the lens…colour cast is low pressure sodium on ATW settings.
Next day I adjust the camera angle to give me a better long view. And as soon as I reel the camera into around 15-18mm, I’m surprised by the awesome performance of this lens. The chromatic aberrations have disappeared, pixels have congregated. I am able to see high levels of detail from about 25m from the lens (the paperbark tree in the big image above) all the way up to and across Albion Street – nearly 100m – with lens compression bundling everything up into my angle of view.
I can even see the staff inside the pizza restaurant on the far side of Albion Street and there’s no vehicle on this portion of Bellevue St whose number plate I’m unable to capture, while strolling pedestrians and office workers are easily identifiable. Check out the full review of LiLin’s Z2R8052EX25 25x zoom bullet camera in the August issue of SEN.
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