Specifications

www.benchmarkmagazine.com
18
An Optical Illusion?
BUILD QUALITY 82% 80% 85% 80% 79%
OPTICAL QUALITY 81% 80% 82% 80% 80%
IMAGE RENDITION 81% 80% 82% 80% 80%
LOW LIGHT PERFORMANCE 82% 81% 84% 80% 78%
OVERALL RATING 82% 80% 83% 80% 79%
W
hen it comes to CCTV lenses, too many
installers will select the cheapest
option. However, this could be
detrimental to image quality. In this test,
Benchmark looks at the performance of
branded lenses compared with that of a low
cost unbranded lens to ascertain whether the
branded units represent value for money.
Samsung Lenses
The Samsung lenses were a new-comer to the
Benchmark team. The manufacturer has
shown its metal in the electronic equipment
market, but could it do the same with optics?
The SLA3580DN is a 3.5-8mm focal length
unit with an aperture of F1.0. The second lens
was the SLA550DA, a 5-50mm F1.4 unit. Both
were DC drive lenses.
Build quality was good. The 5-50mm lens
did feel more sturdy, predominantly because
of the design of the casing, but even so the
SLA3580DN is well put together.
Image quality on both lenses saw sharp
detail, accurate colour and rendition and no
noticeable aberrations. Focus was retained,
even as light levels dropped.
The SLA3580DN saw a 1V signal fall away
at 16.4 lux, and a 0.7V signal drop away at 4.2
lux on the Bosch camera. When mounted on
the Samsung camera, the lens helped deliver
a 1V signal until 14.8 lux, and a 0.7V signal fell
away at 4 lux.
On the Bosch camera, the SLA550DA lost a
1V signal at 20.6 lux, and a 0.7V signal at 6
lux. The loses on the Samsung camera were
20 lux and 6.9 lux respectively.
Verdict
It must be reiterated that the sensitivity
figures here are high. This is intentional. We
didn’t want to test the cameras, but wanted to
assess the impact the lenses would have in a
worse-case scenario! The reality is that every
lens tested was significantly better than the
low cost unbranded lenses. The difference in
price between the unbranded Chinese lens
and the branded units isn’t huge. Indeed,
when compared to the difference in cost of
cameras capable of delivering better low light
performance, the option of choosing branded
quality lenses makes a lot of sense and
maximises performance too.
PRODUCT CBC Honeywell Pentax Samsung Vista
TG3Z2910FCS HLD28V8F95L TS3VP213ED-M SLA3580DN VDD28V1114IRP
TG10Z0513FCS-3 HLD5V50F13L HS5VP814ED-M SLA550DA VDD5V5014PU
pp2-3_000_Benchmark_feb11 11/02/2011 15:19 Page 18