Seeing security in a new light with Dahua’s WizColor

Beryl Bai and Jolyne Zhou, Product Managers at Dahua Technology, tell International Security Journal more about the company’s WizColor Technology.

What is WizColor?

Beryl Bai (BB): Dahua WizColor Technology has made multiple innovations in both hardware and algorithms.

Firstly, it adopts an F1.0 super large aperture lens, significantly increasing the amount of light intake, ensuring bright and clear images even in low-light conditions.

Secondly, equipped with a large pixel size sensor, it further enhances the light reception capability and reduces noise.

Lastly, by introducing the new generation AI-ISP Visual Engine, it significantly improves the dynamic image processing effect and scene adaptability, providing users with an outstanding security monitoring experience.

What motivated Dahua to develop the WizColor series?

BB: Image quality at night has always been a key point for security cameras.

In recent years, the night imaging technology of network cameras has been continuously upgraded; from IR illumination to starlight technology and then to full-colour technology.

Although the image quality at night has been improved, there are still issues such as motion blur, image noise, image overexposure, light pollution and false alarms caused by mosquitoes and insects.

To address these pain points, we need to seek new technological breakthroughs.

What key technologies have been applied to the WizColor series?

Jolyne Zhou (JZ): There are three key technologies in the WizColor series. First, the F1.0 Aperture. In the realm of photography and surveillance, the size of the aperture directly affects the lens’s ability to capture light in low-light conditions.

Regular cameras usually use F1.6 aperture, while our WizColor cameras uses F1.0 aperture with 2.5 times the light intake of F1.6.

This larger light intake allows for capturing more light under the same lighting conditions, significantly improving image brightness and definition in night-time monitoring.

Next is the 1/1.8” sensor. Dahua WizColor camera uses a large pixel size sensor. The area of light reception is directly proportional to the square of the pixel dimension.

The larger the pixel size, the more photons can be received and converted into stronger electrical signals. This greatly enhances the signal, resulting in an image with higher brightness and lower noise.

Lastly, the AI-ISP. Dahua WizColor camera is equipped with a new generation vision engine AI-ISP, which brings comprehensive upgrades on both hardware and software.

On the hardware side, it meets the three key elements for building highly efficient AI: Powerful computing power of up to 2.4T, highly efficient algorithms and massive training media.

It also adopts an advanced 12nm process aligned with the current mobile phone industry, reducing power consumption by 30% compared to conventional cameras.

On the software side, there is an update to the advanced 3DNR technology, which reduces image noise while maximising the preservation of scene details.

Also, improvements in 2D noise reduction technology enable the WizColor camera to meet the noise reduction needs of different scenes.

What’s more, with the help of deep learning semantic segmentation, AI-ISP can accurately separate moving targets from the background, greatly assisting in eliminating motion blur.

What are the future trends for the WizColor technology?

BB: With the continuous progress of the security industry, Dahua WizColor tech is actively planning its future development to meet the growing market demand.

The Dahua WizColor tech will be integrated into series such as TiOC, Smart Dual Light and X-spans, further enhancing the competitiveness of the products in the market.

Also, Dahua WizColor products will continue to develop 5E functions, including easy installation, easy connection, easy configuration, easy usage and easy maintenance.

In addition, we are planning to launch WizColor tech products with zooming function to meet the needs of users in different scenarios.

Dahua WizColor is committed to maintaining technological leadership in the security monitoring realm, providing users with a more superior and reliable visual experience.

How does WizColor technology help reduce installation complexity and night-time lighting requirements?

BB: In WizColor 2025, the WizColor products cover network PT camera and vari-focal camera, HDCVI camera and 4G camera.

The network PT camera enables the user to adjust the camera angle on mobile APP remotely at any time; they do not need to adjust the camera angle on site.

The vari-focal camera also enables user to adjust the lens remotely according to their needs, saving time on product lens selection.

The HDCVI camera equipped with WizColor enables the HDCVI camera user to easily switch to WizColor camera with no need for rewiring.

The 4G camera supports the solar power system; for remote and power-limited sites, it does not need the power and network wiring and eventually saves the installation cost.

What improvements can end users expect from the new WizColor models in terms of video clarity, false alarm reduction and coverage in low-light environments?

BB: WizColor 2025 also covers 4K products – the resolution reaches to 4K.

With WizColor technology, 4K images have higher brightness and clearer details, which makes the targets at night-time easy to detect, so as to reduce false alarms.

How are features solving real-world problems in sectors like retail, logistics and agriculture?

BB: In retail scenarios, users always need multiple cameras to cover the whole shop and to ensure the full-colour image at night; it will always have fill light turned ON, which causes light pollution, but will still have a limited illumination distance.

With the WizColor PT camera, it can easily pan or tilt remotely to cover the whole shop and does not need the fill light to capture the full-colour image.

Also, the dual lens can cover more area and save more cost on cameras.

Moreover, for agriculture users, the 4G standalone camera does not need network and power wiring, enabling the users to enjoy better imaging and intelligence even in no power and no network scenarios.

What are the key integration options for WizColor cameras with existing VMS and alarm systems?

BB: WizColor applies F1.0 large aperture, larger pixel size image sensor and AI-ISP algorithm – these three major factors enables the camera to output quality images in more detail and higher brightness.

When it comes to existing VMS and alarm systems, it does not need to re-integrate.

How does Dahua ensure WizColor-enabled products remain cost-effective while delivering advanced AI features?

BB: The TiOC PRO series products are already released, and they are equipped with the F1.0 large aperture and large pixel size sensors.

They have enough performance to load the AI-ISP algorithm, so the user can upgrade the newest FW which supports AI-ISP then the users can enjoy WizColor image and better AI features.