IPC-Color4K-T180 warm LED triggering?

[Paiberfunk]

OK, I will preference this with the fact that I am new at Dahua cameras and their interface, but I have figured out a lot of the network and configuration basics and got my camera online.

i’m still trying to figure out where I can learn about the proper settings for image tuning other than fiddling with them by hand but aside from that the real question I have here is how I can get the white LEDs on this camera to only turn on when they are needed, the “auto mode” seems to turn them on permanently but at a lower intensity than manual mode. However turning them off entirely appears like it can be tuned to yield a acceptable image at night. This is in the overhang under a porch on a house across from a street lamp so there is a lot of ambient light.

ideally I would like the camera lights to only come on when SMD detects movement across a tripwire or a human or whatever.

Could someone point me to the resources to learn how to do this?

 

[weigle2]

OK, I will preference this with the fact that I am new at Dahua cameras and their interface, but I have figured out a lot of the network and configuration basics and got my camera online.

i’m still trying to figure out where I can learn about the proper settings for image tuning other than fiddling with them by hand but aside from that the real question I have here is how I can get the white LEDs on this camera to only turn on when they are needed, the “auto mode” seems to turn them on permanently but at a lower intensity than manual mode. However turning them off entirely appears like it can be tuned to yield a acceptable image at night. This is in the overhang under a porch on a house across from a street lamp so there is a lot of ambient light.

ideally I would like the camera lights to only come on when SMD detects movement across a tripwire or a human or whatever.

Could someone point me to the resources to learn how to do this?

This is a Color image designed camera. Most of these, only allow either the white or warm lights to be on or off only. Motion triggers will not trigger the lights to come on. I operate mine in a similar scenario to what your doing, and operate them in the color only mode (no lights) 24/7. The image at night is superb, in my opinion.

 

[Paiberfunk]

This is a Color image designed camera. Most of these, only allow either the white or warm lights to be on or off only. Motion triggers will not trigger the lights to come on. I operate mine in a similar scenario to what your doing, and operate them in the color only mode (no lights) 24/7. The image at night is superb, in my opinion.

So, I’m new at this but it’s not clear to me what the proper setting is to balance the image when there are really bright and dark areas in the image. I know that WDR is supposed to be used for this but there are also HLC and BLC modes.

Do you have this same cam ? what do you do for motion activated deterrence lighting, if anything ?

 

[weigle2]

So, I’m new at this but it’s not clear to me what the proper setting is to balance the image when there are really bright and dark areas in the image. I know that WDR is supposed to be used for this but there are also HLC and BLC modes.

Do you have this same cam ? what do you do for motion activated deterrence lighting, if anything ?

I run mine in Self-adaptive mode, with resolution set at 4096 x 1216. Also, WDR is very low at a setting of 10. To be honest this camera requires a lot of tinkering to get it dialed in. My scenario has pretty good night time light, from an LED street light on my corner, and with this, the dark areas are pretty well lit at night

 

[Paiberfunk]

I run mine in Self-adaptive mode, with resolution set at 4096 x 1216. Also, WDR is very low at a setting of 10. To be honest this camera requires a lot of tinkering to get it dialed in. My scenario has pretty good night time light, from an LED street light on my corner, and with this, the dark areas are pretty well lit at night

Self-adaptive adaptive on the backlight (SSA) or self-adaptive on the scene setting , or both ? as illustrated here, there's two separate settings, which is a little confusing. Note: camera not mounted yet, which is why the image is oddly positioned.

 

[weigle2]

Self-adaptive adaptive on the backlight (SSA) or self-adaptive on the scene setting , or both ? as illustrated here, there's two separate settings, which is a little confusing. Note: camera not mounted yet, which is why the image is oddly positioned.

View attachment 198635

Self adaptive for the WORKING MODE, which is normally the default. For Backlight, I use WDR set at 10. If the picture shows the area you want to cover, you would be better off with a single lens camera (2.8mm). This camera is designed more as an overlook type, rather than a limited area. You will have issues with how it stitches the image together, and see too much of areas like the wall, as seen above. If this is a test location, it needs to be as close to where you want to mount it as possible. FWIW.

 

[Paiberfunk]

Self adaptive for the WORKING MODE, which is normally the default. For Backlight, I use WDR set at 10. If the picture shows the area you want to cover, you would be better off with a single lens camera (2.8mm). This camera is designed more as an overlook type, rather than a limited area. You will have issues with how it stitches the image together, and see too much of areas like the wall, as seen above. If this is a test location, it needs to be as close to where you want to mount it as possible. FWIW.

I was testing it last night by holding it in the right place.. this was just an example image from where it's sitting at the moment is all. I definitely want a 180 spread here because I want it to cover the whole porch and front yard... I know there are possible stitching issues, but i have a solution for how to position it so that's not going to be a material issue .

Is there a reason you don't use SSA for the backlight ?

 

[Paiberfunk]

PS I asked about SSA vs WDR above for backlight because you’d think SSA would use WDR when appropriate, but maybe not ?

 

[bigredfish]

I've not had luck with SSA working mode. I do use SSA Backlight successfully on 2 cameras

 

[Paiberfunk]

So what do people do for deterrance in this situation? it seems some sort of light activation is out of the question ?

 

[wittaj]

As others have said, this camera is designed for performance, not deterrence.

Plus, the camera needs to be able to see in order for it to trigger for motion. They do not have PIR sensors, it is done simply by analyzing moving pixels in the image, so if the image is too dark, it can't see the motion.

Most here find that cameras and motion activated floodlights ends up causing problems with image exposure and are bad for surveillance cameras.. What happens is then the camera is momentarily blinded and you lose the ideal capture when the lights kick on and the camera adjusts from basically no light to a lot of light.

Motion activated lights are not a deterrent. There are enough videos here showing that perps do not flinch when a floodlight turns on. They avoid homes all lit up, so go with floodlights on all night.

Watch this video someone posted and how the floodlight comes on and they don't even flinch. But then the audio comes on and they don't know which way to run LOL.

https://ipcamtalk.com/attachments/whatsapp-video-2020-07-28-at-7-23-08-pm-mp4.73970/

Either keep the lights on all night or not at all to ensure the best chance of capture.

Here is usually what happens when a motion activated floodlight comes on - it just about completely blinds the camera right at the moment of optimal opportunity to get the picture. There are 3 deer in this picture and two of them are lost in the blinded white while the camera's exposure adjusts to the rapid change in available light:

Or this example that completely missed the perp:

The Typical picture of a Perp on Nextdoor-type Apps with Consumer Grade Cameras like Ring, Nest, Arlo, Canary, Wyze, etc.

 

[Paiberfunk]

Yea, i'm probably over thinking it. It was more .. "i'd like to draw attention to the fact that there's a camera here watching you".. so even weakest lights on at night is probably good enough (even though I really don't need them for illumination with this camera). Here i'm thinking the neighberhood perp who would just pick a less threatening house from 30 yards out if they're casing the whole neighborhood for a good place to rob. Perhaps this is misguided thinking?