Cam Placement Advice

[c hris527]

The varying lighting of the room inside of the inner door will always be a serious problem when trying to see through that door. So getting a camera inside of the space between the doors would be good IF you can mount it close enough to the inner door that you will have a good view of the people in that space (they're not pressed up too close to the inner door).

But you may well be able to shoot through the inner door if you can control things just so.

Let's say you mount the camera through the drop-ceiling, directly in front of and above the inner door, shooting downward at it at a fairly steep angle. This means that what will be seen in the reflection from the inner door will be the floor directly inside of the inner door.

You might be able to get them to place a black or very dark rug on the floor in the area that the camera sees reflected in the door glass.

With a focal length that lets you see only the required area of the inner door's glass, the area of the floor seen reflected in the glass can be kept to a minimum. That setup eliminates dealing with reflections from the walls and most of the floor, which will help.

Then use the camera "tools" you guys are considering to help with the exposure correction, etc.

This is a difficult setup, for sure!

I appreciate your Ideas, sending this stuff out there to the gang here is always fun and educational. It just happens its My turn in the barrel this time and everyone has been VERY helpful.

 

[looney2ns]

Thanks @looney2ns for the info, My firmware is a few ticks back in 2017, I wonder if it will magically appear if I go up. Do you remember if that was there when your cam was new?

I don't believe it was there prior. But not positive.

 

[c hris527]

I don't believe it was there prior. But not positive.

I upgraded my firmware, it showed up . Now I will get to test that function, I will tell you with the IR on it does not do so well. I will for sure be testing it at that office, it should be interesting.

 

[c hris527]

I was able to test the HDW5231R-ZE with SSA enabled. All I can say is that it made a significant difference. You still have a little reflection of the items on the wall almost like a clear mosaic but you can really make out features between the doors and outside of the second door, heck you can see the brick pavers behind the second door now. It worked better than I thought. Going to roll with it, Thanks All.

 

[beepsilver]

I was able to test the HDW5231R-ZE with SSA enabled. All I can say is that it made a significant difference. You still have a little reflection of the items on the wall almost like a clear mosaic but you can really make out features between the doors and outside of the second door, heck you can see the brick pavers behind the second door now. It worked better than I thought. Going to roll with it, Thanks All.

I wonder why the August 2018 firmware for this cam no longer includes SSA

 

[tangent]

I wonder why the August 2018 firmware for this cam no longer includes SSA

Z != ZE

 

[reeves1985]

Just bringing up an old thread as i have a placement where this would be useful,
I'm on the latest firmware but I don't have ssa available
Was it removed?

 

[beepsilver]

Just bringing up an old thread as i have a placement where this would be useful,
I'm on the latest firmware but I don't have ssa available
Was it removed?

In my case I have the ZE model...apparently it's the Z model that has this feature.

 

[reeves1985]

In my case I have the ZE model...apparently it's the Z model that has this feature.

Ah ok that will explain it!

Would have been quite a handy feature for a specific location 1 have one of my ZE's

 

[c hris527]

Ah ok that will explain it!

Would have been quite a handy feature for a specific location 1 have one of my ZE's

You most likely would have to try to Downgrade the firmware, Look at post # 18. I did try this on a brand new ZE' a few weeks ago but got a error, I had one from Last Fall I used in my last project and it took very nice.

 

[reeves1985]

You most likely would have to try to Downgrade the firmware, Look at post # 18. I did try this on a brand new ZE' a few weeks ago but got a error, I had one from Last Fall I used in my last project and it took very nice.

Funny that as I've literally just last night upgraded the firmware to get the day night switch.

May as well as not bothered because I thought I'd be able to force it into b&W at night.
But it's greyed out when you run day night mode

 

[c hris527]

Just a little update with the HDW5231R-ZE with SSA enabled, I had limited testing with this feature before I put it to work last week full time, That feature was doing its job very well. I have 3 monitors (users) watching that cam to buzz people into a secure area. Everybody was raving how clear they can see behind that glass door now BUT!! seems it also comes with a price and I now wonder if this is the reason Dahua disabled it in the newer firmware updates. The skipping in the video is severe and I threw every thing I had at it. They noticed it also but it was not a big deal for them but it is for me. I disabled SSA and went to a stock WDR setting. Everything looks and acts like the SSA setting but with no more skipping, seems very smooth now and they still love the picture. Time will tell I guess.