Challenge Accepted - 4K License Plate Recognition @ 85Ft with 4K S3 Camera (EmpireTech B58IR-Z4E-S3)

[duplo]

Well WTF lol. Call me surprised!

Here is 1/1000 with WDR off

View attachment 204695

With a 0-10ms shutter and WDR at 60:

View attachment 204696


The plate is more readable than I was expecting it to be.

But I don't know if I would run it this way, especially with an overview camera to get the details. I will do more testing with a slightly faster shutter.

I love that you try it and disprove all what he wrote here.

 

[steve1225]

Granted this test isn't with the 58IR-Z4E, but rather it is with the 54IR-Z4E-S3 version that I previously reviewed.

I wanted to try this WDR to see if it were really true what @steve1225 said about running greater than 50 WDR.

Granted this is a one night test and this camera wasn't set up for LPR but was set up to try to get clean captures of vehicles.

Shutter speed is 0-2.5ms

Here is with WDR off:

View attachment 204685


And with WDR on at 60 (all other parameters stayed the same):

View attachment 204686


Which one do you think is better/cleaner?

Personally I think the image looks cleaner with WDR off. A bit of blur with WDR on. The plate also looks more washed out than with WDR off.

Tonight I will try my LPR cam and see what we get. Maybe the WDR trick only works when trying to capture plates LOL.

in this scenario WDR >= 50 don't work because there is no strong IR reflection from plate...
Everything on picture went from first long shot...

To step angle of camera.. Maybe IR not enough..

 

[steve1225]

Well WTF lol. Call me surprised!

Here is 1/1000 with WDR off

View attachment 204695

With a 0-10ms shutter and WDR at 60:

View attachment 204696


The plate is more readable than I was expecting it to be.

But I don't know if I would run it this way, especially with an overview camera to get the details. I will do more testing with a slightly faster shutter.

And here WDR worked.. You see on left side of plate extra white border - between first and second shot car moved, plate on second shot is moved to plate on first one - so we see two plates - sharp from second shot and blurred behind / on left side from first one..

As I Understand this is on 5849 - which have only two shot WDR (5442 have free shot WDR)..
If this is only two shot WDR, then max shutter time difference between shoots will be different..

Play with max shutter time - check if lower/higher by half will work better...
probably two times faster (so 0 - 5ms) will help here..

Is IR set to FULL?

Did you turn off AcuPick and turn on Full Video MetaData? This can be also very helpful...

Do You use Dahua NVR or BI?
In second case, if camera have SD card inside and You have enabled storing pictures for events, then as 'ANPR' record You will got snapshots of cars and plates (when full VMD is working)...

 

[wittaj]

And here WDR worked.. You see on left side of plate extra white border - between first and second shot car moved, plate on second shot is moved to plate on first one - so we see two plates - sharp from second shot and blurred behind / on left side from first one..

As I Understand this is on 5849 - which have only two shot WDR (5442 have free shot WDR)..
If this is only two shot WDR, then max shutter time difference between shoots will be different..

Play with max shutter time - check if lower/higher by half will work better...
probably two times faster (so 0 - 5ms) will help here..

Is IR set to FULL?

Did you turn off AcuPick and turn on Full Video MetaData? This can be also very helpful...

Do You use Dahua NVR or BI?
In second case, if camera have SD card inside and You have enabled storing pictures for events, then as 'ANPR' record You will got snapshots of cars and plates (when full VMD is working)...

This was the 5442, so should have the 3 shot WDR?

IR is set to full

Acupick off but using IVS. I will try full VMD.

I use BI but with VMD will see what card shows.

Would this WDR trick work on the newer 5241-Z12 with the new GUI?

 

[steve1225]

This was the 5442, so should have the 3 shot WDR?

IR is set to full

Acupick off but using IVS. I will try full VMD.

I use BI but with VMD will see what card shows.

Would this WDR trick work on the newer 5241-Z12 with the new GUI?

Should be...
The only difference are how many shots camera do for WDR (5442/7442 are unique - they are doing three, almost all other cameras are doing only two) and what is difference between max shutter You configured for first shot and exposure time for second (third?) short configured by some internal algorithm in camera (does it is 4/8/16/32 times faster)..

for 5442/7442 exposure times 1/100 (0.01) to 1/250 (0.004) works very well.
In case of other models this can be different.

 

[bigredfish]

Exactly the way. Have plate capture set on 1 cam to make sure you get key evidential information then have your secondary and tertiary cams for identifying features (model, color, make etc) then I also advocate for a PTZ (depending on deployment, target requirements, threat model to location etc) for the money shot of faces through car windows, tracking individuals etc.

Exactly what I do

 

[OB1 KNOB]

Exactly the way. Have plate capture set on 1 cam to make sure you get key evidential information then have your secondary and tertiary cams for identifying features (model, color, make etc) then I also advocate for a PTZ (depending on deployment, target requirements, threat model to location etc) for the money shot of faces through car windows, tracking individuals etc.

I'm coming to same conclusion as well.. what PTZ do you recommend?

I have a very old PTZ right now sitting high up on the roof looking down on the front yard (SD49225T-HN) and want to upgrade it and get best "money" shots possible. Not super concerned about price at the moment. Advice would be appreciated.

 

[Timokreon]

Price not a concern? EmpireTech PTZ

 

[OB1 KNOB]

Price not a concern? EmpireTech PTZ

Thanks! Looks great! I run everything through blue iris right now.

Need to figure out how to run the tracking functions with that camera.