Dahua IPC-HFW5241E-Z12E with Hikvision NVR

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Realize that if you make changes to the settings at night, it is possible (but not always) that the cam will refocus and if there is nothing stationary to focus on, will most probably be out of focus now.
 

bigredfish

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If you make changes after dark, many will force the camera to attempt to auto focus. Because it’s dark it won’t likely do that well and you’ll get “blurry”

I realized after many many hours of trying to dial in, I could save myself a lot of time and headaches by getting someone to park a vehicle at the capture point while I tweaked settings with something to focus on.
 

bigredfish

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Realize that if you make changes to the settings at night, it is possible (but not always) that the cam will refocus and if there is nothing stationary to focus on, will most probably be out of focus now.

I think e were typing at the same time... great minds think alike!
 

bigredfish

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100ft
Small changes to settings shown: Iris at 42, HLC 70

EntTagNight-0610-2020.jpg HOA Entr_EntrTag_main_20200821013055_@3.jpg

Sometimes you just get bad, dirty, old plates
HOA Entr_EntrTag_main_20200821020103_@3.jpg
 

Maximo101

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Realize that if you make changes to the settings at night, it is possible (but not always) that the cam will refocus and if there is nothing stationary to focus on, will most probably be out of focus now.
I had this in mind, I now keep the camera powered (power adaptor) while I plug from nvr to laptop to adjust then back to nvr. I know wirh my zoom my day focus is 320 while night 360, I normally manual set it when I double check settings if it's out of focus.
I realized after many many hours of trying to dial in, I could save myself a lot of time and headaches by getting someone to park a vehicle at the capture point while I tweaked settings with something to focus on.
In Vic Australia we aren't allowed to leave the house for more than a hour a day or go further than 5km from home and only for 1. getting medical attention 2. grocery shopping, 3. Exercise for 1hr, 4. Work if your an essential worker and cant work remotely..or risk thousand dollar fines and or jail but I won't get into that here in this thread... those reading this thread years down the track will think wtf...
I have an old plate I hung on the letter box and focused and got perfect for a still shot but need to tweak for a moving target @ 40km.
 

bigredfish

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samplenhold said:

Realize that if you make changes to the settings at night, it is possible (but not always) that the cam will refocus and if there is nothing stationary to focus on, will most probably be out of focus now.

I had this in mind, I now keep the camera powered (power adaptor) while I plug from nvr to laptop to adjust then back to nvr. I know wirh my zoom my day focus is 320 while night 360, I normally manual set it when I double check settings if it's out of focus.
Doesnt matter if you keep it powered, the camera will try to auto focus by itself.

It would be helpful if you posted the full res image of just the LPR cam when troubleshooting

_ Try removing the test plate and covering the reflective strips on the mailbox. The camera is searching for something to focus on at night. The reflection from the test plate/strips are a good 20ft? in the foreground from the actual capture point. It may well be fine focusing on the reflection making your capture point a bit out of focus.
 

Maximo101

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Res image attached.
The letter box is at about 46 metre distance from camera, road where cars pass is 47-50 metres.
Currently using BW mode all the time, and during day its great.
 

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oknoob

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Res image attached.
The letter box is at about 46 metre distance from camera, road where cars pass is 47-50 metres.
Looks good. I installed mine today and start to work on some basic settings. Now in the nigth time I got a lot of reflection of the cars ligth. I'm new in this but want learn the most I can.
 

bigredfish

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Looking better.

I seem to recall someone @Wildcat_1 ? Saying they implemented a way to turn off auto focus in a new firmware version? That might have been a different model though?
 

Maximo101

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Looks good. I installed mine today and start to work on some basic settings. Now in the nigth time I got a lot of reflection of the cars ligth. I'm new in this but want learn the most I can.
@oknoob I am also new to this, all the different variables which can change the image so much, eg. gain, grade, iris, hlc etc..
Post a picture / create a thread and the helpful people who know a more can offer some direction.
 

Maximo101

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I seem to recall someone @Wildcat_1 ? Saying they implemented a way to turn off auto focus in a new firmware version? That might have been a different model though?
I would like to turn off auto focus, have the focus set to manual. Also my cameras is on a different network segment to my main lan so i dont think i will be able to use any script/utility to make any changes that way.
For my purpose if it provides constantly the quality of my last night/day images I am happy with the result.
 
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