Forget my first question. I will now use B/W 24/7 and let the camera switch to night vision settings based off the sensor instead of a schedule. I still need help with adjustments for better night capture.
Dedicated license plate camera
- Thread starter JoshM
- Start date
Are you on shutter priority or manual shutter?
That image looks too bright for 1/2000 shutter. I think you are on shutter priority and it then has the gain at 100. Go to manual and then set the gain at like 30. Or it is 1/200 shutter?
Running 24/7 B/W and the settings should be about the same day or night.
That image looks too bright for 1/2000 shutter. I think you are on shutter priority and it then has the gain at 100. Go to manual and then set the gain at like 30. Or it is 1/200 shutter?
Running 24/7 B/W and the settings should be about the same day or night.
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I guess I was adjusting under shutter priority. I had shutter priority at 1/2000 and HLC at 60. I am getting solid white glowing plates at night. I cant see the characters because its glowing so bright. Now when I go to exposure>manual and set shutter to 1/500 the entire frame is solid black. It missed a vehicle because motion did not trip. Its frustratinf getting this thing configured.
How are you doing motion - IVS? If so IVS will not work at night (tripwire or intrusion box) because the camera needs to see the object and identify it and since all it sees is plates, it will not record it.
You will need to go to Motion Detection at night.
Shutter speed is what gets us the plates. Your vehicles are moving slow enough that 1/500 shutter may work. But you need to bring NR down to 30 or so. At 50 it will try to smooth it and that contributes to white glow plates.
Now you need to do as we suggested and park a car in the middle of that field of view and adjust all the parameters to see the plate clearly. But keep in mind it should be all or mostly black, so do not adjust shutter and gain to try to see the car. This camera sole purpose is to capture the plate.
Here is a representative sample of mine at night:
You will need to go to Motion Detection at night.
Shutter speed is what gets us the plates. Your vehicles are moving slow enough that 1/500 shutter may work. But you need to bring NR down to 30 or so. At 50 it will try to smooth it and that contributes to white glow plates.
Now you need to do as we suggested and park a car in the middle of that field of view and adjust all the parameters to see the plate clearly. But keep in mind it should be all or mostly black, so do not adjust shutter and gain to try to see the car. This camera sole purpose is to capture the plate.
Here is a representative sample of mine at night:
Flintstone61
Known around here
Flintstone61
Known around here
I copied your settings exactly and I am getting a pitch black screen. Something isnt right. The lot is lit well with lamp poles. In your screenshots you can see the vehicles with those settings. I see nothing. When I go up with my shutter speed everything goes black.
Flintstone61
Known around here
I think when @Flintstone61 pulled those screenshots it was still daylight but he put the camera to night profile so he could screenshot the settings, so yes in that case you see a lot more.
But at night most of us will have a pitch black image (see my image in this thread as well as others). Remember the intent of this camera is to capture plates. If it catches anything else it is a bonus.
I recognize you have light at that location, but as we zoom in the amount of light needed is even greater.
But at night most of us will have a pitch black image (see my image in this thread as well as others). Remember the intent of this camera is to capture plates. If it catches anything else it is a bonus.
I recognize you have light at that location, but as we zoom in the amount of light needed is even greater.
To capture license plates at night requires that the screen be black until a car comes by. That's because the lights on a car are so bright that we have to set the exposure so that extremely bright source appears fairly dim. Otherwise the headlights will "bloom" into a bright mess and it will cause the lettering on the license plates to be washed out (over exposed) by the bright lights. If our settings are such that an extremely bright source like a headlight appears as a dim light source, the ambient light has no chance of producing a usable image. This is why it is critical that a dedicated license plate camera be used. You will never be able to use one camera to capture both license plates and general CCTV footage at night. During the day you can, but at night the camera needs to be set up to either capture license plates only, or general CCTV footage which isn't going to provide usable plate footage due to the washing out effect of headlights.
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Flintstone61
Known around here
My camera profile is set to one schedule. Night. 1/2000 and gain and all that stay the same 24/7 the IR can go ON/ Off on auto....and the defog is on auto.
Flintstone61
Known around here
I have a nearly pitch black screen at times. Maybe the parking lot lighting is screwing with you?
It helps to have an overview cam with Color lowlight to corraborate the time signature of the vehicle, with a possible color make and model.
Dedicated to LPR means it can do nothing else.
If it happens to be able to catch other stuff thats a bonus. I had Coyotes & Deer running right thru the Choke point. Could see absolutely nothing. But the overview tells me about those things.
Maybe you need an LED out there on one of those poles. or pointed at the exit area.
this LPR below is set at 1/2000 24/7 the same way as my front LPR but it has something like a 5k 10-15,000 Lumens type of LED about 12-15 above it.
you see the 3rd pic from front is much darker.
It helps to have an overview cam with Color lowlight to corraborate the time signature of the vehicle, with a possible color make and model.
Dedicated to LPR means it can do nothing else.
If it happens to be able to catch other stuff thats a bonus. I had Coyotes & Deer running right thru the Choke point. Could see absolutely nothing. But the overview tells me about those things.
Maybe you need an LED out there on one of those poles. or pointed at the exit area.
this LPR below is set at 1/2000 24/7 the same way as my front LPR but it has something like a 5k 10-15,000 Lumens type of LED about 12-15 above it.
you see the 3rd pic from front is much darker.
Flintstone61
Known around here
here are shots with no cars coming thru.
as the evening goes into night time. It eventually becomes black as night.
as the evening goes into night time. It eventually becomes black as night.
Flintstone61
Known around here
You can manually raise the Gain range until the shadowy outline of the car is seen, while still using the 1/2000 shutter speed. You might even get plates with 1/1000 settings with the right gain settings.