DS-2CD2087G2-LU settings to deal with motion blur and identification

[stokieman]

Hi
Still trying to get to grips with these cams i have installed 2 of them and use via synology nas and in terms of general use all seems to be going well all settings are at default from box except for resolution and max bitrate which i have increased to take advantage of camera capabilities. During the day cameras can see faces and cars including number plates quite well in close quarters and more than meet my need but at night i get motion blur on items if i pause video when checking events and car lights and such totally obscure number plates which is a real shame being able to read number plates at close quarter at night would be a real advantage. As stated other than resolution and bitrate adjustments everything is default i have one street light directly outside my property which helps please see attached pics to demonstrate outside lighting available and the motion and id issues i face, are there any settings i could tweak to help with this ?

 

[bigredfish]

At night and in low light situations, you have to run a much faster shutter (exposure) in order to freeze motion. Even faster to read plates at night depending on the speed of the vehicle and how much light you have to start with.

At minimum, you’ll need to run 1/60 or likely 1/120 exposure to minimize the blur. Even then you may not be able to read plates.

It’s a common mistake to try and make a camera perform too many tasks. Most of us run separate dedicated LPR cameras to capture plates, zoomed in much tighter at the capture point, and running 1/500, 1/1000, or even 1/2000 exposure using IR reflection (black and white mode) . See the LPR forum for more.

Try using 1/60 or 1/120 exposure to minimize blur and test by walking in front of the camera where you would want to capture faces/vehicles. This exposure will make things darker, (that’s the trade off) and you may find you don’t really have enough light to run color at night. Trial and error, but concentrate on getting good motion captures on vehicles and people first. Better to invest in a separate camera for LPR.

 

[stokieman]

At night and in low light situations, you have to run a much faster shutter (exposure) in order to freeze motion. Even faster to read plates at night depending on the speed of the vehicle and how much light you have to start with.

At minimum, you’ll need to run 1/60 or likely 1/120 exposure to minimize the blur. Even then you may not be able to read plates.

It’s a common mistake to try and make a camera perform too many tasks. Most of us run separate dedicated LPR cameras to capture plates, zoomed in much tighter at the capture point, and running 1/500, 1/1000, or even 1/2000 exposure using IR reflection (black and white mode) . See the LPR forum for more.

Try using 1/60 or 1/120 exposure to minimize blur and test by walking in front of the camera where you would want to capture faces/vehicles. This exposure will make things darker, (that’s the trade off) and you may find you don’t really have enough light to run color at night. Trial and error, but concentrate on getting good motion captures on vehicles and people first. Better to invest in a separate camera for LPR.

Thanks when trying to capture the number plate the vehicles are usually stationary as i am right by a junction during day it is great just the night light blurs them out. I will check LPR forum.

 

[bigredfish]

Yeah if you can get them while stopped that helps, as do those Ginormous European plate numbers. Wish we had those.

 

[bigredfish]

With as much light as you have, also try a little HLC. It can minimize those overly bright spots. But start with 1/60 exposure

 

[triumph202]

Try up to 1/150 and enabling the HLC - note my recent post on how the HLC isn't linear on the 8MP Colorvu. Non linear HLC control on DS-2CD2387G2-L(U) (Colorvu 8MP) - possibly affects other models.

 

[stokieman]

Try up to 1/150 and enabling the HLC - note my recent post on how the HLC isn't linear on the 8MP Colorvu. Non linear HLC control on DS-2CD2387G2-L(U) (Colorvu 8MP) - possibly affects other models.

Hav not tried hlc and actually kept it on but when playing with the settings I also noticed how non linear it was.

 

[triumph202]

Hav not tried hlc and actually kept it on but when playing with the settings I also noticed how non linear it was.

I was experimenting last night and WDR shows similar behaviour. IIRC it was more around 50 where it stepped though.

 

[bigredfish]

Yeah same on Dahua, WDR can go from hardly there to complete wash out in just a few steps. Don’t advise using it at night as it also contributes to motion blur.

 

[ljw2k]

Hi Darren, I think your pictures look just great for that camera and lens choice. If you "ONLY" want to capture LPR then your settings would need changing drastically to achieve this as you will learn over @ the LPR Forum.
It would also benefit yourself to do some homework on the DORI charts which will direct you to the size of lens needed to achieve a recognition.

You are fortunate like me to have a LED street light straight outside your property and would guess that you can ID a person or persons walking past or coming up to your gate, but forget trying to get an ID from across the road.
If you wanted an ID from further away I would recommend a PTZ and either Auto Tracking or use your camera's to trigger the PTZ to a set position where you want to ID.

The PTZ I would recommend is the SDA425XA-HNR with it's 1/1.8" sensor would work great at your location especially with all the Light you have and you could even get away with the Dahua SD49225XA-HNR with it's 1/2/8" sensor.

 

[triumph202]

WDR can go from hardly there to complete wash out in just a few steps. Don’t advise using it at night as it also contributes to motion blur.

Yes, I was just experimenting with BLC, HLC and WDR to see what happened. I know it's undesirable at night or to have WDR too high during the day. I'd given up on HLC at night because of the big step at 41, but then discovered (by accident) it's effect was reduced again at higher values.

 

[Flintstone61]

I'd try and squeeze a 2nd cam in to simplify the job of the color night cam. Your image looks good. but need put one right on the junction of the intersection and set it to 1/1000 or 1/2000 Shutter speed, and leave it to that task.
I do this at the building I manage and then I get both a color image of the car, and then the corresponding plate from the other cams with matching timestamps.

 

[Flintstone61]