Finally installed my 2x IPC-HFW71242H-Z-X cameras

[steve1225]

This image looks very bad for cam in this budget...
Very washed.. no details for darker areas..

please tell me how You did this image?
Did you use snapshot function in camera web panel?

or you did manually screenshot from video file?

When You watch video preview at night from main stream (full resolution) over web panel or SmartPSS app, did the image look the same?

Or have much more details?

I ask - because lower line (5xxx-S3) in latest firmware revisions have bug and snapshots taken by cam are very compressed, washed and lack details.. but normal video looks normal...

 

[steve1225]

Can You put here some night video file (20 seconds with some car / people movement)?

 

[tigerwillow1]

This is the autohotkey macro I use to log into Dahua cameras with a single keystroke:

Launch_App2::
Send,admin password{Enter}{Enter}
Return

Launch_App2 is the name of the key that runs the script when it is pressed
The space between "admin" and "password" is a tab

My logitech keyboard has a row of keys on the top for various functions. Launch_App2 is the designation for the key that runs the windows calculator. It's the right hand key on the upper row, which I chose because it's easy to find. You can assign macros to any keyboard key. For the non-alphanumeric keys you have to find their names in the autokey docs or from a search engine.

Autohotkey is an executable that needs to be run before it intercepts keystrokes. I run it whenever the windows is booted.

 

[guykuo]

Ouch! 0.01 Lux sensitivity vs 0.0007 lux on a B54IR-Z4E-S3. Little wonder the night color image looks like it does. I was wondering how well 3 times more megapixels on a smaller sensor would look.

This thread needs to be earmarked as a lesson in not blindingly [sic] chasing megapixels. Getting optimal MP for sensor size and modify choice with lens zoom or closer camera placement to get enough detail continues to be the way to go if both day and night clarity are desired.

 

[MR2]

yeah they are amazing during the day, night vision's just not that good though

I feel if you are serious about night vision you need both big sensor fixed and PTZ to good a good handle on things, the 12mp are fantastic for stuffing in corners and getting a 4:3 image, it's one thing I miss with the ColorX

 

[MR2]

yeah they are amazing during the day, night vision's just not that good though

I feel if you are serious about night vision you need both big sensor fixed and PTZ to good a good handle on things, the 12mp are fantastic for stuffing in corners and getting a 4:3 image, it's one thing I miss with the ColorX

it helps that the color X are half the price of those Last i checked also.

 

[wittaj]

Ouch! 0.01 Lux sensitivity vs 0.0007 lux on a B54IR-Z4E-S3. Little wonder the night color image looks like it does. I was wondering how well 3 times more megapixels on a smaller sensor would look.

This thread needs to be earmarked as a lesson in not blindingly [sic] chasing megapixels. Getting optimal MP for sensor size and modify choice with lens zoom or closer camera placement to get enough detail continues to be the way to go if both day and night clarity are desired.

Except in this case the OP didn't blindly go into buying 12MP. In his other thread he was advised that getting a camera on the less than ideal MP/sensor ratio would result in less than optimal performance.

His first argument was he only cared about daytime performance and then eventually said he can fix the night with some fancy solar lights.

We suggested the B54IR series.

Based on that image above on default/auto settings, stadium quality light won't be enough to help that image, especially once you speed up the shutter to eliminate motion blur at night.

 

[wittaj]

isn't Bit Rate 12288 better?

This daytime picture from your early post demonstrates what I mentioned about higher MP cameras and higher bitrates can struggle with things like lines of fences, bricks, siding, and concrete in certain fields of view.

Hopefully the mainstream is better, but look at the siding of the houses across the street along with the outline of the vehicle. While this doesn't impact the ability to get a clean capture of a perp, to many people seeing siding and brick have that kinda of look is too much for them.

 

[Sybertiger]

First thing I noticed was OP joined the forum in 2017 so thinking he's probably been exposed to the highlights and lowlights of cams discussed here. Next thing I do is notice the cam is 12MP with a smallish 1/1.7" sensor. Okay, hope this is daytime use only or it's lit up like Fort Knox at night. Second post shows a nighttime image. Oof....SMH.

 

[97JeepXJ]

Just under where you clicked on Image, go down to Day/Night and select B/W

 

[sunny0101786]

If this is your night picture on auto/default settings, then this camera will not work at night for you in color as it clearly doesn't have enough light to run in color (but we tried to warn you of that in your other thread LOL). I recognize from your post that this was the camera auto switching to color due to headlights, but if a camera cannot produce a clean static image at night (looking at the parked cars) on default/auto settings, then it will be impossible for it to perform once a shutter is increased to minimize motion blur.

Hopefully when you force it into B/W with infrared the image will be better as a B/W image, but I suspect once you set it up with the settings above to minimize blur, you will see quickly what we have been saying about chasing MP. And no amount of fancy solar lights will help this LOL....

View attachment 186939

You misunderstood my question. I don't want this camera to switch from black and white to color mode during the night, so I don't get the type of picture you are referring to. I'm in the process of getting the right settings done for this camera. I'm very happy with the picture quality of the camera, the only issue is I don't have enough time to test it with different settings to make it function better, or in other words, perform better in different light situations. If I need a color picture during the night, I'll make that happen one day. For now, I just need to get it working by fixing some basic settings.

 

[97JeepXJ]

Were you able to make the suggestion in my last post work?
I also noticed there appears to be white between the day and night bars, this means the camera will basically be off during those few seconds to minutes. Double check that there is only one second difference between the end of the day bar and beginning of the night bar. It’s possible it just looks like there’s a blank space

 

[wittaj]

No I didn't misunderstand your question. My second sentence was "I recognize from your post that this was the camera auto switching to color due to headlights" because I recognized you were not trying to do color.

My statement was simply that if that is the best it looks in color on default settings, you need a lot more light, whether it is for color or B/W.

We look forward to seeing video and screenshots of objects in motion at night of the picture quality you are happy with.

Remember, don't be fooled by a nice static image....

 

[sunny0101786]

Were you able to make the suggestion in my last post work?
I also noticed there appears to be white between the day and night bars, this means the camera will basically be off during those few seconds to minutes. Double check that there is only one second difference between the end of the day bar and beginning of the night bar. It’s possible it just looks like there’s a blank space
View attachment 187121

I'll check those white gaps once I get back from work. My cameras were still switching from black and white to color when vehicle lights passed on the street. I need to make additional changes in the camera settings to prevent that.

 

[wittaj]

I'll check those white gaps once I get back from work. My cameras were still switching from black and white to color when vehicle lights passed on the street. I need to make additional changes in the camera settings to prevent that.

The schedule has nothing to do with that. As someone else mentioned you need to go to the day/night option and force it. You have it on auto right now.

Under the day profile change it to color and under the night profile change it to B/W and that will prevent the switching during the night.

 

[wittaj]

too much IR at 40%

Is that on default/auto settings or have you done as suggested and put in a 1/120 shutter and 50 gain?

There is a big difference in what an image looks like with IR on default with slow shutter speed versus a fast enough shutter to freeze frame motion.

 

[sunny0101786]

Is that on default/auto settings or have you done as suggested and put in a 1/120 shutter and 50 gain?

There is a big difference in what an image looks like with IR on default with slow shutter speed versus a fast enough shutter to freeze frame motion.

Auto.

 

[wittaj]

Nope.

Make it 8.33ms. You made it 120ms or a slow 1/8 shutter.

 

[wittaj]

Exactly. And that is the shutter speed that is needed to minimize blur. Ideally faster is better.

Shutter speed is what gets the clean captures of motion.

The faster the shutter, the more light that is needed.

The slowest you would want to go is 16.67ms if capturing more than ghost blur motion is your goal. But a 16.67ms will only clean capture people barely moving.

 

[sunny0101786]

Then what is 1/120 or 1/60 shutter speed? When you talk these numbers. I'm kind of confused between these numbers 1/120, 1/60 and 8.33