Fine-Tuning & SAVING Focus

[Steve.L]

So I'm dialing in my second LPR, and trying to fine-tune the focus (Dahua 5241-Z12E)

I discovered the funniest things:

1) Let's say my focus is set at 1400, and I want to improve my focus, so I log into the camera web interface, set the step control from 20 down to 5, and then I step the focus from 1400 by a couple clicks to 1410. Then I log out of the camera UI and go back to BI. Now let's say still I don't like it and I log back into the camera UI, and when I hover over the focus slider/knob, I find it's reverted back to 1400, it didn't hold 1410 when I logged out. So, I don't seem to be able to "save" my focus settings.

2) When I do log back in, I'll hover over the focus knob, and it will say 1400, then, when I click the step counter from 20 down to, say, 5, I notice the focus slider knob bump to the right, up to 1410. It doesn't wait for me to readjust the focus, it automatically bumps the knob up to 1410. So, it seems to remember that, the last time I was fine-tuning the focus, using 5 steps per click, that I was at 1410. It just doesn't HOLD it.

3) When I log in, hover over the focus knob and find it at 1400, click the step counter from 20 down to 1, you know, for real fine tuning, it automatically bumps the slider knob from 1400 to 1409, log out, log back in, and voila, back to 1400.

What am I missing? How to I fine-tune focus, and SAVE it?

Thanks as always.

 

[wittaj]

Make sure you are using Internet Explorer and set the focus to Manual not semi-auto.

Go down to the step of 1. A step of 5 is still too much.

So if you are at a focus of 1400 with a step of 20, that means the focus is somewhere between 1390 and 1410 (20 point difference). When you then go to 5, it then takes it to the nearest 5 of the focus number, so it goes to 1410 when it might be 1407

You need to get to step 1 to get the actual number. It might be 1407 but shows 1410 when you step to 5 step.

And then use this utility to force it to the zoom and focus settings in the event the camera goes wacky or a reboot/power outage at night.

Dahua day/night switch utility - DahuaSunriseSunset

I wanted to use stronger noise reduction at night and weaker during the day, but Dahua seems to have made a mess of the profile management. On most cameras, there doesn't seem to be a way to have the camera switch automatically between Day and Night profiles when the camera changes between...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[Steve.L]

Hi wittaj,

Yes, IE for the web interface, and definitely manual focus. And definitely have worked with both 1-step and 5-step focus, just trying everything and not getting any joy.

For more weirdness that I didn't bother to mention here: on at least one of my turrets, I'll be stepping on 1-step focus, and the cam will just say, "Naahhh, not having any of this," and just self-zoom all the way down to the left and park right there, won't even auto-focus back to normal, just seems to go haywire while single-stepping...but that's a whole different bug that I'm not worried about right now.

 

[wittaj]

Are you trying it from the Focus and Zoom tab or from the Live viewing screen?

Many have had issues with focus and zoom from that tab.

Instead, go to live view and select the icon on the bottom left to pull up the zoom/focus. You get a bigger picture to look at then than the zoom/focus tab. I never use the zoom/focus tab.

I guess you have tried the restore all option at zoom/focus and still having issues?

 

[Steve.L]

That's a good question you bring up. Yes, I almost always focus and zoom from the live screen and using the controls on the upper-right, this way I can actually see the changes in real time, rather than that reduced view when working in the settings tabs.

But it's behaving the same in both working interfaces, both large/live view, and in the tab.

Could it be that, if I log out and leave the zoom at, say 1408, that that's actually where it's leaving it, at 1408? But then when I log back in and the stepper is defaulted to 20, that it somehow rounds to 1400 when hovering over it? (<-- 1400 would be the nearest large increment if using 20 for steps.) And then when I readjust the step control (from 20 to 1) that the slider knob moves to where it actually is set?

As you know, once you log out of the cam interface, that damned step control defaults back to 20 every time, it doesn't hold the resolution that you left it at when you log out. The problem is, I know of no other way to observe the setting value (e.g. 1408) without going back to the zoom tool and hovering over the slider knob, and by that time, the step control is back to 20 and thus hovering over the slider knob displays 1400, not 1408 which is what it displays when I set the step control down to 1.

Just thinking out loud.

 

[wittaj]

Yep, you are exactly correct. If you set it to 1408 it will leave it there and will still be 1408 even if the step is at 5 and it says 1410 or a step of 20 and it says 1400.

As you said, when you log back in, it defaults to 20 and rounds it to the nearest 20th, so 1400. But simply taking the step to 1 will then take it to the actual number. You just have to do that before you make any other adjustments.

As an alternative you can use this API to get the focus number as a percentage (just change the IP address to yours):

 

[Steve.L]

Okay, so I just did a test of sorts. I single-stepped it up to 1411, then logged out. When I logged back in and hovered, it showed 1420. So it seems to increment to the nearest whole number within the range of 20 steps.

 

[wittaj]

Okay, so I just did a test of sorts. I single-stepped it up to 1411, then logged out. When I logged back in and hovered, it showed 1420. So it seems to increment to the nearest whole number within the range of 20 steps.

Yep, that is what I said it does in Post #2 LOL

 

[Steve.L]

Yep, you are exactly correct. If you set it to 1408 it will leave it there and will still be 1408 even if the step is at 5 and it says 1410 or a step of 20 and it says 1400.

As you said, when you log back in, it defaults to 20 and rounds it to the nearest 20th, so 1400. But simply taking the step to 1 will then take it to the actual number. You just have to do that before you make any other adjustments.

As an alternative you can use this API to get the focus number as a percentage (just change the IP address to yours):

View attachment 116234

Ahhh! B-I-N-G-O. Okay, mystery solved!
Edit: Thanks for that API (that's new to me, I don't know what it is). I'll give that a whirl. As it turns out, that is the IP address I'm working with, I haven't changed it since I'm just playing with the location.

 

[wittaj]

We hope LOL. Try that API - you might need to add user and pw on it. They are not consistent on what they want LOL.

 

[Steve.L]

We hope LOL. Try that API - you might need to add user and pw on it. They are not consistent on what they want LOL.

Okay, thanks again. I don't know what an API is (see my Edit, above). I'll just type that in to my URL field and see what comes up.

 

[wittaj]

Yep LOL

If it needs user and pw it would be at the beginning

user : password @ IP address

but no spaces because if you run it together here you get userassword LOL

 

[Steve.L]

Ha! Okay, that detail will help. I'll try it out tomorrow, thanks again

 

[Steve.L]

Hahaha! I'm so dumb. All that fussing around with focus and I realized I still had the plastic film over the lens on the new camera
I'm impressed how well it worked through the plastic!
Anyway, I've been working on conduits for other cams and haven't gotten to this one, but hopefully in a couple days.

 

[Mike A.]

Not the first.

Don't think I've ever left it on the lens but I couldn't figure out why he IR was so weak on one. Yep...

 

[Cooltiger]

Image from Webb telescope