We have a theft problem on our street I had an older turret camera and caught the guys but could not see there faces, so I read up and up graded. The shot is down a drive way it about 70feet to the street and camera is up against the house. I have tried every possible configuration, and its either to dark, the picture gets grainy etc. I have tried high bitrate, low bitrate, high fps low fps, wdr on and off and the image is just not clear. The camera as I understand should be able to sow a face clearly at up to 150 feet. The problem is worse at night but during the day its still useless. There is a house lamp that is on all the time so I have found that leaving it on daylight at night works best, (yes insane, but at least I can tell the police the color or the car the crooks are driving if I can 't show their face. I downloaded the hikvision calculator as suggested was of no use. The camera I connected via cat6 wire and I am recording to the fastest 128GB card on the market, so no DVR, I thought I would spend my money on quality camera instead. Below are the current pictures and current setting, I have spend countless hours tweaking etc to no avail. Neighborhood is counting on me to get it working and I just can't get it right. Any help will be sooo appreciated.
Hikvision grainy image DS-2CD2T85G1-I5 8MP installation settings Please help going nuts!!!
- Thread starter mexicoman12
- Start date
fenderman
Staff member
- Mar 9, 2014
- 36,892
- 21,407
There is no camera on the general market that can do that without a much longer or zoom lens.
bigredfish
Known around here
Agree with @fenderman , whomever told you that you could get good facial ID at 150’ with what looks to be a 4mm lens, was quite optimistic 
You need a lot more zoom (optical zoom not digital zoom) to be able to get good faces at 150ft, even 70ft.
That said, you may see a little improvement with a bit higher bitrate say 8192 or 10,240. That 4096 isn’t enough for an 8MP camera. And then play with your nighttime exposure. 1/60 at least, maybe 1/120 to reduce motion blur, and you won’t likely be able to run color at night.
I’d find a way to mount the camera much closer to the spot you wish to capture faces.
You need a lot more zoom (optical zoom not digital zoom) to be able to get good faces at 150ft, even 70ft.That said, you may see a little improvement with a bit higher bitrate say 8192 or 10,240. That 4096 isn’t enough for an 8MP camera. And then play with your nighttime exposure. 1/60 at least, maybe 1/120 to reduce motion blur, and you won’t likely be able to run color at night.
I’d find a way to mount the camera much closer to the spot you wish to capture faces.
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As others have said, that camera isn't going to do it. Chasing megapixels is not the answer either. The distances they tell you for cameras are detect limits, not identify limits.
Looking up that camera, that is a 2.8mm lens. Look at this chart below - the person would need to be within 13 feet to recognize them. As I tell my neighbors with their 2.8 mm cams on their house saying they can recognize people at the street, I am like that is only possible if you already know the person and be able to recognize them based on their walk, clothing, body type, etc., but put a total stranger in the frame and the picture will be fairly useless. I recognize most of the people I see on my 2.8mm overview cam, but a total stranger goes by and not much you could tell the police, maybe clothing color, but nothing to identify them.
You can detect someone at 144 feet and beyond and maybe be able to "recognize" them if you know them and can tell their body dimension, walk, etc., but will never be able to identify a stranger or have a good enough image to share with the police.
You would need at least a 60mm lens to recognize a face at 150 feet, so probably around 32mm for 70 feet. In cameras, a 2.8mm versus a 32mm results in a dramatic improvement over a distance.
It looks like the camera you purchased is $300ish on Amazon. Return it if you can and purchase the IPC-HFW5241E-Z12E from @EMPIRETECANDY at his Amazon store for $40ish less than that camera and you will be able to identify people at 70 feet with ease, or any other Hik or Dahua varifocal with at least a 32mm upper limit range.
Looking up that camera, that is a 2.8mm lens. Look at this chart below - the person would need to be within 13 feet to recognize them. As I tell my neighbors with their 2.8 mm cams on their house saying they can recognize people at the street, I am like that is only possible if you already know the person and be able to recognize them based on their walk, clothing, body type, etc., but put a total stranger in the frame and the picture will be fairly useless. I recognize most of the people I see on my 2.8mm overview cam, but a total stranger goes by and not much you could tell the police, maybe clothing color, but nothing to identify them.
You can detect someone at 144 feet and beyond and maybe be able to "recognize" them if you know them and can tell their body dimension, walk, etc., but will never be able to identify a stranger or have a good enough image to share with the police.
You would need at least a 60mm lens to recognize a face at 150 feet, so probably around 32mm for 70 feet. In cameras, a 2.8mm versus a 32mm results in a dramatic improvement over a distance.
It looks like the camera you purchased is $300ish on Amazon. Return it if you can and purchase the IPC-HFW5241E-Z12E from @EMPIRETECANDY at his Amazon store for $40ish less than that camera and you will be able to identify people at 70 feet with ease, or any other Hik or Dahua varifocal with at least a 32mm upper limit range.
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Than you for the advice the camera is 4mm don't know if that makes much difference.
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As you see from the chart I referenced (and most people's personal experiences here), whether it was a 2.8mm or a 4mm - it isn't going to identify someone at 70 feet. You need at least 32mm.
You need a camera with enough optical zoom (not digital) that would ideally have a field of view of this in order to identify people:
You might be able to get away with this field of view optically zoomed, but not much more:
If you can see in the camera view much more than what you see in these two cropped images, you do not have enough optical zoom to get what you are trying to capture. If you are seeing the side of your house and the side of the neighbors house in the camera view, the field of view is still too wide.
As far as the lamp post, consider putting a piece of foil, mirror, cardboard on this side of the glass so that you do not get that glare spot at night.
You need a camera with enough optical zoom (not digital) that would ideally have a field of view of this in order to identify people:
You might be able to get away with this field of view optically zoomed, but not much more:
If you can see in the camera view much more than what you see in these two cropped images, you do not have enough optical zoom to get what you are trying to capture. If you are seeing the side of your house and the side of the neighbors house in the camera view, the field of view is still too wide.
As far as the lamp post, consider putting a piece of foil, mirror, cardboard on this side of the glass so that you do not get that glare spot at night.
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looney2ns
IPCT Contributor
This is the trap many fall into, trying to do too much with one camera.
Ideally, you need another camera at the front of the house to capture that area.
But as suggested, this camera would work in the current location.
ipcamtalk.com
Study these: Cliff Notes
If the neighborhood is depending on you, I hope you are taking donations to help defray the cost.
Ideally, you need another camera at the front of the house to capture that area.
But as suggested, this camera would work in the current location.
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Study these: Cliff Notes
If the neighborhood is depending on you, I hope you are taking donations to help defray the cost.
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