This is an image from my first camera, IPC-T5442T-ZE. Currently running factory settings. The object's face is about 10 feet from the camera. Is there a guide or recommendations on how to adjust the settings for a better image?
How to get better shots?
- Thread starter agarb
- Start date
saltwater
Getting comfortable
Are you sure that's not a Reolink camera 
There are many settings but in the first instance I would set a faster shutter speed. What we are seeing is motion blur, the only way to fix that is with a faster shutter speed. The faster the shutter speed then more light is required which means altering other settings to suit; it's a balancing act. Try a shutter speed of 1/500+.
There are many settings but in the first instance I would set a faster shutter speed. What we are seeing is motion blur, the only way to fix that is with a faster shutter speed. The faster the shutter speed then more light is required which means altering other settings to suit; it's a balancing act. Try a shutter speed of 1/500+.
In terms of getting the most out of the camera, here is my "standard" post that many use as a start for dialing in day and night that helps get the clean captures. You need to get off of default. These are done within the camera GUI thru a web browser.
Start with:
H264
8192 bitrate
CBR
15FPS
15 iframes
Every field of view is different, but I have found you need contrast to usually be 6-8 higher than the brightness number at night.
We want the ability to freeze frame capture a clean image from the video at night, and that is only done with a shutter of 1/60 or faster. At night, default/auto may be on 1/12s shutter or worse to make the image bright.
In my opinion, shutter (exposure) and gain are the two most important parameters and then base the others off of it. Shutter is more important than FPS. It is the shutter speed that prevents motion blur, not FPS. 15 FPS is more than enough for surveillance cameras as we are not producing Hollywood movies. Match iframes to FPS. 15FPS is all that is usually needed.
Many people do not realize there is manual shutter that lets you adjust shutter and gain and a shutter priority that only lets you adjust shutter speed but not gain. The higher the gain, the bigger the noise and see-through ghosting start to appear because the noise is amplified. Most people select shutter priority and run a faster shutter than they should because it is likely being done at 100 gain, so it is actually defeating their purpose of a faster shutter.
Go into shutter settings and change to manual shutter and start with custom shutter as ms and change to 0-8.3ms and gain 0-50 (night) and 0-4ms exposure and 0-30 gain (day)for starters. Auto could have a shutter speed of 100ms or more with a gain at 100 and shutter priority could result in gain up at 100 which will contribute to significant ghosting and that blinding white you will get from the infrared or white light.
Now what you will notice immediately at night is that your image gets A LOT darker. That faster the shutter, the more light that is needed. But it is a balance. The nice bright night static image results in Casper blur and ghost during motion LOL. What do we want, a nice static image or a clean image when there is motion introduced to the scene?
In the daytime, if it is still too bright, then drop the 4ms down to 3ms then 2ms, etc. You have to play with it for your field of view.
Then at night, if it is too dark, then start adding ms to the time. Go to 10ms, 12ms, etc. until you find what you feel is acceptable as an image. Then have someone walk around and see if you can get a clean shot. Try not to go above 16.67ms (but certainly not above 30ms) as that tends to be the point where blur starts to occur. Conversely, if it is still bright, then drop down in time to get a faster shutter.
You can also adjust brightness and contrast to improve the image.
You can also add some gain to brighten the image - but the higher the gain, the more ghosting you get. Some cameras can go to 70 or so before it is an issue and some can't go over 50.
But adjusting those two settings will have the biggest impact. The next one is noise reduction. Want to keep that as low as possible. Depending on the amount of light you have, you might be able to get down to 40 or so at night (again camera dependent) and 20-30 during the day, but take it as low as you can before it gets too noisy. Again this one is a balance as well. Too smooth and no noise can result in soft images and contribute to blur.
Do not use backlight features until you have exhausted every other parameter setting. And if you do have to use backlight, take it down as low as possible.
After every setting adjustment, have someone walk around outside and see if you can freeze-frame to get a clean image. If not, keep changing until you do. Clean motion pictures are what we are after, not a clean static image.
Start with:
H264
8192 bitrate
CBR
15FPS
15 iframes
Every field of view is different, but I have found you need contrast to usually be 6-8 higher than the brightness number at night.
We want the ability to freeze frame capture a clean image from the video at night, and that is only done with a shutter of 1/60 or faster. At night, default/auto may be on 1/12s shutter or worse to make the image bright.
In my opinion, shutter (exposure) and gain are the two most important parameters and then base the others off of it. Shutter is more important than FPS. It is the shutter speed that prevents motion blur, not FPS. 15 FPS is more than enough for surveillance cameras as we are not producing Hollywood movies. Match iframes to FPS. 15FPS is all that is usually needed.
Many people do not realize there is manual shutter that lets you adjust shutter and gain and a shutter priority that only lets you adjust shutter speed but not gain. The higher the gain, the bigger the noise and see-through ghosting start to appear because the noise is amplified. Most people select shutter priority and run a faster shutter than they should because it is likely being done at 100 gain, so it is actually defeating their purpose of a faster shutter.
Go into shutter settings and change to manual shutter and start with custom shutter as ms and change to 0-8.3ms and gain 0-50 (night) and 0-4ms exposure and 0-30 gain (day)for starters. Auto could have a shutter speed of 100ms or more with a gain at 100 and shutter priority could result in gain up at 100 which will contribute to significant ghosting and that blinding white you will get from the infrared or white light.
Now what you will notice immediately at night is that your image gets A LOT darker. That faster the shutter, the more light that is needed. But it is a balance. The nice bright night static image results in Casper blur and ghost during motion LOL. What do we want, a nice static image or a clean image when there is motion introduced to the scene?
In the daytime, if it is still too bright, then drop the 4ms down to 3ms then 2ms, etc. You have to play with it for your field of view.
Then at night, if it is too dark, then start adding ms to the time. Go to 10ms, 12ms, etc. until you find what you feel is acceptable as an image. Then have someone walk around and see if you can get a clean shot. Try not to go above 16.67ms (but certainly not above 30ms) as that tends to be the point where blur starts to occur. Conversely, if it is still bright, then drop down in time to get a faster shutter.
You can also adjust brightness and contrast to improve the image.
You can also add some gain to brighten the image - but the higher the gain, the more ghosting you get. Some cameras can go to 70 or so before it is an issue and some can't go over 50.
But adjusting those two settings will have the biggest impact. The next one is noise reduction. Want to keep that as low as possible. Depending on the amount of light you have, you might be able to get down to 40 or so at night (again camera dependent) and 20-30 during the day, but take it as low as you can before it gets too noisy. Again this one is a balance as well. Too smooth and no noise can result in soft images and contribute to blur.
Do not use backlight features until you have exhausted every other parameter setting. And if you do have to use backlight, take it down as low as possible.
After every setting adjustment, have someone walk around outside and see if you can freeze-frame to get a clean image. If not, keep changing until you do. Clean motion pictures are what we are after, not a clean static image.
On the video tab, it was already set for CBR. I've increased this from 1024 to 6144 Kb/s.
AFter changing exposure mode from Auto to Manual, I set shutter speed to 1/500+ and I get attached where it looks like there are no legs.
I noticed camera firmware is V2.820.15OG004.0.R, Build Date: 2021-07-29. Should it be updated?
On the other side of driveway on power pole is LED dusk-to-dawn lamp that I would have thought would provide sufficient illumination.
AFter changing exposure mode from Auto to Manual, I set shutter speed to 1/500+ and I get attached where it looks like there are no legs.
I noticed camera firmware is V2.820.15OG004.0.R, Build Date: 2021-07-29. Should it be updated?
On the other side of driveway on power pole is LED dusk-to-dawn lamp that I would have thought would provide sufficient illumination.
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fenderman
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Post a screenshot of the tab
Yeah 1024 bitrate is way too small for a 4MP.
You probably don't have enough light for 1/500 and if you did shutter priority, the camera probably cranked the gain up to 100 which is why you are losing your legs LOL.
You would be surprised how much light is needed for these sensors. Plus that streetlight is on the back side of the object, so then it is a backlit condition that would render the face too dark if it wasn't in infrared.
Unfortunately many of us have seen that the day/night option in the camera does not work as you think it does. It will simply switch from color to B/W based on available light but uses one profile.
Your options are:
ipcamtalk.com
Your options are:
- Run it 24/7 in B/W on one profile.
- Set up the Schedule in Profile Management and set the time for the day profile and time for the night profile (many users do this) but it means going in a couple times a year to adjust based on sunrise/sunset.
- Setup up the schedule in Profile Management where say it uses DAY profile from 9am to 5pm and NIGHT for all other times. This means at times when it could capture color it will be in B/W, but it will allow you to not have to change the schedule a couple times a year (many users do this).
- If you are not using an NVR and have a computer running 24/7, you can use a utility like this that was developed just for this issue to change profile based on sunrise/sunset (most of us do this): GitHub - bp2008/DahuaSunriseSunset: A Windows Service which changes the profile of dahua cameras between Night and Day at each sunset and sunrise.
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...
Flintstone61
Known around here
Do not fuck with the firmware. ( just yet) thats not the problem. it's normal settings that need to be customized for the unique environment/placement of the camera.
My Standard Post for firmware updaters.
My Standard Post for firmware updaters.
Flintstone61
Known around here
Flintstone61
Known around here
Every form of refuge has it price, as the song goes....
Most cams can't be asked to do 2 jobs well,
This one isnt set up for faces.
This camera is 80 ft, ( about 4 pontoon boats by redneck enginuity) from the intersection.
Some subjects are harder to get faces from. ( case in point below)
also time of day, cloudy, low light etc.
I really just want it to capture plates.
My LPR cam for this location needs work.
So this is my compromise.
Most cams can't be asked to do 2 jobs well,
This one isnt set up for faces.
This camera is 80 ft, ( about 4 pontoon boats by redneck enginuity) from the intersection.
Some subjects are harder to get faces from. ( case in point below)
also time of day, cloudy, low light etc.
I really just want it to capture plates.
My LPR cam for this location needs work.
So this is my compromise.
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Flintstone61
Known around here
Some cams need to be put on the " schedule" to get the IR and color /B&w settings to be customized for day/night
I find some cam's do better on a schedule than day/night.
I find some cam's do better on a schedule than day/night.
Flintstone61
Known around here
when I run that cam on Day/night, you'll notice the greyed out selections for colr/b&w etc,,,
but in the 4th pic, i enabled the " schedule" and you see things ar e not greyed out, which gives you the tunability you'll need.
but in the 4th pic, i enabled the " schedule" and you see things ar e not greyed out, which gives you the tunability you'll need.