How to setup cam for garage lighting

[ruppmeister]

I am not sure how to deal with the lighting in my garage currently. In some cases it is darker (door shut) and in others, it is very bright (door is open to pull cars in/out). When the door is shut, most of the time I can see enough of a face, but when the door opens it lets in so much light that it makes people black silluetes and unrecognizable.

So the question is, how do I set this up so the camera doesn't have such a difficult time with the changes in lighting? Does anyone else have a cam in thier garage that they have working well?

Thanks in advance!

 

[bp2008]

Some cameras have varying amounts of WDR (wide dynamic range) and BLC (Backlight compensation) that you can enable and tweak. These may help.

 

[fenderman]

What camera are you using?

 

[ruppmeister]

I am currently using a crap HooToo 0.3 MP camera, but I will be putting the TOP-201 in place of it.

 

[The_Penguin]

I have a cheap really old 4xem camera in my garage, and it handles it reasonably well. As long as there's an auto-iris it should be able to handle changing light conditions.
My Hiks (3 on temporary mouse patrol) in the garage handle it very well.

 

[fenderman]

I have a cheap really old 4xem camera in my garage, and it handles it reasonably well. As long as there's an auto-iris it should be able to handle changing light conditions.
My Hiks (3 on temporary mouse patrol) in the garage handle it very well.

https://youtu.be/OqkEIU1F2bo

I'm waiting for a video of the car running over the mouse!

 

[fenderman]

I am currently using a crap HooToo 0.3 MP camera, but I will be putting the TOP-201 in place of it.

There is a post here about the wdr on the top201 camera
http://www.ipcamtalk.com/showthread.php/1812-Review-TOP-201-Super-Mini-720P-HD-IP-Cam-(The-Cheapest-IP-Cam-So-Far-!!)/page10
Every location is different and it might work in your garage..as bp2008 said, you need good wdr..
Here is an example of wdr..

 

[The_Penguin]

I'm waiting for a video of the car running over the mouse!

:laugh:

 

[ruppmeister]

Thanks for all the input. @The_Penguin, thank you for the video of the garage. It gave me the idea that I might have it pointed the wrong direction to get what I am looking for and will be trying new placement to get a better overall adjustment to the lighting as it changes. I will post back once I move the camera to let everyone know the results.

 

[MartyO]

If it suits you I like to use reflective tape in the garage cause my camera's are cheap and its a quick way to tell if door is closed.

 

[MartyO]

opps here is other shot

 

[ruppmeister]

Thanks for the nice idea @MartyO. I don't so much have a problem with knowing if doors are up or down as much as I can only see either in the garage or outside the garage, but not both at the same time. This makes it hard to identify a person when too much lighting comes in from outside because all that can be seen is a shadow of people at that point.

I will be changing the position of the camera this weekend hopefully to correct for this problem.

Here is what it currently looks like with mixed lighting. It never does get better than this either (no auto iris I guess).