I Ordered an Axis Communications Axis Q1808-LE Camera

thestubbornrock said:
Cool. I'm kind of a pixel snob. I hate it when the sky gets blocky and pixelated because it thinks it's all the same color with no movement (when there is high compression). I understand that reducing compression makes the file sizes HUGE, but I have terabytes and terabytes of storage and am looking for really good video quality. It's really the only reason I'm willing to look at a $1200 camera.
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I don't think that should be an issue but then again the sky is not in my cameras FOV. Just remember, these cameras are surveillance cameras, not broadcast cameras. Axis does have a line of broadcast cameras if you're interested in them.

I've gotten the bitrate on my cameras to exceed 40 to 50 Mb/s by turning off zipstream and compression so I don't think you should have an issue.
 
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Hello all,
I have found this discussion to be very informative and am wondering if I can ask for some suggestions on an Axis Q6054 that is having some major issues with lighting at night. Long story short, I have a camera about 2 stories tall overlooking a downtown area with some lights, but the camera is struggling to show a decent picture any time at night.
Here is a screenshot of the camera settings at this time. I did reach out to Axis, but they gave me a lighting tip sheet that doesn't really apply to the Q6054 of all things... so I'm really kind of stuck. Long story short, the street lights are too bright, but I can't seem to find the right combo to lower their effect, while still maintaining being able to see the rest of the downtown area it's focused on.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
 

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  • Current Q6054 Setting Nov 25 eve.PNG
    Current Q6054 Setting Nov 25 eve.PNG
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Its been some time since I messed with Axis cameras, but...

Are you running H.265? If so try H.264
What bitrate?

  • WDR at Night usually creates problems for me
  • That looks like a really bad low bitrate substream. Does the main stream look like that?
  • Allow Slow shutter? Why?
  • Saturation and Noise Reduction look wayyy high
  • Backlight compensation? Why?
 
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bigredfish said:
Its been some time since I messed with Axis cameras, but...

Are you running H.265? If so try H.264
What bitrate?

  • WDR at Night usually creates problems for me
  • That looks like a really bad low bitrate substream. Does the main stream look like that?
  • Allow Slow shutter? Why?
  • Saturation and Noise Reduction look wayyy high
  • Backlight compensation? Why?
Click to expand...

I don't believe it's H.265, but I'm not completely sure, as I'm just learning about these cameras and trying to make them look better in the evening in particular.... I included a pic of the stream tab and then the image tab with some adjustments made.
Thank you for looking at it Big Red Fish
 

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Part of the problem is that dome is filthy. You have dirt inside it is my guess. I just took down an Axis dome and replaced it with a Dahua PTZ, and my images were close to that from the old Axis dome. It had all kinds of bugs and debris inside it. The gaskets were cracked and allowed moisture/debris/bug intrusion.
 
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Yeah still bad. @biggen might be right, it could be a filthy dome.

That a 1MP camera? 1280x720, so I wouldnt expect too much. Still looks like a substream

Maybe an Axis guy can help, but I'd clean the dome first
 
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Only other thing that jumps out is that compression setting, take it down to like 25
 
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bigredfish said:
Yeah still bad. @biggen might be right, it could be a filthy dome.

That a 1MP camera? 1280x720, so I wouldnt expect too much. Still looks like a substream

Maybe an Axis guy can help, but I'd clean the dome first
Click to expand...
I've tried Axis support quite a bit and the limited documentation they sent me, mentions things to try on our end, but haven't had any luck on it. It's a 1.3MP cam.
How can I tell if it's using the substream vs main stream?
On the Stream tab, it shows that H.264 is enabled and all that, and I assume that's the stream I'm seeing while in the Axis Camera's Web Interface... but I do not know that for sure.

THank you


1732588274314.png
 
I don;t know where they keep things in the Axis GUI.. maybe that Stream Profiles button?

You could try and lower compression and Zipstream
 
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wiscbum said:
Hello all,
I have found this discussion to be very informative and am wondering if I can ask for some suggestions on an Axis Q6054 that is having some major issues with lighting at night. Long story short, I have a camera about 2 stories tall overlooking a downtown area with some lights, but the camera is struggling to show a decent picture any time at night.
Here is a screenshot of the camera settings at this time. I did reach out to Axis, but they gave me a lighting tip sheet that doesn't really apply to the Q6054 of all things... so I'm really kind of stuck. Long story short, the street lights are too bright, but I can't seem to find the right combo to lower their effect, while still maintaining being able to see the rest of the downtown area it's focused on.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Click to expand...
When did you purchase this camera? The Q6054 is really old and software updates ended in 2022 (For reference, Axis cameras usually get about 10 years of updates depending on the model). In addition to it being really old with an old image sensor/ processor, I don't even think this camera has IR. The image at night is not going to be good on this camera.

I would change frame rate to 15. Compression to 30, Zipstream to low, turn off Dynamic FPS, change bitrate control to Variable bitrate instead of maximum bitrate. It also looks like the dome is really dirty. Also, adjust the zoom and verify the camera is focused.

What Axis OS version is this camera running?
 
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bigredfish said:
I don;t know where they keep things in the Axis GUI.. maybe that Stream Profiles button?

You could try and lower compression and Zipstream
Click to expand...
Hello there,
By changing the compression rate and knocking it way down, that seemed to have helped the situation. The building lights (top right) and street lights (middle right and bottom left of this image) are NOT helping the situation... but I am told, the camera used to have a much better picture than it does now.

Thank you for your help!

1732588752384.png
 
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wiscbum said:
Hello there,
By changing the compression rate and knocking it way down, that seemed to have helped the situation. The building lights (top right) and street lights (middle right and bottom left of this image) are NOT helping the situation... but I am told, the camera used to have a much better picture than it does now.

Thank you for your help!

View attachment 208127
Click to expand...
One major detail I overlooked on my first post. The Axis Q6054 is an indoor PTZ. If this camera is mounted outside, it's not designed for outdoor installations and probably has water/moisture inside of the dome.

Here is a link to the spec sheet-
I can't speak for this older model but any recent Axis camera has naming convention where any camera that is outdoor rated has an "E" at end of the model number. E=Environmental.

So for example, A Q6135-LE PTZ has IR illumination (L= LED illumination) and is outdoor rated (E=environmental). Where your camera, Q6054 does not have an L or E at the end of it. So it does not have IR illumination and is NOT outdoor rated.

How exactly is this camera mounted?
 
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smiticans said:
One major detail I overlooked on my first post. The Axis Q6054 is an indoor PTZ. If this camera is mounted outside, it's not designed for outdoor installations and probably has water/moisture inside of the dome.

Here is a link to the spec sheet-
I can't speak for this older model but any recent Axis camera has naming convention where any camera that is outdoor rated has an "E" at end of the model number. E=Environmental.

So for example, A Q6135-LE PTZ has IR illumination (L= LED illumination) and is outdoor rated (E=environmental). Where your camera, Q6054 does not have an L or E at the end of it. So it does not have IR illumination and is NOT outdoor rated.

How exactly is this camera mounted?
Click to expand...

Hi there,

I had to go and double check to make sure ours is an outdoor one, and it is, it's a Q6054E which gives it an "outdoor ready" rating ...

1732595358528.png
 
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wiscbum said:
Hello there,
By changing the compression rate and knocking it way down, that seemed to have helped the situation. The building lights (top right) and street lights (middle right and bottom left of this image) are NOT helping the situation... but I am told, the camera used to have a much better picture than it does now.

Thank you for your help!

View attachment 208127
Click to expand...

definitely this camera (sensor and lenses) showed here own age..
if this is 1.3Mpx cams, this means this is 8-10 years old cam... or even more...

this also looks like problems with sharpness or dirty lenses/dome..

use this camera for less demanding environment.
rotate and show something without bright lights in picture - some area which more consistent brightness.

does this problems shows at different zoom levels? wide zoom and narrow zoom uses different characteristics of lenses...

Also show us how image looks at day?
 
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I think your main issue, as @biggen mentioned, is that the dome is dirty. e.g., The way the lights cause that diffused glare. The light sources aren't so much blurry or blocky, just hazy and the brightness from that glare also is making it so that you don't have good black otherwise so nothing looks sharp. 2MP is only going to look so good and the other suggestions will make what's there better, but it's nothing's going to cut through the haze other than cleaning it off. I'd guess that if you get angled sun on it during the day then you probably see a similar effect.
 
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