IPC-HFW5231E-Z12 LPR from 137 feet

[Wildcat_1]

A few more night ones. I wanted to test by pushing the cam out to distant limits. This is around 152+'. At this focal length I definitely need to tweak the settings a little more. The tough thing to counter (at least in this installation) at this longer distance is I had to adjust angle which now means I get an element of IR wash back from the siding of the house which in these images may play a big part in whats making it look washed out. This is not an issue when I have this aimed at it's regular spot. I am going to adjust HLC (or disable completely) that I've been testing with and mess around with the IRIS/Gain a little more. For reference this is taken in almost complete darkness, very little ambient light, occasional IR light hitting certain spots from PTZ on tour mode.

Settings used currently:

1/2000
Gain = 10 to 50
Iris = 40
NR = 30
HLC = 65

Only picture setting used is a slight tweak to contrast at 56.

OpenALPR is able to process these and tag the plates which is a thumbs up

 

[bigredfish]

Be interesting to see if disabling HLC improves things....

I think you have a bit more angle than I do which makes it tougher, as well as speeds >25-30

 

[Wildcat_1]

Yes this is a less than ideal angle especially when playing with the 150' plus and the challenge of the speed, just thought why not try and push the cam and see what was possible and crazily OpenALPR can process these tags even late into the night, have some from 3am where it gets even darker. Will report back again and also play with the shutter speed some more. I will say that forcing the shutter speed to one speed (even when using manual and setting the ranges to the same number) works a lot better (for me anyway) than a range (say 1/1000 to 1/2000 in manual).

Be interesting to see if disabling HLC improves things....

I think you have a bit more angle than I do which makes it tougher, as well as speeds >25-30

 

[tech101]

Hi My daytime color looks odd I will post day time setting in a later post tommorow of what I have. Also my nightime capture does not seem to be the greatest can anyone guide me towards dialing in the right setting please. Thank You!

 

[pb11186]

Man, thisnis awsome! What computer specs do you have? Looking at doing this but want to make sure i get a good enough pc setup

Sent from my SM-A520W using Tapatalk

 

[bigredfish]

@tech101 looking pretty good, you're getting very close.
Could use a bit more zoom, how far is it to the vehicle?

Maybe increase contrast at night to 65+
For Iris setting at night I found anything over 40 created problems.
The color thing may simply be due to the capture point being in shade, I have a similar location
Try using the manual setting on IR to 100% instead of SmartIR

 

[tech101]

@tech101 looking pretty good, you're getting very close.
Could use a bit more zoom, how far is it to the vehicle?

Maybe increase contrast at night to 65+
For Iris setting at night I found anything over 40 created problems.
The color thing may simply be due to the capture point being in shade, I have a similar location
Try using the manual setting on IR to 100% instead of SmartIR

Awesome thank you so much BigRed Fish I have made the changes Iris is set to 40 this time also the Contrast is set to 65+ for night an Instead of Smart IR. I am using Manual now to 100 both on Far and Near light. Can I just get away with Far IR light or do I have to do both. Also I will be measuring the distance tonight and get back to you with exact distance. Once again thank you so much.

 

[tech101]

Man, thisnis awsome! What computer specs do you have? Looking at doing this but want to make sure i get a good enough pc setup

Sent from my SM-A520W using Tapatalk

I am using a old machine I had from almost 10 years ago.. I will replace it at some point rite now I am just trying to install all my cameras and will have budget later on to do a new PC at some point.. here are my specs.

 

[bigredfish]

I do think if you are able to zoom a bit more you’re very close.

The other suggestions are just from a camera I have in a similar situation. You may have to play with them a bit.

 

[tech101]

I do think if you are able to zoom a bit more you’re very close.

The other suggestions are just from a camera I have in a similar situation. You may have to play with them a bit.

Okay I am about 85 ish percent zoom I will try to set zoom even more thank you!!!

 

[pb11186]

I am using a old machine I had from almost 10 years ago.. I will replace it at some point rite now I am just trying to install all my cameras and will have budget later on to do a new PC at some point.. here are my specs.View attachment 41799

Awsome thanks for the info. What graphics card do you have? From what I read NVIDIA is recommended. I havent had the need for a PC in a long time so i need to go out and buy one, just want to make sure i buy something to easily handle everything. Id only want to run one carmera on open alpr.

Sent from my SM-A520W using Tapatalk

 

[tech101]

Hi Bigredfish. I did set zoom more for tonight here is the shot rite now. This is how the zoom and focus should set at night. Will see how it does tonight once again thank you !!!!

 

[bigredfish]

Ok didn’t realize you were already zoomed that far. You’re at the outer limits of the Z12 for zoom so cross fingers that it will keep focus.

 

[tech101]

Hi, THank you bigredfish I think the setting worked like a charm here are the results. . Do you think If I add a IR flood light would that help the camera further ? It is already pretty good though but the IR is on 100 % on the camera side.

 

[bigredfish]

Those look Great! Congrats!

I suppose you could try a long range IR spot, but you seem to have enough to do the job. At that your distance extra IR could'nt hurt. I'd be tempted to try the variable focus IR cannon if you can find one.. like this one

You'll notice some plates are better than others, most of yours are quite good! But you'll see some that no matter what you try you wont be able to read due to being old, dirty, mangled, and some with coatings on them to prevent them from reflecting light. Dont be tempted to try and mess with settings for those, you'll never get 100%.

 

[tech101]

Those look Great! Congrats!

I suppose you could try a long range IR spot, but you seem to have enough to do the job. At that your distance extra IR could'nt hurt. I'd be tempted to try the variable focus IR cannon if you can find one.. like this one

You'll notice some plates are better than others, most of yours are quite good! But you'll see some that no matter what you try you wont be able to read due to being old, dirty, mangled, and some with coatings on them to prevent them from reflecting light. Dont be tempted to try and mess with settings for those, you'll never get 100%.

Thank You So much ! for helping me dial in right settings. It seems to be working pretty good. Like you said it will never get to 100 % so I am not sure even if IR spot light is worth it. However I will keep it in mind if I want to try it will save the link. Thank you so much !!

I will be setting another camera just like this looking the other way for people who have only one plate. But thank you without people like you and this forum it would have not been possible.

 

[DLONG2]

Those look Great! Congrats!

I suppose you could try a long range IR spot, but you seem to have enough to do the job. At that your distance extra IR could'nt hurt. I'd be tempted to try the variable focus IR cannon if you can find one.. like this one

Wonder if the varifocal IR cannon is compatible with the Dahua IPC-HFW5231EZ5? I'll have to dig up the PDF on this camera.

 

[bigredfish]

It should be "compatible" with just about any camera...

 

[wittaj]

I have had cameras installed for about 10 years, but just now looking to make the jump to LPR capabilities. Thanks to @crc2004 and @bigredfish and others for providing such valuable information.

As others before, my current setup (analog) can get plates in daytime, but nighttime is a different story, so I am looking to supplement with a POE IP Camera, possibly the Z12 or maybe another Andy @EMPIRETECANDY version camera. I would use this as a dedicated LPR so I would be totally fine with 24/7 B&W if that helps the auto focus issue that folks seem to have.

My distance would be right on the 137 feet of this original post and I am in shock (and still kinda don't believe?) the nighttime picture quality that crc2004 has posted. I could possibly go less than 137 feet to about 95 feet but the angle would be maybe questionable at getting plates (although I can get them in daytime with a lot less camera), so I am hoping maybe the Z12 is that magical that I could do that if the manual focus really does what these pics have shown.

So a few questions to start, and probably more to come:

1. Why use 5 frames per second when the camera is capable of so much more - one of the few reasonable priced that can get 60fps? What was the speed of the vehicles - mine should be around 25mph but likely 35-40mph?
2. It appears that the sunrise/sunset utility that someone wrote is automatic in that you don't have to run it every day?
3. It appears that folks using the sunrise/sunset utility have different zooms for day and night - if you kept the same zoom, would the focus stay the same or does IR really mess it up that much?
4. How did you get the focus numbers to start with and dial in - does the Cam OSD give you a number at your current focus that you can use to as a starting point? Or from the screenshot of the utility, it looks like maybe a button was provided to give you the current focus?
5. Has anyone written a similar windows script to turn off autofocus?
6. I can put reflective tape on mailbox that would hopefully help even with the sunrise/sunset script?
7. I could add a camera to the mailbox (an analog is there already but is a lot smaller) and I could thus go with a cheaper camera that doesn't have as much zoom, but that camera would be much more noticeable and would prefer to have up at the roof level.
8. Does leaving it 24/7 in B&W mode take care of a lot of the issues people have had?
9. My ideal distance would be 200 feet, but it appears that the focus issue is worse over 80% zoom (or does the sunrise/sunset utility address that)?

Thanks in advance for those that provide responses to my questions!

 

[DLONG2]

It should be "compatible" with just about any camera...

The Z5 I have has a number of extra connectors to it, and I believe one of them is a power connector for something like the IR cannon.