IPC-T5442T-ZE as an LPR help

[ahlan]

Still looks soft/out of focus. I just noticed you have some wood trim or something across the top. That could be jacking with the focus and maybe even IR bounce at night. Are those IR's on the bottom of the turret or the top?

Can you have someone stand out in the center of the image and you hit autofocus and see if that makes it a little more crisp.

Yeah It is a little soft but much better than before. And I dont have artifacting/ oversharpening like I was getting. The camera is set up under an eve and it is angled so that when zoomed in, its centered for LPR on vehicles. All I did in those overview shots was zoom it out but kept the camera angle the same, hence the wood trim being in frame. The IRs are on the bottom. I know the eve will cause issues, but my main concern was LPRs and the general quality of the picture, which seems to be much better now. Ill play with focus and see if it improves more

 

[bigredfish]

Turn WDR off

 

[ahlan]

Again, if you keep it on default settings, don't complain. That cam is a great cam but like anything, you need to work the settings. Saying you are not impressed with a cam on default settings is silly. Spend some time dialing it in.

I normally don't keep them on default. My LPR setup was far from default and I spent many hours trying to dial it in. My main concern was LPR duties but I started mentioning the general quality of the 5442 out of the box. It appears it comes oversharpened and has lots of artifacting which was my biggest complaint. i seem to have solved most of that now with very high bitrates and softer sharpness.

@looney2ns yes Montavue are Dahua rebrands. Im pretty happy with those cameras and their customer service was awesome. If I had to redo it I'd go directly to Andy but these were bought a couple of years ago.

 

[bigredfish]

And keep DNR under 35 daytime

 

[ahlan]

Turn WDR off

I dont use any backlighting. Except with the LPRs i was using HLC

 

[samplenhold]

Here are a few shot comparisons from the B5442E-Z4E and the B5241E-Z12E from today. Distances are equal.

 

[ahlan]

Here are a few shot comparisons from the B5442E-Z4E and the B5241E-Z12E from today. Distances are equal.

View attachment 84154View attachment 84155View attachment 84158View attachment 84156View attachment 84159View attachment 84157

Those are real nice. You have an excellent angle to grab those plates!

 

[samplenhold]

You have an excellent angle to grab those plates!

Yes, of course I have chosen the best angle for the 5442 overview shots. If the cars are not turning but rather going straight through left to right or right to left, then their plates are not captured very well by the 5442 at those distances and especially at night. But the 5241 Z12E has no problems with those captures.

Now I don't have the 5442 totally zoomed in. It is about 28mm.

 

[ahlan]

I appreciate everyone's help so far! You all have given me a lot of useful info here and very quickly. What I've gathered from this is that since im trying to get plates about 60-70ft out at less than ideal angles, my 12mm lenses are not giving me enough optical zoom and im having to digitally zoom in to get close enough which is destroying quality. I have the wrong cam for my location.

I am currently looking at two cameras: the IPC-HFW5241E-Z12E which has a 5-64mm lens (giving me 12x zoom) but is a bullet
and I just found a IPC-HDBW5242H-Z6E-MF --I cant find any reviews on this one yet. But it seems very promising being 2mp with a 1/1.8 sensor, 1080/60fps, 0.002@F1.6, 100m IR, and an 8mm-48mm lens. (I know i know. Domes are the devil. But maybe. just maybe. This is the goldilocks?)

 

[wittaj]

Maybe third time is a charm

Probably the closest yet in terms of focal length outside of the Z12E.

Biggest concern would be is the IR strong enough out of a dome camera for the fast shutter ran at night (we have learned not to go by the specs and even more so with the application use we are using it for). As long as you are ok trying a supplemental IR if needed, I guess give it a try and lets see if headlight glare gets in the way LOL.

It will be more critical for this cam that you have it low enough that the eve isn't in the way even when zoomed all the way out - you need as much IR from this bad boy hitting the plates as you can and even just a little bit of it being lost on the eve could make the difference. Don't ask me how I know LOL.

 

[ahlan]

Maybe third time is a charm

Probably the closest yet in terms of focal length outside of the Z12E.

Biggest concern would be is the IR strong enough out of a dome camera for the fast shutter ran at night (we have learned not to go by the specs and even more so with the application use we are using it for). As long as you are ok trying a supplemental IR if needed, I guess give it a try and lets see if headlight glare gets in the way LOL.

It will be more critical for this cam that you have it low enough that the eve isn't in the way even when zoomed all the way out - you need as much IR from this bad boy hitting the plates as you can and even just a little bit of it being lost on the eve could make the difference. Don't ask me how I know LOL.

Lol! I might be the first one to try the 5242 for LPR purposes. Hmm.. hope Andy can get me one fairly quickly since I dont see it on his aliexpress or amazon pages. Im very curious to see if its just what I need. And yeah unfortunately the eve and IR issues might still be a bust. But I do have an external IR i can install if needed.

 

[bigredfish]

The 5242 MF series does look interesting with a 1/18 sensor in a 2MP package.. Seems to add a number of attributes to face detection.

Odd that opposite most other series, the bullets have a F1.8 Fstop while some of the domes and maybe a turret have an F1.6....

 

[samplenhold]

That HDBW5242HP-Z6E-MF has three IR LEDs and supposedly gets out to 100m. With the 8-48mm lens you might be able to get the zoom you need. My LPR-E cam is set to 52mm and the LPR-W cam is set to 45mm.

Here is the spec sheet:

DH-IPC-HDBW5242HP-Z6E-MF_datasheet_20200529.pdf (dahuasecurity.com)

 

[ahlan]

@bigredfish Yeah im really curious how a 2mp 1/1.8 would do. Theoretically I should have very good low light performance with having a larger sensor and lower MP right? Also lower aperture numbers mean better low light images correct?

@samplenhold yeah thats what I was thinking. The lens should get me right where I need to be as far as zoom and FOV. I shouldn't need a full 64mm lens since i need to cover both lanes of traffic at that outlet. I know IR distances are usually exaggerated but for them to claim 100m on a dome is very ambitious. I really want to try it out!

 

[biggen]

Ugh a dome for night. Dust motes, Ir reflections issues, etc... Hopefully you don’t trade one problem for another.

 

[ahlan]

Ugh a dome for night. Dust motes, Ir reflections issues, etc... Hopefully you don’t trade one problem for another.

Lmao yeah I know man im stubborn!!! dont hate me