RavenDave
Getting the hang of it
Any thoughts are appreciated. See PICS below. Why is my IR on full at 6pm, when the Smart IR setting set the IR at a more moderate level at 5am same day. Nothing was adjusted in BI or in the camera settings.
IR issue on Lorex Camera
- Thread starter RavenDave
- Start date
The one in color has rain/wet objects and that helps reflect the light. That reflected light on the street from the wet pavement and driveway is seen by the camera as enough light to go color instead of B/W with infrared.
I suspect you are also on auto/default settings? If so, once you dial in the shutter and make it faster to eliminate motion blur, it will probably stay in B/W and IR. The faster the shutter, the more light that is needed.
I suspect you are also on auto/default settings? If so, once you dial in the shutter and make it faster to eliminate motion blur, it will probably stay in B/W and IR. The faster the shutter, the more light that is needed.
looney2ns
IPCT Contributor
There is lights across the street, at 5:39am, the street is wet and reflecting more of that into your camera.
Thus it switchs to color.
Thus it switchs to color.
RavenDave
Getting the hang of it
Thanks, I understand. I used a bad example for the AM pic. Due to the light across the street it is normally in color due to the street light. See this example. In color without the IR going crazy. Wet pavement isn't the cause, I don't think.
Then it gets back to what I asked - are you on default/auto settings for things like brightness/contrast/shutter, etc.? Based on the motion blur of those moving vehicles I would say yes.
Maybe the street light is adjusting its brightness as it gets darker?
We don't understand what you are getting at - do you want the camera in color or B/W?
The fact is you have a bright streetlight reflecting off the pavement and driveway is what is causing whatever issues you are having. Is it bouncing between color and B/W all night or as cars go past?
Make the shutter faster to help eliminate motion blur and that will probably force it into B/W with IR as a faster shutter needs more light.
Or if you are ok with that motion blur and want color, then force the camera in color at night.
Maybe the street light is adjusting its brightness as it gets darker?
We don't understand what you are getting at - do you want the camera in color or B/W?
The fact is you have a bright streetlight reflecting off the pavement and driveway is what is causing whatever issues you are having. Is it bouncing between color and B/W all night or as cars go past?
Make the shutter faster to help eliminate motion blur and that will probably force it into B/W with IR as a faster shutter needs more light.
Or if you are ok with that motion blur and want color, then force the camera in color at night.
RavenDave
Getting the hang of it
Yes, new to this. I am on the default settings. I can get to the camera settings. I see brightness and contrast, but not shutter specifically.
I am trying to get back to the Jan 19 and Feb 1st 5am exposure. The Feb 1st 6pm causes the IR lights to be visible from the street and I am trying to avoid that. I don't know what changed.
No preference for color, just trying to avoid the "IR spotlight".
Thanks for your input. I will try to find the shutter speed adjustment. And play with that.
It might be called exposure in that camera.
Now 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. These are done within the camera GUI thru a web browser.
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.
Now 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. These are done within the camera GUI thru a web browser.
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.