Light Streaks

OICU2

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n/p Ah yes... very cool.. where do you have that mounted.. how many feet above ground ?
It's in the eaves of the peak of my garage roof, if I had to guess, roughly 20-25'.
 

CCTVCam

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Sybertiger

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It can also be aperture. See here:


My 1st port of call would be cleaning the dome and examining for scratching.
Clean inside the dome too....could be residue from "evaporated" manufacturing materials.
 

wxjoe

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Does the camera have an option to adjust the iris? Could be an effect of the iris as seen about halfway down this page: Common issues with camera image
  • I tried all of the settings.... In order to minimize the stars, the image will have to be really dark. (last screen shot)
  • Pretty frustrated at this point. dome is clean.. I cleaned it with microfiber cloth.. "Outside Only...:


1582681989319.png

1582682000895.png
1582686009588.png




  • Limiting the "gain" from 95 - 50 seemed to minimize the stars. But made the image really dark (ack)
  • You really cant adjust the iris at this point as well.
  • I get the same effect for tail lights and headlights.
1582686409422.png



Anyone have good experience with PTZ domes? other vendors?
 

Sybertiger

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From the Common Issues thread ...

"If you notice that during night all light sources look like stars, it may be because you have your iris contracted (only when you have such option in you zoom camera). When the iris is fully opened, this effect should not be visible. The more you close the iris, the more you see star rays around light sources, like street lamps or headlights. "
 

wxjoe

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From the Common Issues thread ...

"If you notice that during night all light sources look like stars, it may be because you have your iris contracted (only when you have such option in you zoom camera). When the iris is fully opened, this effect should not be visible. The more you close the iris, the more you see star rays around light sources, like street lamps or headlights. "
this is the iris almost fully closed.
1582687743288.png
 

Sybertiger

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this is the iris almost fully closed.
View attachment 56119
Then you have to increase the gain to get more light but then it introduced more noise....seems like impossible balance to achieve....I empathize with you but for grins clean the inside just so we can eliminate it otherwise we are still guessing.

I live in a very dark community at night so my experience is limited but you can see an a similar problem created by my uplighting on a tree. The red arrows point to visible lighting while the blue shows the neighbors have IR flood lights for their security cameras.

South_Sideyard 2020-02-25 10.34.19.941 PM.jpg
 

wxjoe

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Then you have to increase the gain to get more light but then it introduced more noise....seems like impossible balance to achieve....I empathize with you but for grins clean the inside just so we can eliminate it otherwise we are still guessing.

I live in a very dark community at night so my experience is limited but you can see an a similar problem created by my uplighting on a tree. The red arrows point to visible lighting while the blue shows the neighbors have IR flood lights for their security cameras.

View attachment 56120
Thats not so bad... I could live with those effects... BTW what camera is that ?

i do see some scuff on the dome when you shine a flash light on it side ways... I'll return this one and swap it for another... just to rule out any camera issues.


Anyone have a good FOV chart?

Is Hikvision cameras the way to go or Dahua ? or amcrest ? Axis ?
 

Sybertiger

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In my signature on the bottom of my posts is a list of my equipment. That particular cam is the first one in the list. It's a Dahua IPC-HDW5231R-ZE Starlight cam that is using factory defaults and the IR is turned off. It's FOV is set to for wide view to see the open area. It's a varifocal cam so I can repurpose it to become focused on a small FOV with very high detail.

I need to tweak it but I was going to mount an IR flood light.

Use the IPVM calculator to help select your new cam. If model isn't in list ask them to add it. Usually they'll add it in a day or two.
 
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wxjoe

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I just noticed you are running Blue Iris... I know this has been talked about many times... but what is the one benefit that out weighs the nvr?
 

Sybertiger

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Domes in my opinion are best left for protected areas without direct sunlight. I have three only for very specific reasons.

One inside garage... Cheap $56 cam. Dedicated for visual that garage door is closed.

One next to doorbell, very small, protected, never sees sunlight. Dedicated to seeing facial shot when doorbell rung.

One on ceiling of front porch, small, protected from sun. Dedicated as "package cam" looking down to see packages, door hangers, flyers, etc. It's a dual cam so second cam dedicated for advanced warning someone on walkway coming towards front door.

All my other cams are turret style that are under soffit.
 
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Sybertiger

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Blue Iris provides a chit ton more capability and flexibility. Independent of getting locked into specific cam manufactures. For me the question was never if a NVR can record. They all seem to do an excellent job of recording but the question is how quickly can you locate the footage you are looking for. Triggers and alerts help find things but if you don't get a trigger and want to check out stuff that may have happened I felt my NVR experience frustrating.

I tried out a couple of consumer branded prepackaged systems from Sam's Club which were Lorex and LaView. NVRs left a lot to be desired. Blue Iris blows them away.

YMMV especially when using a higher end NVR. I didn't feel like I wanted to get locked into a brand or one I felt lacked updates and feature enhancements.

I'd love to see a thread of someone complaining that Blue Iris features suck compared to an NVR. The only caveat is that the BI system is less turn key meaning the feature set leaves you with more options that could mean more setup time.
 
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Purduephotog

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Those are caused by fine lines/scratches on the surface of the dome. It could be dirt or it could be permanent. You can wet it down with DI water and clean it, and see if it goes away. You'll also see the lines go away if the dome is wet. However if they're scratched into the surface of the dome, you're going to be stuck with them until you replace it.

You can (but I really, really, really don't recommend) polish the surface of the dome using a polishing compound. However you're going to need to get into the micron range and, honestly, most people aren't equipped to do so.

The last option (but again, I really REALLY don't recommend this one) is to use flame to polish the dome. Flame polishing is done on acrylic, and if the dome is acrylic it'll work. If it's lexan/polycarbonate it won't. There are also solvent based 'polishing' options but they're all involved. You have to remove any protective coatings, work it, and then put them back on.


Frankly if it's bothering you / unacceptable image degradation I'd just buy a new dome. Look on Aliexpress or reach out to Andy (@empirecandy) and see if he sells the replacements.
 

CCTVCam

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You can buy polish specifically or perspex - often used on phone screens. However, if the dome has any kind of anti-reflective light coating on it, you will polish it off. If your dome has micro-fine scratchings, then this is probably the cause as they'll act as diffusion gratings. Answer maybe to change the dome although if the camera is under warranty, simply buy the same camera in turret form. Much better outside, no uv issues with plastic domes and generally just better in multiple ways.
 

wxjoe

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Small glare star streaks are ok.. but the massive ones i see are a waste of money for any camera..

I just cant understand that Russian video.. that is the same camera i have with very very small star burst almost not noticeable. There is tons of lighting in both videos..

mine has to be faulty... Only thing i did not do is clean the inside of the dome and take the dome off at night to see if the streaks exist.
 

wxjoe

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Took the lens off and i did find circular swirls marks/scratches on the outside of the dome.
These are microscopic swirls as if you would see on a car after waxing it...
not noticeable, but when you hold the lens at the sky sideways, you do see them.
I did clean the inside of the dome and did not see much of any dirt , dust.

going to see what it looks like in couple of ours with darkness. i'm sure i will swap this out with a new one.
 
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