Mini Dome Wedge not switching to color mode when lights are on

[Philip Gonzales]

So I have a IPC-HDBW4231F-AS in my living room and the darn thing wants to stay in black and white mode most of the time. Even when I have the lights in the living room and hallway on it stays in black and white.

I currently have shutter speed set to a customized range of 0-17ms, gain 50, and 3D NR grade 30. I'm pretty sure I had the same thing happen on Auto Exposure. I can test this again to confirm.

Day & Night is set to Auto, High, 2s.

I run one profile 24X7, the day profile if that matters.

Here it is with the lights on in auto . I have 2 X 14w 5000K bulbs in the ceiling fan and also a 5000K bulb in the hallway. Heck even our little Christmas tree is on.



Here it is when I force it into color mode. Seems plenty bright to me.



Do you think the way the camera is hitting the wall is throwing off the exposure? I put it in the same place as my old camera as to try to cover up the mouting holes. I even moved it a tad bit away from the wall. Honestly I wish the camera would Pan/Tilt more.

Don't laugh too much as I don't have the wires run properly through the walls. It looks kind of ghetto but that's OK. When I get my own house I am going to have everything run properly. A lot of people in my neighborhood don't even have internet so I opted not to run the cables properly in the wall.




Here is a snapshot of when all the lights are off? You think my IR reflection or whatever is throwing off the exposure too much? Should I move the camera. I kind of don' want to since I put 4 good size holes in the wall already in this spot since I used those plastic anchor things. Should I try covering one side of the lens cover with black tape?




The camera will actually go into color mode from around 2PM to 5PM with light coming in from the window.




Any input is greatly appreciated.

 

[bigredfish]

Not an expert but I would think the IR glare/reflection is creating a big problem for you with respect to your B&W no-lights nighttime image for sure.

 

[Philip Gonzales]

Not an expert but I would think the IR glare/reflection is creating a big problem for you with respect to your B&W no-lights nighttime image for sure.

Bummer I guess the best solution would be to mount it a little further from the wall. Boo this means more holes in the wall. My landlord (my great uncle) is going to hate me when I move out lol.

 

[bigredfish]

What about rigging up something that allows you to mount it in the actual corner. A board with small brackets on either side attached to both walls..?

 

[Philip Gonzales]

What about rigging up something that allows you to mount it in the actual corner. A board with small brackets on either side attached to both walls..?

Awesome Idea but I'm not that handy.

 

[Philip Gonzales]

Thinking about this do you think mounting it in the corner will fix the issue with my view? It would be closer to the wall in question but I guess it would be further out also?

 

[BillG]

I know it seems counter intuitive, but try setting sensitivity to low.

 

[Philip Gonzales]

Thinking about this do you think mounting it in the corner will fix the issue with my view? It would be closer to the wall in question but I guess it would be further out also?

Thinking about it I guess it would be at a different angle so this sounds like the best solution. I just have to figure out how to do it.

 

[Philip Gonzales]

I know it seems counter intuitive, but try setting sensitivity to low.

I think I tried that already but I'll try it again tomorrow.

 

[bug99]

@Philip Gonzales

I think the biggest issue is the sensitivity setting. If you do not figure it out, i can play with mine this evening, but I think @BillG has it right by moving to "Low". I personally leave mine in color mode 24/7 with IR off. You have plenty of light to stay in Color mode 24/7, based on your image. The only issue i have is getting a good image of what is displayed on a laptop display, which saturates the image unless i place it in HDR mode, which darkens the scene too much.

You have more pan and tilt than you think. you can also rotate the lens (3 DOF), thus giving you all the pivot you need to reduce the pixels on the wall to the right. Note the wall on the right would mess up the focus if the camera were a vari-focal however, but it is fixed focus.

The wattage of the bulbs do not matter. it is the lumens and to a limited degree the color.

I would leave it for now. In the future, i prefer to place it on the ceiling about 12" from the corner with a 3.6mm lense.

 

[Philip Gonzales]

@Philip Gonzales

I think the biggest issue is the sensitivity setting. If you do not figure it out, i can play with mine this evening, but I think @BillG has it right by moving to "Low". I personally leave mine in color mode 24/7 with IR off. You have plenty of light to stay in Color mode 24/7, based on your image. The only issue i have is getting a good image of what is displayed on a laptop display, which saturates the image unless i place it in HDR mode, which darkens the scene too much.

You have more pan and tilt than you think. you can also rotate the lens (3 DOF), thus giving you all the pivot you need to reduce the pixels on the wall to the right. Note the wall on the right would mess up the focus if the camera were a vari-focal however, but it is fixed focus.

The wattage of the bulbs do not matter. it is the lumens and to a limited degree the color.

I would leave it for now. In the future, i prefer to place it on the ceiling about 12" from the corner with a 3.6mm lense.

Hi @bug99 ,

Thanks for your feedback.

I set sensitivity to low, and it still stays in Black & White when I turn on the light. I don't have enough light to stay in color mode 24/7 because the lights are normally off at night when we sleep. I have to double check but I am pretty sure this results in a very dark image in colormode with the lights off.

So you are saying I should be able to pivot the lens even more than it is pivoted now? I will go give it a try now and post a pic of the angle of the lens and you can tell me if you think it can go more?

Each bulb is 650 lumens 5000K bulbs. I will look at replacing the bulbs soon since 2 out of the 4 have gone out. They are the E12 socket type so I'll look and see what I can find with more lumens.

I prefer a wider FoV for this camera as it's main purpose is to get a general overview. To see what the dog is doing on the couch, what my son is doing on the couch as well as to get a general idea who comes and goes (I have my outdoor camera's setup more for ID purposes). I think a 3.6 may cut down too much of the image but hard to say as I am getting a good 25% of the wall right now.

 

[Philip Gonzales]

@bug99

I did not attempt to readjust the angle yet but this is how it looks now.




It seems go be angled as much as it can. To be honest I tried loosening and tightening the Philip's head set screw and i could not tell what that does.

 

[bug99]

@Philip Gonzales ,

I did some testing since it was overcast today. It turns out that "High" on the sensitivity setting is the best setting. the sensitivity for this camera B&W is way to in-sensitive", unless there is a firmware update to change it. On mine, the camera goes to color from B&W at around 9 lumens on high but not till about 30 lumens on low. There is a lot of hysteresis in the sensors, so going the other way needs about a 3:1 drop in light level. I think "High" sensitivity should cut to B&W at around 1 to 2 Lumens, but it doesn't.

A while ago i decided that this camera had good enough low light performance that if the image was worthless in the lighting condition, that anyone around would turn on a light to see (either ceiling light or flashlight), and color mode would again be the best option with no switching delay. I think this is the enormous improvement that is now a reality with the present batch of Sony Starvis sensors, particularly in the low cost Dahua Starlight lineup. I would rather leave a dim light on all night than go to B&W mode, or just assume that anyone else will simply turn one on if they are there. The added benefit is that the camera is nearly invisible at night without the IR glow.

I find that most people error (my opinion) in getting cameras that are too wide angle inside. The 3.6mm in this camera is an 87 deg FOV. A corner is 90 deg. If you tilt it down from a 9 ft ceiling, a 87 deg beam angle is actually a little too wide still, thus throwing away many useful pixels, hence moving it out from the corner 1 foot or so. Just like the side mirrors on your car, you should not see the walls (or the sides of your car) in the image ever. A person is no closer than 16 inches from the wall. Use the pixels on the subject (resolution, ppf)

 

[bug99]

@bug99

I did not attempt to readjust the angle yet but this is how it looks now.

It seems go be angled as much as it can. To be honest I tried loosening and tightening the Philip's head set screw and i could not tell what that does.

I think It allows you to pivot the "C" plastic from the vertical position, then pivot the ball, then rotate the lens. It takes a while to get the hang of it. You don't need to take the screw out.

It might be easier to take it off the wall to play with it.

 

[Philip Gonzales]

I think It allows you to pivot the "C" plastic from the vertical position, then pivot the ball, then rotate the lens. It takes a while to get the hang of it. You don't need to take the screw out.

It might be easier to take it off the wall to play with it.

You sir are a genius! Or maybe I am an idiot. Probably both! Got it adjusted now. Looks more pleasing to me as it looks more even between both walls.

Still didn't fix my camera staying in B&W mode.

What do you think?

 

[BillG]

Also, if you're worried about holes in the wall, I'm sure just two screws (upper right,lower left) would be enough to secure that cam.