Minimum/Maximum time for "Exposure Mode"

[slickwillie1981]

I've got several cheap Chinese IP cams with this web-interface (see pic). If I change the "Exposure Mode" to a desired shutter speed, that seems to work correctly. However, if I try to use the "Minimum" and "Maximum" auto mode, it doesn't seem to stay within the range I specify. Am I understanding this correctly that the values are expressed in milliseconds (1/1000ths of a second)? So for instance, if I wanted to keep the shutter speed between 1/250th and 1/1000th, then I'd specify "Minimum" = 1; Maximum = 4 and the camera would pick the value that yielded best exposed image within that range???

The reason I ask is because when I try doing that, I often end up with automatic SS's that I know are a lot slower than 1/250th of a second, even though the "Maximum" is set to 4ms...?

 

[pozzello]

are you sure that your a viewing 'channel 1' when you try to confirm the settings?
maybe your viewer (or NVR?) is actually showing you channel 2 (substream) and you are not seeing the change take effect on channel 1?

 

[slickwillie1981]

I'm adjusting in the camera's web interface and watching the update on the BI stream. The update occurs when I manually change exposure, or change it to auto (with the defined min/max) -- it's just not the correct min/max... or at least it doesn't seem to be. For instance, if I set it to auto with min=1; max=4 ... I'm still getting a stream on the refresh with a SS slower than 1/250th. I know this because my LP's aren't sharp... I'm expecting the SS to not be able to drop below 1/250th if I set the max=4 since 4ms=1/250th...

I'm going to experiment with it this weekend and see if perhaps the min/max isn't actually in ms or something. In theory I suppose I could set them equal and obtain an exact SS, then just try some different values. I'm not really expecting much from the camera. It was literally $36!

 

[Mike A.]

I recognize that same interface from some old off-brand cams that I've had. Don't remember specifically how/whether the exposure settings worked but in general don't be real surprised if things don't work the way that you'd expect (or work at all in some cases). I'm sure that it's a generic firmware/interface that's used on a variety of cams some of which don't all work the same way or necessarily have the same capabilities. Only thing that you can do is as you say play around with it to see what works (or not) and how. That's kind of what you get with $36 Chinese cams.