Just remember that thanks to the new VOLT FW that you CAN now set manual focus by profile on a 5241-Z12 as I mentioned HERE. Works really well especially at long focal length or challenging situations
New to LPR? Considerations Before You Begin
- Thread starter samplenhold
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Could you share your HFW5241E-Z12E settings? I realize every case will be slightly different, but a baseline may be helpful.
I am not home for a while and do not have that kind of access. But I started with what @wittaj posted and really did not need much fine tuning.
Thank you for sharing! What FW version are you using? I don't have the IR light setting, only Illuminator
The big key is to run daytime at 1/2000 shutter and then either force it to night settings B/W 45 minutes before sunset and 45 minutes after sunrise so that it has something to focus on, or use the utility posted on the forums that will set focus within the utility.
I ran mine 24/7 using the nighttime settings until I decided to give that utility a try, so now I run color in daytime with 1/2000 shutter
I ran mine 24/7 using the nighttime settings until I decided to give that utility a try, so now I run color in daytime with 1/2000 shutter
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That was very educational! I am a newbie. Just set up Blue Iris and 2 POE cameras mounted on the garage a few months ago. Of course I discovered that LPR was completely out of reach with the setup. Your post was very informative and it will save a ton of trial and error when I add LPR as a next step. Thanks so much for sharing!!!
How low would you go on night time shutter speed in dark situations?
Here is what I have setup right now because it's quite dark. I'm trying to capture plates on both sides of the road. It does really well on the side closest to the camera obviously, the far side it's still pretty good but little more mixed results.
Here is what I have setup right now because it's quite dark. I'm trying to capture plates on both sides of the road. It does really well on the side closest to the camera obviously, the far side it's still pretty good but little more mixed results.
Those look good - most run 1/2,000, but some have been able to run slower.
It is a trial and error. Speed of vehicle is a big component of it - the slower the cars, the slower the shutter you can get away with.
At this point, I think you just adjust it until you cannot read them.
Remember - you will not get every plate - there could be a temp tag, rusty plates, dirty, cover over them, etc.
It is a trial and error. Speed of vehicle is a big component of it - the slower the cars, the slower the shutter you can get away with.
At this point, I think you just adjust it until you cannot read them.
Remember - you will not get every plate - there could be a temp tag, rusty plates, dirty, cover over them, etc.
Those look good now. But most folks run 1/1000 or 1/2000 such that the only thing you see is plate and lights. You will find the slow shutter of 1/500 works ok now, but add a little more movement/speed or rain/fog into the mix and then you will see that you need faster shutter speed.
This sounds very interesting. Is this object detector a commercial product or something you wrote yourself?
I do have a bullet cam that is not hidden. It covers the intersection to give me make, model, color and other info on the vehicles that the LPR cams capture. So it is not zoomed into the street area but gives a wider overview. It is a B5442E-Z4E. It is set at about 26mm focal length and is about the same distance to the intersection as the LPR-E cam. I have seen people walking and looking directly into this cam, so some do notice it.
It does a decent job of picking up plates though. Especially if the car is at a near-zero angle. Of course, it is not optimized for night LPR as I want to get the other info on the cars.
Here you can see in rain at night it does not do a good job of capturing the plate.
