Night Details

[Chapin]

I'm new to setting up my cams. I've seen quite a few videos here from other users that have great detail at night. I have not been able to get my videos to look good. My settings are mostly default. I did read about turning 3D NR down, but not off. I tried this, but no noticeable improvement.

At any rate, what setting might improve the quality of my videos? The static parts of the scene are acceptable, but a subject moving through looks over exposed and blurry. Cant see good details on moving faces.

3D NR: 50

3D NR: 15

 

[bigredfish]

Honestly that isnt to bad at all imho.

What camera? Settings?

Generally speaking I'd add more light. Either IR or white light

 

[redfive]

Thought the same thing, not bad at all .... Ther is another camera, with the IR on (upper right side) ?
Cheers,

 

[handinpalm]

It looks like your cam is staring directly at an uncovered light, on the upper right corner of frame. This could affect the overall dynamic range of your cam. Either move the light, tilt the camera down, or cover the direct light with a shade.

 

[adamg]

They both look good to me, nothing substantial between them. If you want better facial recognition detail you'll need to zoom in and hope the 'perp' stands in the right place looking directly at your camera with minimal movement.

Looks like you have a decent amount of light there, have you tried forcing the cams to stay in Color mode? It might look better.

 

[Chapin]

Thought the same thing, not bad at all .... Ther is another camera, with the IR on (upper right side) ?
Cheers,

It looks like your cam is staring directly at an uncovered light, on the upper right corner of frame. This could affect the overall dynamic range of your cam. Either move the light, tilt the camera down, or cover the direct light with a shade.

Correct, that that "Light" on the upper right is another camera, the reverse angle, covering the building openings and the rest of the side of the building.

All of my cams have similar detail on motion at night. Look great static, but facial details are not clear when moving around.

They both look good to me, nothing substantial between them. If you want better facial recognition detail you'll need to zoom in and hope the 'perp' stands in the right place looking directly at your camera with minimal movement.

Looks like you have a decent amount of light there, have you tried forcing the cams to stay in Color mode? It might look better.

All of that light is IR.

 

[looney2ns]

Correct, that that "Light" on the upper right is another camera, the reverse angle, covering the building openings and the rest of the side of the building.

All of my cams have similar detail on motion at night. Look great static, but facial details are not clear when moving around.



All of that light is IR.

One thing is to move that cam view a little to the left, so that the bright IR on the wall to the right is not in the picture. It will affect your exposure. As far as the noise reduction, reduce down as far as you can stand it. An additional 4 watt IR light can do wonders.

 

[Chapin]

One thing is to move that cam view a little to the left, so that the bright IR on the wall to the right is not in the picture. It will affect your exposure. As far as the noise reduction, reduce down as far as you can stand it. An additional 4 watt IR light can do wonders.

Thanks, will try this. My NR setting is 15.

 

[mat200]

Hi @Chapin

hmmm .... Looks like your deck is covering up a section of some hiking path....

What camera model is setup?

If you want a good ID image, this is what I would do

1) Get another 2MP Dahua OEM starlight model ( i like more cameras, and I do like to have a complete record of what an intruder maybe doing, as well as good ID image chances - thus I always opt to add one more camera if possible )
2) Find a good spot where you can mount it about face level where a suspect will most certainly be looking directly at the camera and close to the camera, perhaps 6-8 feet away. Looks like you have some good light at the corner of your house, where the intruders turn to walk under the deck. That is the first place I would try to get a good camera placement. You can surprise anyone with basically a camera in their face as they turn that corner walking out of the light into the darker section under your deck.
3) Add enough ambient light so that this camera can remain in full color model ( you may already have enough ambient light at the corner - shown at the start of the video clips )

If you notice, the suspect with the baseball cap would be a hard one to ID with the current placement, as once they get near enough where you have a good chance at a clearer picture the angle from the camera to suspect is not ideal.

 

[Chapin]

One thing is to move that cam view a little to the left, so that the bright IR on the wall to the right is not in the picture. It will affect your exposure. As far as the noise reduction, reduce down as far as you can stand it. An additional 4 watt IR light can do wonders.

Is there an IR illuminator that can be powered with POE over a catx cable?

 

[Chapin]

Hi @Chapin

hmmm .... Looks like your deck is covering up a section of some hiking path....

What camera model is setup?

If you want a good ID image, this is what I would do

1) Get another 2MP Dahua OEM starlight model ( i like more cameras, and I do like to have a complete record of what an intruder maybe doing, as well as good ID image chances - thus I always opt to add one more camera if possible )
2) Find a good spot where you can mount it about face level where a suspect will most certainly be looking directly at the camera and close to the camera, perhaps 6-8 feet away. Looks like you have some good light at the corner of your house, where the intruders turn to walk under the deck. That is the first place I would try to get a good camera placement. You can surprise anyone with basically a camera in their face as they turn that corner walking out of the light into the darker section under your deck.
3) Add enough ambient light so that this camera can remain in full color model ( you may already have enough ambient light at the corner - shown at the start of the video clips )

If you notice, the suspect with the baseball cap would be a hard one to ID with the current placement, as once they get near enough where you have a good chance at a clearer picture the angle from the camera to suspect is not ideal.

View attachment 37100

Not a hiking path, just my unkempt yard.

My cameras are 8 x IPC-HDW5231R-ZE and 1 x IPC-HDW5831R-ZE. This one is a IPC-HDW5231R-ZE.

The light at the corner of the house is another IPC-HDW5231R-ZE. It is too high, I will try it lower. I have a driveway cam that I am going to lower as well.

I don't have, need, or want always on ambient light in these locations.

 

[mat200]

Not a hiking path, just my unkempt yard.

My cameras are 8 x IPC-HDW5231R-ZE and 1 x IPC-HDW5831R-ZE. This one is a IPC-HDW5231R-ZE.

The light at the corner of the house is another IPC-HDW5231R-ZE. It is too high, I will try it lower. I have a driveway cam that I am going to lower as well.

I don't have, need, or want always on ambient light in these locations.

Hi Chapin

Find a choke point where you can have always on ambient light so that you can keep at least one camera in color mode at a good placement for getting a chance at a good facial ID image capture.

 

[looney2ns]

Is there an IR illuminator that can be powered with POE over a catx cable?

Yes, any low wattage IR light such as this: https://www.amazon.com/CMVision-WideAngle-100feet-ourdoor-Illuminator/dp/B01MTXSJP9/ref=sr_1_20?srs=3022668011&ie=UTF8&qid=1546879373&sr=8-20
And use this: https://www.amazon.com/WT-GAF-12v12w-802-3af-Splitter-Ethernet-Switches/dp/B017J8WJ5E/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1546879425&sr=8-6&keywords=poe+splitter+12v

 

[Dxue]

Not a hiking path, just my unkempt yard.

My cameras are 8 x IPC-HDW5231R-ZE and 1 x IPC-HDW5831R-ZE. This one is a IPC-HDW5231R-ZE.

The light at the corner of the house is another IPC-HDW5231R-ZE. It is too high, I will try it lower. I have a driveway cam that I am going to lower as well.

I don't have, need, or want always on ambient light in these locations.

you can place a light with a sensor in it so that everyone that is like 5 or more meters away will turn on the light, give the camera a bit of time to adjust to the light and still capture the face if you have it in the position mentioned earlier by mat200. you can also use a motion sensor seperate from the light and put the light above the cam so you have 100% chance to capture the person's face.