Please help - best setting at night on 5MP IP Cam DS-2CD2155FWD-I

[Nightwatcher]

Good evening from Germany,

I've been installing a HikVision video camera system privately on the property for a few weeks now.
As far as everything is set, runs well and stable. After being familiar with the functions and settings, I am now off the default settings and have tested something, but I am only partially satisfied.

My system consists of: 2 Dome DS-2CD2155FWD-I, 2 Bullet DS-2CD2055FWD-I on an NVR DS-7604NI-K1 / 4P

As I said, I'm still not completely satisfied with the picture quality and would like to ask for the settings an expert opinion, if there is still something to achieve quality, especially at night.

Day: Night:

My current settings at night:
Brightness: 92
Contrast: 60
Saturation: 50
Sharpness: 55
Exposure: 1/150 (for the night?)
Backlight: BLC + WDR - off (here I'm still trying on it?)
White balance: natural light
Dig. Noise reduction: 25 ??

Question: Can it really be that these cameras are not able to adjust automatically during day / night change, the exposure? See Appendix Iris Mode in Camera menu only "manual" ie. 1 / 150sec firmly during the day and at night?
Unfortunately, the pictures are always a bit overexposed during the day.
All the cameras are running at maximum setting in the mainstream, but I have noticed that often pixies are seen at the beginning of the recording. My bandwidth in the internal network is only at 6.144Kbps - very low, right?

no auto iris mode?

Maybe you can give me some helpful tips at first glance, or I have to be content with this image quality.

Thank you very much for your trouble.
Kind regards,

Alex.

 

[alastairstevenson]

Question: Can it really be that these cameras are not able to adjust automatically during day / night change, the exposure? See Appendix Iris Mode in Camera menu only "manual" ie. 1 / 150sec firmly during the day and at night?

By configuring such a small maximum value for exposure with only the camera IR for illumination the result is a dark image.
Also the contrast in the main part of the image is adversely affected by the unwanted bright reflections from around the mount point of the camera.

Unfortunately, the pictures are always a bit overexposed during the day.

That's a very high value for brightness. It will affect the daytime image quality, and presumably you have set it due to the exposure constraint you have imposed that affects the night time image.

 

[Nightwatcher]

Hello alastairstevenson ,
Thank you for the prompt and competent answer.
The garage wall that goes into the picture, bothers me too, because I'll have to re-position the camera in more pleasant weather.
Maybe I should set the exposure to 1 / 100sec, which gives a slightly better picture at night, but in the day it is too overexposed. Here I have to find an acceptable average. Too bad, then the camera can not really automatically, depending on the light ratio, set. (see color picture) It takes the set exposure time for day and night vision.

I realize, I have to experiment with the whole settings just a bit and busy intensively.

 

[alastairstevenson]

Maybe I should set the exposure to 1 / 100sec, which gives a slightly better picture at night, but in the day it is too overexposed.

What was the problem with the image when the exposure was set to Automatic, and the image settings at their default values?

 

[Nightwatcher]

The problem with the automatic image adjustment was that here too the exposure time could only be set manually, this was e.g. at 1 / 100sec and at night okay, the picture was too overexposed during the day. I thought the camera would automatically adjust the times of sun exposure, but no indication. Either I'm too stupid and overlook something, or this camera simply can not fix it automatically.

After all, I can create a daytime and a nighttime profile via timed switching, but there the values in the corresponding period are also constant and thus not a very good picture in cloudy or clear skies. Since sunrise and sunset are different during the year, I have to change the switching time every few weeks. Hmm..
Or can it just be a software bug, Firmware V5.5.0 build 170725 should be up to date?

In the bottom video setting I do not understand this inside 7 outdoor mode either (see picture 2). Set on the inside he makes the picture slightly lighter (better) but if that is correct? Camera hangs outside ...

 

[alastairstevenson]

The problem with the automatic image adjustment was that here too the exposure time could only be set manually, this was e.g. at 1 / 100sec and at night okay, the picture was too overexposed during the day.

This is not a fixed exposure time that is being set here.
It is the 'slowest allowed exposure time'.
This will constrain the automatic exposure from going any slower (ie a longer time) when the light is low enough to require it.
When there is very little light - it will result in dark images.

 

[BeachBum1119]

I have some of those cameras. Here are my settings.
Day: exposure 1/120, blc and WDR off, DNR 25, all other settings at default.
Night: exposure 1/12, blc and WDR off, DNR 60-75, IR manual 20-40, all other settings default

I set day/night switching to schedule. There are two different ones, one for color and b/w and one for day/night profile. I don't know exactly what they are called. I set the profile one a little darker switch than the color one. This allows for color mode in low light situations early am and late evenings. They are set about 15min apart from each other.

Feel free to try and see what it looks like for you. May not be ideal, but they work great for me.

 

[fenderman]

I have some of those cameras. Here are my settings.
Day: exposure 1/120, blc and WDR off, DNR 25, all other settings at default.
Night: exposure 1/12, blc and WDR off, DNR 60-75, IR manual 20-40, all other settings default

I set day/night switching to schedule. There are two different ones, one for color and b/w and one for day/night profile. I don't know exactly what they are called. I set the profile one a little darker switch than the color one. This allows for color mode in low light situations early am and late evenings. They are set about 15min apart from each other.

Feel free to try and see what it looks like for you. May not be ideal, but they work great for me.

1/12 night settings will result in severe motion blue...these cameras are not ideal for low light scenarios..

 

[Nightwatcher]

This is not a fixed exposure time that is being set here.
It is the 'slowest allowed exposure time'.
This will constrain the automatic exposure from going any slower (ie a longer time) when the light is low enough to require it.
When there is very little light - it will result in dark images.

Oh okay, I understand. So there were not too dark pictures, rather too bright, at least during the day.
It always seems to me in live view, as if the exposure time is always fixed, only recently, when it was sunny with some thick clouds, the brightness was up and down, but the picture this apparently not compensated.

I have some of those cameras. Here are my settings.
Day: exposure 1/120, blc and WDR off, DNR 25, all other settings at default.
Night: exposure 1/12, blc and WDR off, DNR 60-75, IR manual 20-40, all other settings default

I set day/night switching to schedule. There are two different ones, one for color and b/w and one for day/night profile. I don't know exactly what they are called. I set the profile one a little darker switch than the color one. This allows for color mode in low light situations early am and late evenings. They are set about 15min apart from each other.

Feel free to try and see what it looks like for you. May not be ideal, but they work great for me.

That's a good comparison, thank you for your attitude. I will bring my values closer to yours and observe the result for a few days and report again.
1 / 12sec shutter speed at night leads to strong motion blur, I've already tested. But I'm also aware that this model is not a night wonder, maybe I just expect too much.

Thanks for the tips, will now revise my settings again and post the result here later.

 

[fenderman]

Oh okay, I understand. So there were not too dark pictures, rather too bright, at least during the day.
It always seems to me in live view, as if the exposure time is always fixed, only recently, when it was sunny with some thick clouds, the brightness was up and down, but the picture this apparently not compensated.



That's a good comparison, thank you for your attitude. I will bring my values closer to yours and observe the result for a few days and report again.
1 / 12sec shutter speed at night leads to strong motion blur, I've already tested. But I'm also aware that this model is not a night wonder, maybe I just expect too much.

Thanks for the tips, will now revise my settings again and post the result here later.

dont trust any of those settings..the guy does not have a clue....

 

[Nightwatcher]

I do not go that far down with the exposure time, passing people are shown totally soft washed. Will try different things again, but they are simply no night vision cameras, I realize that. I will not be able to get much more out of it.

 

[alastairstevenson]

rather too bright, at least during the day.

Didn't you just about max out the brightness setting to compensate for dark at night?

 

[Nightwatcher]

Yes you are right. I just thought, the camera regulates the daylight exposure a little more down, but apparently not really. The night picture is more important to me.
The result in two pictures.

The day is fine

Settings now at night:
Brightness: 92
Contrast: 45
Saturation: 50
Sharpness: 45
Exposure time: 1/25
BLC / WDR: off
DNR: normal, 25

Unfortunately there is this wiping effect at 1/25 but the brightness is better (see picture 2). I think that will be the best compromise with this camera?!

Last but one question, in the menu item Video Settings you can select whether inside or outside mode. What are the differences between these two points, does it matter or should you switch to the outside? Currently I have selected inside.

Many Thanks

 

[aster1x]

Your brightness setting is too high and the highlights on the car bonnet and windscreen are burned. Reduce the brightness and play with the WDR. In the WDR settings for firmware version around 5.5.3, there are three options. OFF, ON and AUTO. The Auto setting with a value of around 20 has very good results. In general set all image settings at default values (around 50) and then play with WDR and DNR with Expert settings around 50. Then adjust the image settings brightness and contrast. When the WDR is more than 20 it may create the ghosting effect (trailing edges) at moving items in the picture.

 

[Nightwatcher]

Alright, thanks for your tip. I have never had WDR on all cameras, I will adjust to AUTO on one and adjust something on the day.