Recommendation for front door camera (or settings) that will capture people who are walking/running

[RJF]

I currently have an Amcrest Pro 4MP camera at the location below circled in red in the left picture. The right picture shows what the camera sees for reference. The picture seems ok, but when people are walking by or running it does not capture them clearly at all (I can barely make out my neighbors), which is surprising since it's only about 10 feet away and this seems like a pretty decent camera.

I have also tried a Lorex 2k 8MP camera at this location also and the results were not any better. All the settings on both cameras are more or less default, and the resolution and frame rates are set as high as the cameras will go (which are 20 FPS and 15 FPS, respectively). Blue Iris shows matching settings.

I want to be able to see people clearly, even if they are walking or running, like the pictures of the package thief posted here: Some Fool Stealing A Package Off My Front Porch (one of the image links appears to be broken now, but it was an extremely clear image of the guy's face from what looked like 20-30 feet away). I messaged that poster asking what camera he has but haven't heard back.

Is this a camera issue (FPS too low) or a settings (resolution) issue? Thanks in advance for any help you can provide, including camera recommendations. We have had some crime issues recently, including a murder in January about 50 feet away from my front door, so I'd like to do whatever I need to do to capture people at or walking by my front door, even if that means getting a new camera.

 

[bigredfish]

Can you post a sample video clip with movement?

Also how/where are you storing the video and where are you viewing from? NVR? Cloud?

 

[RJF]

Thanks, will post a sample tonight. FYI, I'm storing the video locally direct-to-disc and viewing locally on the computer where it is stored (both in realtime and after exporting the video to mp4). It is a Blue Iris setup.

 

[bigredfish]

That would help, is it equally bad during daytime and night?

 

[RJF]

Thanks again. Night seems worse, but they are both not great.

Here is a link to a couple clips taken during the day: Dropbox - day.mp4

Here is a link to a clip taken at night: Dropbox - night.mp4

These should be full resolution clips if I exported correctly.

 

[bigredfish]

I've seen worse.

FPS won't make that much of a difference. Anything 15+ should be fine.

For one you just dont have a great angle on faces walking by at 90 degrees to your camera so regardless of the image quality, it will be tough to get great facial ID unless they walk up your steps facing towards the camera.

That said, it looks as if maybe the bitrate is real low? I would think that a 4MP camera should have a much sharper image in the daytime. (Maybe that dropbox video isnt at max resolution? The snapshot you posted in much crisper/higher res than the video clip I'm seeing)

What do you have for settings for DNR? WDR?

 

[RJF]

Thanks again for your help. I have attached a picture of my settings. The bit rate is set at 4096, which must have been the default setting (or populated by the camera software when I picked CBR). Would you recommend I go higher? Storage and CPU is not a problem.

Also, I captured the attached snapshot from Blue Iris this morning of the trash collectors that really highlights the problem. You can very clearly read the tiny numbers on the trash can, but the guy who is walking beside it is very blurry.

 

[RJF]

I went ahead and set the bit rate to max (10240), as seen below. For whatever reason, though, Blue Iris is showing an actual bit rate of about 1200-1300 (see below). I did save the settings and restart the camera via Blue Iris.

 

[bigredfish]

Hmmm. As a side note I would try matching Frame Interval (iframe) to FPS- 20/20

I run my 2MP cams at between 6000 and 8000 Kb/S bitrate which does produce a slightly better picture than 4000

I know its a 4MP cam but if you back the resolution down to 2MP (1920x1280) can you get the FPS up to 30? Many will tell you FPS makes no matter to clarity of the video, but on fast moving objects I'm still not convinced. I run all of my cams at max FPS (30). I'm certainly no expert but capturing single snapshot frames of people moving that are perfectly crisp and clear isn't always easy..

I found this video interesting..

 

[bigredfish]

One more tip, Motion blur is usually related to shutter speed. So check shutter speed on your video? tab and see if its set to auto and/or if you can change it.

For instance 1/30 is usually good enough for daytime on my cameras, but faster (1/120 or higher) will usually decrease motion blur. The trade off is you let in less light so you may need to compensate.

 

[DavidDavid]

I've tried reducing shutter speed and it kills the night time video

 

[bigredfish]

But if it fixes your daytime image, can you simply add a cheap $15 external IR illuminator to give it more light in B&W at night...? 4MP cams generally don't do as well at night as 2MP cams, so helping it by adding some extra IR may make a big difference..

 

[DavidDavid]

I didn't realize this subject was about a 4mp camera, i have the 2mp 5231 Starlight but i figured the shutter speed at night would be a common issue (like you mentioned)

And i actually did just receive a cheap external IR light i hope to play with this weekend.

 

[Kawboy12R]

1/500 or 1/1000 should work fine to freeze running subjects in their tracks even on cloudy days. There'll be enough light to not have a grainy picture on cloudy days and not be too bright and blown out in full sun. You might have to choose one or another. 1/2000 in my experience can be too fast on dark days. My pet peeve is cams that refuse to freeze subjects in auto mode in day mode unless they're in bright sunlight. Cloudiness still provides plenty of light.

Night? Depends on how much light in the scene. You'll need a lot to avoid a grainy picture at 1/120th but 1/60th isn't sufficient to freeze quickly moving subjects and you'll need quite a bit of light for even 1/60th. Most cameras won't go faster than 1/30th at night even with decent lighting in auto mode, and some are quite a bit slower which makes them completely useless for ID on subjects that don't stop moving.

Hopefully the Amcrest software will allow you to set separate manual values.

 

[RJF]

1/500 or 1/1000 should work fine to freeze running subjects in their tracks even on cloudy days. There'll be enough light to not have a grainy picture on cloudy days and not be too bright and blown out in full sun. You might have to choose one or another. 1/2000 in my experience can be too fast on dark days. My pet peeve is cams that refuse to freeze subjects in auto mode in day mode unless they're in bright sunlight. Cloudiness still provides plenty of light.

Night? Depends on how much light in the scene. You'll need a lot to avoid a grainy picture at 1/120th but 1/60th isn't sufficient to freeze quickly moving subjects and you'll need quite a bit of light for even 1/60th. Most cameras won't go faster than 1/30th at night even with decent lighting in auto mode, and some are quite a bit slower which makes them completely useless for ID on subjects that don't stop moving.

Hopefully the Amcrest software will allow you to set separate manual values.

Thanks! Will give this a try.