Good catch. I did move the Exposure Composition but failed to move the iris as well. I'll fix that now.
Tweaking my new HFW5241E-Z12E
- Thread starter RyanB
- Start date
I agree. Four nights this week we had no cars after 730pm. I've tried many settings since I got the camera but now the final adjustments should be smaller and I'll do my own drive byes to speed up the process. The Z12 is an amazing camera and it responded even better after I did Andy's firmware update.
bigredfish
Known around here
Too much iris.
Iris 50
Exposure 1000 as recommended.
You’re playing with too many variables at once.
Iris 50
Exposure 1000 as recommended.
You’re playing with too many variables at once.
biggen
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There was someone on here that showed the depth of field issue when using an iris set at 100%. I cant remember who it was. @samplenhold perhaps? Anyway, setting it that way will not allow the entire scene to focus which could be the issue with yours. Once you set it back to 50%, then move the shutter back to 1/1000 or 1/2000 and try again.
Good feedback. Now that we saw what 1/500 does, I can adjust upwards and test. What stumped me was 1/1000 and 1/2000 missed cars but that may have been due to the iris being too high. The variables had my head spinning.
bigredfish
Known around here
Correct. Iris at 100 = white out
Leave Iris at std 50 and adjust brightness using exposure. Iris should always be in a tight range 40-60
Leave Iris at std 50 and adjust brightness using exposure. Iris should always be in a tight range 40-60
The motion detection wasn't capturing some of the cars passing the house.
For example, the Z12 captured the car above at 951pm driving east to west passed my house. Looking at the that car on a different camera, I realized the Z12 camera had just missed a west to east car two minutes earlier. Three of my four cameras captured that driver entering and leaving the neighborhood within a two minute period.
For tonight, I changed the Z12 settings to 1/1000 while also improving the iris, exposure comp and 3DNR settings as suggested above. I appreciate your help as I've struggled to learn this new camera and I'll update things again soon. Thanks.
But how are you trying to capture it as that makes a difference.
If it is in the camera and SD card, are you using Motion Detection or Smart Motion Detection or IVS? You should just use Motion Detection since all the camera sees is the plates and head/tail lights. If you use IVS and vehicle, you will miss most at night since the camera cannot detect it is a car at fast shutter. I have an SD card in the camera set to Motion Detection and it doesn't miss a thing. With IVS or SMD it will miss at night because it will have trouble identifying it is a vehicle.
If it is Blue Iris or a NVR, then you need to adjust the min size to catch them since all it sees at night are head/tail lights and plates and that is small.
If it is in the camera and SD card, are you using Motion Detection or Smart Motion Detection or IVS? You should just use Motion Detection since all the camera sees is the plates and head/tail lights. If you use IVS and vehicle, you will miss most at night since the camera cannot detect it is a car at fast shutter. I have an SD card in the camera set to Motion Detection and it doesn't miss a thing. With IVS or SMD it will miss at night because it will have trouble identifying it is a vehicle.
If it is Blue Iris or a NVR, then you need to adjust the min size to catch them since all it sees at night are head/tail lights and plates and that is small.
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I use SecuritySpy software which is the Mac version of Blue Iris. I haven't enabled SMD or IVS in the camera itself but I see how they could muck things up. Overall, my Z12 daytime batting average is 100% with no missed cars while the nighttime average is a bit weaker at the moment. The target focus for the Z12 is a rather dark section of the street with no street lights within 50 yards in either direction which may complicate things as well.
I hear what you're saying about how min size impacts what gets detected and could explain why some cars were missed. More fun ahead. Thanks.
Yeah, so it will be tweaking your SecuritySpy settings for night. Just like we have to do way different settings to get plates at night with a camera, we have to do the same with however we are recording it. Your system wasn't missing them at night with the 1/500 shutter because you could see you were getting enough headlight bounce off parked cars to make the field of view a larger moving object. But you will probably miss plates at 1/500 shutter - especially a new nice shiny reflective one LOL.
In Blue Iris at night, I have mind set to the minimum size setting. With a 1/2000 shutter, the image is completely dark and someone walking by at that distance will not be seen by the camera as we are counting on the IR lighting up a reflective plate. I guess if someone walked by with a completely reflective outfit on you may get them LOL, but other than that, not at all.
In Blue Iris at night, I have mind set to the minimum size setting. With a 1/2000 shutter, the image is completely dark and someone walking by at that distance will not be seen by the camera as we are counting on the IR lighting up a reflective plate. I guess if someone walked by with a completely reflective outfit on you may get them LOL, but other than that, not at all.
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Not me.
Problem solved!
Thanks to all for the patience and help in solving this puzzle. The suggestions and tips especially from this weekend worked like a charm. I'm uploading a before and after shot so you can see how much better things are. I greatly appreciate everyone's support.
Thanks to all for the patience and help in solving this puzzle. The suggestions and tips especially from this weekend worked like a charm. I'm uploading a before and after shot so you can see how much better things are. I greatly appreciate everyone's support.
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Bitslizer
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So what are your final setting?
Keep in mind H265 versus H264 both at 8192 and CBR really will not result in a significant savings of space. Mine was literally minutes on another camera recording 24/7. H265 versus H264 saves on space when you can cut the bitrate in half for H265.... H265 on my LPR also didn't produce as good of an image at night so I stayed with H264. As always, YMMV.