So to be fair I thought I would also add some Photos of one of my TVI cameras... This is a Dome camera, 2mp with a DC lens AKA Auto Iris and a IRC. So I took it apart to kind of give a better idea what I was on about.. Picture is with lens going into place not 100% over the lens area.. Then a Pic without it in place
Picture of the 2 motors with the Lens on on the camera.. The Motor with 4 wires is the DC lens and the motor with 2 wires is for the IRC filter...
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I have spent hours changing different settings to see if I can get a stable image of moving people and nothing I have tried worked.
Currently My Settings Are As Follows:
Picture:
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Exposure:
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BLC Mode:
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WB:
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Day & Night:
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IR Light:
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Main Stream: - Note; Somehow while changing settings, I was able to set FPS @ 30 instead of 25.
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Sub Stream:
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Actual Playback Results:
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I have tried HLC, BLC and WDR, while the still image was acceptable, any movement was poor at best.
My smart phone takes a much better low light night image then these cameras.
I have quite a bit of lighting in this area and can't image why the image suffers so bad.
Are there any recommendations to improve the low light color of the "surveillance" camera?
I have to agree.. My Cell phone does take better images and video then any of my CCTV cameras...
So I would try this.. One export your settings that you have so you can just import them back if my idea don't help... Not sure if you have your IR blaster setup yet or not but if not I would try this...
Log into your WebUI not working on ASP please Log into WebUI.. Go to the Setup, Camera, Then where you need to make changes under night, click the Reset Defaults button... Again this is only after you have Exported your current settings so you can go back without much work if this didn't work to your liking...
First thing I would do is change the Anti Flicker from Outdoor to 60Hz, I would leave mode to Auto because if you change it will Ghost...
Now I can run mine in Color at this mode and in B/W with no Ghosting.. However the one i am messing with At this time is only a 3mp.. If tomorrow is not as humid as it has been I will hook up my 12mp and try out some settings.. That camera while it does have a IRC it don't have an IR so I will have to use it with one of my Blasters for B/W NV testing..
I wonder if there is a way to change Encoding between day and night? I would as I have not looked but if you could say change the Encoding from high MP to a lower MP at night by a schedule that would be cool..
But I wonder what it would do if you tried to change your Setting to a lower MP for testing at night? It might be that the camera don't do well in High MP under Low light?
I don't think WDR, HLC or BLC are going to work for me in any way at night.
I also have found, that sometimes when you change and save settings, it is not always saved.
This may be due to the actual NVR settings are not exactly the same as logging into the cameras with the Web UI.
To be honest, I don't think I would recommend Amcrest, just my opinion...
I believe, I can get IR to work "Okay" as a last resort, but faces and license plates are not going to be recognizable.
I am trying to get JUST B&W at night, no IR - WDR - HLC or BLC, just plain old mother nature.
There is low lighting in the area and the general seen is fine, but I still have a blur issue with people walking, but not as bad as with other situations.
when I set the shutter to 1/120, it gets only a slight blur, but drops the lighting quite a bit. When I use gamma or brightness to bring the light back, the blur gets worse and noise creeps in.
Is there a way to get a clear video/still of people at night using just B&W setting or am I over expecting here too?
I see videos on youtube/etc that are so clear, in color, in IR and B&W and I can't get close to it, so frustrating. The day time is absolutely amazing. Just can't seem to find a satisfactory image at night. What good is an expensive surveillance camera, if you can't make out what you bought it for?
Sadly there is no way with most cameras that are not sold as LPR or LPD will get License Plates.. Here is something that should be understood in that matter... LPR or LPD are sold and used only as such. that is because they have to be at just the Right Angle and height and have to have things that will make night time use outside of being a LPD or LPR un useful... Some of them are full time B/W some are color day and b/w at night but they are always mostly at a view that offers nothing other then plates...
That brings me to the next point.. IR at night with IR light will make it hard to see a License Plate because the plates are made to Reflect and the IR that hits it just gets brighter after it hits the plate.. When people setup a Camera for getting Plates there is loads of things that have to be factored in.. Most Real LPR or LPD will have software that takes images of the Plates and stores them. The More costly kind even have AI built in where it can remember things about the cars some are so much so they can Remember Color and type and can put your plates in a data base for easier tracking however these are cameras that were designed and placed within specs to work.. Most of them use no light or white light to help get the plates...
Ever live or drive though an area that has Speed Cameras or Red Light Cameras? Most people don't know that they are not always perfect so they use very costly camera equipment that has some tech that we can't get our hands on yet that not only Flashes a Bright White Light to take the snapshot to ensure the capture of the plates but it is also at the same time using a VERY High speed camera High MP to take video and they use a Human in some areas and computers in others to make the true scene come to light... The software they have is better then what we can use but able to take footage and while we can see frame by frame in our cameras they can see loads of frames between each of what would be our frames and with that able to get the perfect picture...
About Amcrest and not recommend them? I am not sure why settings of a camera that just needs some tweaking would rule out the ability to recommend Amcrest. Out of the huge amount of camera hardware that I own Amcrest has been the only company that I personally can get any help with any of the hardware.. This is before this last Virus issue since then things have been little lacking but sadly this is to be expected seeing they are not able to be in the office and have meetings and keep in touch as most places are locked down... But I can tell you that there are many other companies out there that will not even sell to the Public for this reason because they don't want to deal with Tech support issues They only say Contact the company that installed it...
I thought I mentioned that you can turn off the IR that you may want to try it with IR as Smart or Manual or even off setting to your needs.. Sadly this isn't something that someone outside of the camera control area can tell you because each moment is different then the next...
Yes the Shutter really should be left on Auto unless your looking to capture plates only then you can use shutter speed to lower the light outside of the capture area to make it better in the ability to get plates however there is a down side to this... Most times what people are not telling you is you need to have the car at a very slow speed and going in a direction of 1 way.. Most times anything over 10mph will be blurry... NO IR to get plates but this again isn't 100% if the settings are just right IR can help but you would have to be within the right capture range and again speed of the Auto...
This brings me to my last point... If you need a Reader There are some out there however expect to pay 400 for a cheap on and up... WDR is a NIGHT TIME PICTURE KILLER, HLC is a LOW light Scene picture Killer, BLC just makes most pictures look like JUNK 10 year ago scenes lol so No BLC option might be the best for your needs... Or I would bring out a White light as I was saying at the start and use the HLC...
I am glad your experience has been much better with Amcrest, but you are much more technically informed regarding this technology, so, why I may struggle with - may come very easy to you.
I am not expecting AI, facial recognition or license plate reading of moving vehicles. I am simply trying to obtain a satisfactory level of surveillance I can count on and trust to produce a level of image quality that can IDENTIFY a person up to no good or a parked car license plate. I do not believe this is an unrealistic expectation for this NVR and 5 cameras from Amcrest.
The day time is set - auto and default settings produce a satisfactory image for me. It most likely can be improved with tweaking and better knowledge like you - but for me, living in a senior living facility, it is good enough.
It is at night that I have issue and at night is when most bad things happen around here. My primary reasons for cameras is simply a deterrent and regardless of performance, I get that.
I believe - I can tweak IR to get a satisfactory image by adjusting the sensitivity and adding addition IR Illuminators. But, IR creates the reflection that makes license plate reading of parked cars impossible and when people walk towards the cameras and get too close - the IR treats faces - much like it treats licence plates - you just can't make them out. Since I am in an apartment - the cameras are in the only place they can be. I can't freely put things anywhere I want. So, I have to work with what I have.
Since it is just me, with every tweak I try and I have tried many - I have to go outside in front of the cameras to create movement, then come inside and replay the images independently from each camera to review progress. It starts get old fast after 100+ attempts over several days.
These cameras, all of them, can create a more than satisfactory image of still objects, day or night - I actually can't believe my eyes after years of older Foscam technology. You can read license plates of parked cars just fine.
My problem is the simple task of capturing a satisfactory still image of someone walking.
Obviously, auto and default settings are not doing it. Tweaking things like BLC and HLC have provided exactly the images you have previously stated, so with WDR, BLC and HLC all disabled, what's left? Tweaking the auto and default settings.
I have tried changing the shutter speed, too low like 1/4 creates playback issues (1x play is at 8x) but increases the image lighting. Going the other way, trying each setting up to 1/120, the image clarity increases but the lighting gets pretty dark.
Adjusting gamma, brightness, contrast, etc. changes the overall appearing on the image as a whole, but does not help to make people walking clearer. I am sure, I am not the first novice with this dilemma. At least I hope not.
Adding "White Light" is an option in one area off the patio, but Low Watt White Light range is limited in its ability and will still be concerning at 15'+. At my front door, I can't add more light and it is already a pretty well lit area, considering "Low Light" needs as described in performance videos for these cameras.
I have not come across a setting that allows you to drop resolution during the night only. I would hate to give up daytime image quality in addition to lower nighttime resolution. I will be trying it on 1 camera for a day or two and see what it does though.
Is there a Specific set of Tweaking Adjustment to increase the still image quality of moving people at night?
Anyhow, all that aside for a moment, thank you for you generous time and patients dealing with and helping me. It is most appreciated.
So about the light and Lic Plate... Sadly there is little that can be done outside of white light... However I do know that there are some cameras that offer better Low light ability.. I have a camera that is 2mp and it is a 2.8mm to 12mm Motorized camera that I set to 12mm at this setting I can read a Street sign that is about 100ft away and I can see a speed sign that is maybe 200ft away... However at night I use the camera in Color and I can not see the Street sign anymore or either of the 2 stop signs that have the backs toward me.. Also i can't tell that the speed sign is up there either... So for kicks I turned on IR and Blasted I can see the signs white as they could be because it is just Reflecting the IR back but here is where things become clear.. Keep B/W and turn off IR I can see the speed limit sign and make it out... Now I have a couple of other lower level IR lights that might be aiding in this ability to read the sign. I just know that with the IR on the camera it over blast the sign with IR...
So odd thing is that your saying that your Camera when someone walks up to it it is very bright at night and washes out the person... That is very strange because with the Smart IR cameras I have owned I have yet to find one that does that... Although I can't say they all wouldn't and funny thing is I found one of my cameras that is a Odd Ball... It has a IRC and the ability to turn off B/W at night but strange thing is that the IR still comes on and I can tell it is on when in color of I get to close or what not.. That is very sad because now I remember why I don't use it lol for that fact... Nothing worse then watching bugs fly in front of a camera that is in color buy has IR light on.. It hasn't had an Update since 2012 what do I expect right lol Not that I didn't want to update it there is none... WebUI I can only use for Setup.. Thank goodness for that though...
Anyway sorry off topic... I would say tonight for Kicks Set everything to Default and turn on B/W but for IR turn it off save and try and see what that does... Just because a Camera has BLC, HLC and WDR we don't always need to use it for a good working picture...
Back to the Washed out pictures... I am wondering if that is with the Shutter speed at a set speed.. I can assure you that the Smart IR on and Shutter speed set to Auto there should be no reason that your camera washes out.. I just did some testing on a 2013 camera, Set to Auto for day / Night and after covering the camera it switched over to B/W and at first it was little bright then because the Shutter was set to Auto and this is an old camera it did change the shutter speed and it was no longer so bright.. I then turned on a over light that turned it back to day Color mode... Wait for adjustments and then I went and changed the Shutter to 1/250 turned off light and camera went into Night mode and because of the distance it looked ok however as soon as I got close to the camera with my face or hand the Picture was VERY over exposed and washed out with light... Sadly yes all the testing was done with cameras under 4mp
Ok to tell you the truth I am at a Loss.. So while I don't have a 12mp Lens or an 8MP either I did connect my 12mp camera that I have been waiting to use after I get a Real MP lens.. However I wanted to test out some things.. This is a POS Dahua Box camera and is dated form 2014 and is their first 4K camera that I know of they released to give you an idea lol... While the Release says it has AI and while it may have in ones sold out side the USA that model I can't find where to unlock the AI and I can't get any new FW for it...
So WOW my 4108 was able to take and process it.. this lasted about an hour before things started to get very slow in 4k lol.. Crazy thing it also made the WebUI start to slow down as well.. So I have since put it back into 1080 just to make my self happy...
Anyway with my Testing at 4k I found that there was Picture Blur through out all light conditions past semi dark... waving my hand would make a Path of my hand... I tried it in all settings from Auto to anything I could think of.. I then thought ok maybe it is because of the NVR that I have it connected to.. The 2116-HS I have is not at my desk and wasn't able to connect but thinking about going and taking it from my Closet where it takes almost an hour to get into so I can test this on a 4k NVR...
1 I can tell you that if your using ASP it would be Best that you use the WebUI if you can... It is much more stable and less computer rendering of the system to display to your screen... In all fairness I would connect your NVR to your Monitor and would use your NVR as the main display of your cameras... Use WebUI for making setting changes that you can't make inside of the NVR... But I have a HUGE dislike for ASP anyway...
While all the testing done was at 4k and most of it was done while connected to my 4108 NVR I did spend the last 30 min and the darkest point of my testing outside the NVR at 4k nothing connected to the camera besides my Computer over WebUI... I found that I will not buy any 4k cameras for now lol... I can blame this camera all I want because to tell the Truth it is a First GEN 4K camera and there has been miles of improvement since this camera has come out... Plus not being able to update it... Anyway I then spent a few minutes in 1080P and I am not saying to drop your 4k down to 1080 but the camera was able to process the movement a lot better then it was...
I even took another IP camera that has IR set it to IR and because this is not a Smart IR camera yeah it washed out the picture really well. I found moving the IR light to the Right of the camera view made it much better image quality and I do like Smart IR over normal IR by all means...
To be honest I would buy a 2mp camera to record in heavy traffic area.. I would set up a 4k camera in same area for day time recording... After my messing with my camera and yes I know it isn't your model but I couldn't get anything to record in a setting at 4k that I liked.. in 2mp it worked ok.. But no one buys a 4k camera to run as a 1080P camera I know...
You are absolutely on the right track. Dropping megapixels makes the situation better, which blows my mind. Why would it take lowering the resolution to 1080 to improve the image quality of moving objects? I would think the opposite would be true - which is why I wanted the best Amcrest had to offer.
Is it a FPS thing?
A bit rate thing?
A memory issue for the NVR?
I have the Frame Rate set to 30, because it allows it. Dropping to 25 FPS does not seem to make any difference under any circumstance in the image quality, so far.
I have set the Bit Rate to 8192, most of the time. I have dropped to 4096 to see if there is a difference, but I can't tell at this point.
I have the NVR in the livingroom and everything hardwired, mostly cat6, some cat5, but all cameras are on cat6. All cameras have a home run to the PoE port on the NVR. At this point, no wifi.
Is there a way to set a daytime and nighttime resolution? The Profile Management doesn't seem to support that.
At least now I know you completely understand the issue!
Yes sadly I understand the issue... So while I did back when I bought my 4k camera tested it with my normal CVBS lens and that is what I used tonight.. Only issue is the rather then giving me a total view of the scene I get a looking though a large lens Don't get me wrong it works just not as High Mega as it could be with the right lens. At the time I bought it the lenses cost a bundle even today they want as much as some cameras complete lol..
So yes sadly the something that has always kept me at 3mp and lower is the fact that I can't get a good image at night on any of the higher MP cameras I have tried to own lol. So I always stayed with my OLD junk that gives me for the most part a good image at night and no motion blur..
So tonight I took some pictures from the one camera.. While I took a good few to many lol.. But this camera offers a 2.7mm to 12mm Motorized Focal lens.. I wanted to show you what it looks like with no WDR, BLC or HLC this camera don't have a good HLC anyway it has some 4 letter thing that just blacks out an area lol JUNK but it works for my use.. Most of my cameras are Zoom or Motorized lenses and some of my older are I have to set the Focal but are still able to adjust. I don't like Fixed lens cameras sadly they don't work for all spots... So I will show what the Total view is at night with B/W and IR on sadly this isn't a Smart IR camera and ability to turn on and off is there though. then took a shot of the scene I have it at night without the IR on in B/W and you can see the speed sign and limit on it... However in the last picture sadly you can't see the sign but image is color and even with how humid the night is tonight it shows good night picture. I would be able to make out car type and direction however to be clear I have in this view area sadly about 3 or 4 other cameras and one that I will no show footage from but is a 37x PTZ dome that can see a good clip down the road if needed and make out plates at the stop signs if needed.. It is WDR PTZ but an option I don't use.. Also for what ever reason the picture captured over my CMS isn't as clear as the image on my Screen so my picture on my monitor looks much better then my screen shot... Oh and I covered up the yard sign because it would give town name of where I live and that is just TMI... But is readable under all view points because it isn't reflective so IR don't bounce from it...
Oh and my camera is 30 foot in the air and about 200 feet to the speed sign...
This is total zoomed out and IR on you can see sign down there that is just white that is IR reflection...
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My View point with IR off and B/W only no BLC or WDR or HLC
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This is how I have this camera at night.. I should take a Picture of another camera that is facing this area so you can see how bad that one looks lol...
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