Annke and Hikvision Exposure Time By Schedule

[schneideris]

I have been trying to figure out how to select the right exposure time so that there would be enough detail in one of my cameras to make out a license plate. If I set the Exposure Time in the Image configuration to 1/2000 there are no problems making it out, but at night that setting makes the camera basically a black screen. At night 1/30 or 1/60 works much better at giving at least a scene to look at, but forget any license plate recognition. My compromise is that I simply don't see the plates at night. I am okay with that because at night it is more about people than cars. In my quest though I was having a hard time understanding how to make the change in the Exposure Time based on sunrise to sunset. I could not find any good documentation online for how to make this work, or even how the configurations can be setup. Thankfully, Annke (who's camera's I bought) sent me a bit better of instructions on how to make this work, so I wanted to post it hear (partially so there is a record that I can come back to) in the event that it might help others. I put it here in the Hikvision area because the firmware between the two companies appear to be almost identical (lots of other posts about this elsewhere).

How to Setup

The setup is totally in the Image section of the camera configuration.

1. To get this started you need to be sure the Image Parameter Switch is not enabled. I the Schedule is enabled you will not be able to make changes to the Display Settings.
2. In the Display Settings there is a drop-down selection for Scene. Within you have 6 different options. When you select one of the options the settings for presumably each of the areas to the right of the Live View is adjusted for that setting (I have not confirmed as my only interest was in the Exposure Time).
   
3. Switch the drop-down toNormal. Here I set the Exposure Time to 1/2000.
4. Switch the drop-down to Low Illumination and set the Exposure Time to 1/30th.
5. Go to the Image Parameters Switch and set what times should be Normal, and what times should be Low Illumination. I opted to use an average of the sunrise to sunset times in my area. Ultimately the schedule would offer a sunset to sunrise auto configuration or a use of the camera for luminesce but sadly it does not.
   

You could add in special use of things like Back Light and Front Light I suppose if someone has some sort of crazy lighting in the area, or just make these twilight and dusk setting to get more precise. There are also the Custom1 and Custom2 that can be configured.

I hope this helps others.

 

[motofox]

aww ive been trying to get the auto switch to work with daya nd night settings without success so i will use this method thanks.. frustrating as the hikvision looks the same and under scene it had day and night profiles which work as intended so wonder if its worth flashing to hikvisoion or not

 

[schneideris]

My experience is that the Hikvision firmware really didn't provide any additional benefit. Glad that this helped, I know how frustrating it can be when the documentation is not clear or totally absent.

 

[trempa92]

Most of the time hikvision devices lack GUI settings for stuff they can do, and when you query capabilities with ISAPI you learn it can do all that. The problem is between backend firmware devs and frontend gui devs. They often work like Here is the list ive done and you need to implement that on front. Most of the time they fuck up.

If you really wanna be sure if your device can do something or not, check via ISAPI. With GPTChat nowdays i believe anyone here can give basic pseudocode to AI with ISPI endpoints and end up with working software or script that will do some automation for you.

example:



And you keep correcting AI until you are satisfied, get correct endpoint, get correct values you need to send in POST data, also tell AI to use Digest Authorization with your username and password and so on. Most of the endpoints and payload you can get by sniffing Network tab in inspect element.

Rest is on you, i just showed you how to start,

 

[undotcom]

Thank you Schneideris for sharing this!
I just set this up for my street view, Hikvision bullets.

Curious for anyone to answer; if we want clear details (e.g. read license plates on a moving vehicle), wouldn't we need to have a minimum of 1/125 exposure timing, even at night?

 

[wittaj]

Thank you Schneideris for sharing this!
I just set this up for my street view, Hikvision bullets.

Curious for anyone to answer; if we want clear details (e.g. read license plates on a moving vehicle), wouldn't we need to have a minimum of 1/125 exposure timing, even at night?

For moving plates, most need at least a 1/1000 shutter speed. And the image is black except for the plate.

 

[schneideris]

Thank you Schneideris for sharing this!
I just set this up for my street view, Hikvision bullets.

Curious for anyone to answer; if we want clear details (e.g. read license plates on a moving vehicle), wouldn't we need to have a minimum of 1/125 exposure timing, even at night?

Sorry for the late reply. Plate recognition, especially at night (or any other low light situation) is difficult. As @wittaj pointed out you need a high speed shutter to get it because of the movement. This was a learning for me on the difference between an ultra high res camera and a good performing camera. The first instinct is to think that getting a 4K or higher res camera is going to solve the problem, when in reality it is all about how fast the sensor can process and how much light it takes in.

 

[wittaj]

Further, you would have to set the camera up specifically to read plates. You need the proper camera with OPTICAL zoom for the distance you are covering and the angle to get plates.

Keep in mind that this is a camera dedicated to plates and not an overview camera also. It is as much an art as it is a science. You will need two cameras. For LPR we need to OPTICALLY zoom in tight to make the plate as large as possible. For most of us, all you see is the not much more than a vehicle in the entire frame. Now maybe in the right location during the day it might be able to see some other things, but not at night.

At night, we have to run a very fast shutter speed (1/2,000) and in B/W with IR and the image will be black. All you will see are head/tail lights and the plate. Some people can get away with color if they have enough street lights, but most of us cannot. Here is a representative sample of plates I get at night of vehicles traveling about 45MPH at 175 feet from my 2MP 5241-Z12E camera (2MP is all that is needed for plates):




See the LPR subforum for more details.

 

[schneideris]

Most of the time hikvision devices lack GUI settings for stuff they can do, and when you query capabilities with ISAPI you learn it can do all that. The problem is between backend firmware devs and frontend gui devs. They often work like Here is the list ive done and you need to implement that on front. Most of the time they fuck up.

If you really wanna be sure if your device can do something or not, check via ISAPI. With GPTChat nowdays i believe anyone here can give basic pseudocode to AI with ISPI endpoints and end up with working software or script that will do some automation for you.

example:

View attachment 152614

And you keep correcting AI until you are satisfied, get correct endpoint, get correct values you need to send in POST data, also tell AI to use Digest Authorization with your username and password and so on. Most of the endpoints and payload you can get by sniffing Network tab in inspect element.

Rest is on you, i just showed you how to start,

Very interesting. To keep it simple, why not have a function that changes the shutter speed and simply have the program monitor for when to make the changes. You could send a command at sunrise and another at sunset.

 

[schneideris]

Further, you would have to set the camera up specifically to read plates. You need the proper camera with OPTICAL zoom for the distance you are covering and the angle to get plates.

Keep in mind that this is a camera dedicated to plates and not an overview camera also. It is as much an art as it is a science. You will need two cameras. For LPR we need to OPTICALLY zoom in tight to make the plate as large as possible. For most of us, all you see is the not much more than a vehicle in the entire frame. Now maybe in the right location during the day it might be able to see some other things, but not at night.

At night, we have to run a very fast shutter speed (1/2,000) and in B/W with IR and the image will be black. All you will see are head/tail lights and the plate. Some people can get away with color if they have enough street lights, but most of us cannot. Here is a representative sample of plates I get at night of vehicles traveling about 45MPH at 175 feet from my 2MP 5241-Z12E camera (2MP is all that is needed for plates):

View attachment 192260


See the LPR subforum for more details.

If you are needing to read plates on all cars and it is the primary goal I agree. If someone is simply trying to configure a balance between function and form I think you have to work with basic understanding and practices. For me, I opted to change the layout of my cameras to try and find a better angle for point of view, and then use of schedule based performance that recognizes that at night the best I am going to get is a picture of the vehicle so I can get a type and ideally make and model. Night based plate recognition is something most of simply won’t get to.

 

[wittaj]

But they were asking about reading plates at night and unless it is like a driveway or a ton of light, the shutter speed usually needs to be fast enough that nothing else is really visible.

 

[schneideris]

But they were asking about reading plates at night and unless it is like a driveway or a ton of light, the shutter speed usually needs to be fast enough that nothing else is really visible.

Completely agree

 

[undotcom]

Thanks Wittaj and Schneideris
I appreciate all the comments without knowing my camera specifics
Fortunately, I have a good scenario.

• My house is on the corner of an intersection
• The intersection has a streetlight directly above
• One side has a stop sign, the other is 100ft from another intersection, so speeds are generally under 20mph
• I have 2 dedicated 4mm Colorvue bullets (DS-2CD2087G2-L), less than 15' from the curb, aimed squarely at the oncoming lane of traffic

I don't "need" to capture license plates, but one of my objectives is to configure a system capable of license plate capture because of the recording challenges

I'll use your suggestions to try different settings and keep recording examples to compare the resulting changes in license plate clarity

 

[schneideris]

Most of the time hikvision devices lack GUI settings for stuff they can do, and when you query capabilities with ISAPI you learn it can do all that. The problem is between backend firmware devs and frontend gui devs. They often work like Here is the list ive done and you need to implement that on front. Most of the time they fuck up.

If you really wanna be sure if your device can do something or not, check via ISAPI. With GPTChat nowdays i believe anyone here can give basic pseudocode to AI with ISPI endpoints and end up with working software or script that will do some automation for you.

example:

View attachment 152614

And you keep correcting AI until you are satisfied, get correct endpoint, get correct values you need to send in POST data, also tell AI to use Digest Authorization with your username and password and so on. Most of the endpoints and payload you can get by sniffing Network tab in inspect element.

Rest is on you, i just showed you how to start,

I have to say that you really have me thinking about this now. I am wondering if there is an ability to get notifications on change of light from the camera. Then writing a tool to monitor for changes, like an eclipse or sunset and sunrise, to send instructions with the appropriate shutter speed. You might be able to do so for each camera independently.

 

[wittaj]

I have to say that you really have me thinking about this now. I am wondering if there is an ability to get notifications on change of light from the camera. Then writing a tool to monitor for changes, like an eclipse or sunset and sunrise, to send instructions with the appropriate shutter speed. You might be able to do so for each camera independently.

Many here do that with light sensors and home automation to change camera profiles, and this shutter speed, based on available light.

 

[schneideris]

Many here do that with light sensors and home automation to change camera profiles, and this shutter speed, based on available light.

I thought of that as well but using the cameras, it it is possible, appeals to me from the perspective of it being closer to the source of what they are seeing. Some cameras are in the shade, some in the sun, some with street lighting, etc...