Best Picture Possible

Dazcomputers

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Hi everyone, now that Im feeling more comfortable with BI thanks to all of you I'm digging into my camera's web settings more and would like some info on the settings and how to get the best picture/video possible. Can someone please lead me in the right direction as far as what all the settings are related to and how best to use them. Here is a screen shot of the settings available on my cameras. Im more interested in the Saturation, WDR, Sharpness, Noise Reduction, White Balance , and Frequency. Any knowledge is appreciated. My situation is these camera are used in a bar so I deal with low light most of the time. There is a doorway that people come through that I would like very good images of when they enter. These cameras are Qsee 2MP Have a couple outside as well so night and day. Thanks in advance
Camera Settings.jpg
 

looney2ns

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EVERY situation is different settings wise, it's dependent on many variables.
So, it's hard for anyone here to tell you what is best.
I have 6 of the same camera models around my house, and each one has slightly different settings, based on light reflecting off the siding or not, and many other variables.
If you need to use night mode, you can always add IR illumination indoors.
 

Dazcomputers

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No attempt to search? Wow
;-)

First thing is to read the Wiki if you haven't already (see the link in the blue bar at the top of the page). In the Wiki is a link to Cliff Notes. There's a section near the top that gives some info on what the various settings are for. Take a look at that if you haven't already.

I don't know this camera specifically, so this might not be true for this camera, but most work this way: For the outside ones, you probably don't need to set a Day/Night schedule. That usually refers to having different profiles, where you want to have a completely different configuration for Night vs Day. Does that pull-down also have a "Normal" setting? If it does, you can just leave it on that, rather than switching profiles (or you can select either Day or Night). You already have your IR mode set to auto; that probably does what you need it to do, which is for the camera to automatically decide when the light level is low enough to switch into B/W IR mode.

If there is another configuration page that allows you to set a maximum* shutter speed, I personally like to set that to 1/60th, or even faster if you have enough light. Otherwise people will be blurred (motion blur) as they walk past the camera. But then if you find that there isn't enough light to use faster shutter speeds at night, you can try longer shutter speeds. But then if you find that they're too blurry, you might have to get cameras that are better in low light. They're more expensive, but you gotta do what you gotta do if the Qsee isn't good enough. The low-light camera of choice here is the Dahua IPC-HDW5231R-Z Starlight (see the link in the Dahua subforum).

One thing in your favor is that since this is a bar, you have constant opportunities to fine tune, since there will always be people there. So you should be able to test different settings and quickly get a good balance for your shutter speed, or be able to quickly determine if/where you would need to get better cameras.

*Re the max shutter speed, when I say "max", I mean the longest duration, ie slowest shutter. Some cameras specify it in fractions (1/60), some in msec (.0167). Usually you do this with a range, like with the Dahua you set the Shutter to "Customized Range" and set that range to 0 ~ 0.0167
Good one on the search. Your right I've been constantly testing the settings I think I'm running into that it's a cheap camera from off the shelf system. I will look into the DaHua camera you mentioned. I put a Dahua PTZ in here and love it. I believe I need to get a camera with the shutter speed to get the quality I'm looking for. Like u said gotta do what you gotta do and this system is bad ass already. Definitely not cheap but we'll worth every penny. I will read up on the other links as well. Thank you
 

Dazcomputers

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EVERY situation is different settings wise, it's dependent on many variables.
So, it's hard for anyone here to tell you what is best.
I have 6 of the same camera models around my house, and each one has slightly different settings, based on light reflecting off the siding or not, and many other variables.
If you need to use night mode, you can always add IR illumination indoors.
That's what I've been doing. And honestly for being able to use cameras from the old systems I'm replacing they do work very well for the price. I guess as I splurge on better cameras I will learn the differences as I go. Thanks guys
 
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