Fog/light reflections washing out night image

[Krieger]

Hey all,

I'm trying to tune night settings for my cameras. Currently I have a 5442 2.8mm, and a 5442 3.6mm. They are placed roughly ten feet apart. The 3.6mm one is giving me a washed out image. Both cameras are on the same firmware, and have the same settings applied. I've tried messing with the 3.6mm settings to try and remedy my problem to no avail. Here are the comparison images.


2.8mm




3.6mm




Settings

Backlight: Off
WB: Auto
Illuminator: 100
Defog: Off
LDC: Off



The only thing that I think it could possible be, would be illumination from the IR led bouncing off my soffit, however the 2.8mm camera is placed farther back in the soffit than the 3.6mm, the 3.6mm is right on the edge. Not really sure if this just has to do with the focal length, or if there is something else at play here that I am missing.

Thank you

 

[wittaj]

That looks like typical IR bounce (although you usually see the "bounce" in the image as well), but sometimes you can get that from the IR from another camera or a light source somewhere else.

Looking at those two pictures it doesn't appear as it the 3.6 is looking towards the 2.8.

Have you adjusted moving the camera around to see if it goes away? If it doesn't then maybe the face plate in loose on the camera and causing IR bounce from it.

Try turning Smart IR on and see if that makes it better as that is the whole point of Smart IR is to take into account what the camera is seeing and changing the IR intensity based on what the camera sees, but realize that then may reduce the effective distance.

Did you do the walk test - IR at 100 is probably washing out the faces on the sidewalk at the bottom of the 2.8mm image.

 

[looktall]

Have you run each camera on its own to see if there is any IR interference from the other?

 

[tech_junkie]

The shutter and exposure settings is what I would adjust

 

[Flintstone61]

Each camera will have to have it's own unique specific settings to account for the variables/ challenges it faces in each location.

 

[Krieger]

That looks like typical IR bounce (although you usually see the "bounce" in the image as well), but sometimes you can get that from the IR from another camera or a light source somewhere else.

Looking at those two pictures it doesn't appear as it the 3.6 is looking towards the 2.8.

Have you adjusted moving the camera around to see if it goes away? If it doesn't then maybe the face plate in loose on the camera and causing IR bounce from it.

Try turning Smart IR on and see if that makes it better as that is the whole point of Smart IR is to take into account what the camera is seeing and changing the IR intensity based on what the camera sees, but realize that then may reduce the effective distance.

Did you do the walk test - IR at 100 is probably washing out the faces on the sidewalk at the bottom of the 2.8mm image.

Moving the camera does not change the image. I thought maybe it was from my neighbors lights.

I thought we wanted Smart IR off?

I haven't tried the 2.8mm yet for face washout, but the idea is for the camera to reduce shutter/gain, seeing as it can do that faster than the IR.

Have you run each camera on its own to see if there is any IR interference from the other?

I've had this issue without the 2.8mm camera mounted, so it's not IR bounceback from that.

The shutter and exposure settings is what I would adjust

I've set those all over the place, still no luck with bounceback.

Each camera will have to have it's own unique specific settings to account for the variables/ challenges it faces in each location.

These are almost in the same position, with almost the same picture. I've tried adjusting every setting I can on the 3.6, but I cannot get rid of the bounceback.

 

[bug99]

It really doesn't look very washed out to me. It almost looks like the sensor is bad in the 3.6. how do they compare just after dusk, with no IR?

 

[Krieger]

It really doesn't look very washed out to me. It almost looks like the sensor is bad in the 3.6. how do they compare just after dusk, with no IR?

I'll have to get that tonight. These are daytime shots.

2.8mm


3.6mm




Once again, both are at the same settings. The daytime view doesn't look that different, so not sure if it's a sensor issue. I can pull the camera down and move it to a different spot with no other IR to see exactly what's going on.

 

[looney2ns]

I'll have to get that tonight. These are daytime shots.

2.8mm
View attachment 141057

3.6mm
View attachment 141058



Once again, both are at the same settings. The daytime view doesn't look that different, so not sure if it's a sensor issue. I can pull the camera down and move it to a different spot with no other IR to see exactly what's going on.

The ball on left bottom, and the plant could be causing IR bounce.

 

[Krieger]

Okay. Here is when it switches right after dusk with no IR illuminator.





Illuminator set to 50




I'm going to see what it looks like as it gets darker and post more pictures, but it definitely seems like a bounceback issue.

 

[garycrist]

Try throwing a dark towel over the leafy plant.

 

[spammenotinoz]

As others have said, too much IR. Star as low as you can go and wind up, I am currently running 2 of mine on level ~10. I find with overlapping cameras even Smart IR isn't the best as the cameras get confused.
This may seem low but these cameras have good sensors, they don't require much light. I will say though, that these cameras (most Dahua) have terrible IR range, if you want to see the distant objects get a supplemental IR light and direct at an offset.
I know this will cause debate, but I initially use "Auto Exposure" as a baseline, before dialing in manual settings. After a firmware update\reset, I always go back to "Auto Exposure" take a baseline and then dial in the manual settings.

 

[Krieger]

Here it is later at night. The IR you see if from a camera that is mounted behind and to the left of what you are seeing, with the ir being cut off by a wall.

Illuminator: 0



Illuminator: 50


Illuminator: 100



Navy blue towel, and globe removed


Different towel, globe removed.



All other IR cameras off





It doesn't seem like the plant or the globe affect the picture that much. Turning off the other camera did change the picture, but it doesn't seem like it removed much fog. How would I go about checking the lens?

 

[wittaj]

I mentioned earlier did you confirm the black faceplate isn't loose and causing IR bounce up the lens?

Try popping the black faceplate off and see if it improves or not.

Check the seal around the lens and make sure it didn't come loose and letting IR bleed in.

Hold the camera at different angles and see if you see a smudge or smear on the lens. With IR it doesn't take much to cause weird bounce.

 

[Krieger]

As others have said, too much IR. Star as low as you can go and wind up, I am currently running 2 of mine on level ~10. I find with overlapping cameras even Smart IR isn't the best as the cameras get confused.
I know this will cause debate, but I initially use "Auto Exposure" as a baseline, before dialing in manual settings. After a firmware update\reset, I always go back to "Auto Exposure" take a baseline and then dial in the manual settings.

Even if I set IR to auto, it still blows it out like this. If I enable Smart IR, it crushes the entire picture, no matter how much I change exposure settings.

Smart IR on

 

[Krieger]

I mentioned earlier did you confirm the black faceplate isn't loose and causing IR bounce up the lens?

Try popping the black faceplate off and see if it improves or not.

Check the seal around the lens and make sure it didn't come loose and letting IR bleed in.

Hold the camera at different angles and see if you see a smudge or smear on the lens. With IR it doesn't take much to cause weird bounce.

I'll check that now.

 

[spammenotinoz]

Even if I set IR to auto, it still blows it out like this. If I enable Smart IR, it crushes the entire picture, no matter how much I change exposure settings.

Sorry I should have been clearer, I was referring to "auto exposure" not "auto IR". It looks like you have too much gain. I checked mine, and although I usually use Manual for Dahua, both are set to shutter priority (1/250) so I am running much faster shutter speeds than you, backlight is off. My IR is also set to 5 not 10, but as we know not all lighting conditions are the same.

 

[wittaj]

What does motion look like at night?

You must have a ton of light to run 1/250 with a 5442 and only 5 for infrared OR because you are running shutter priority instead of manual priority, the camera has upped the gain to 100 and you get ghosting with motion?

 

[Krieger]

Shutter is between 0-8.3 and gain is between 0-50, although I can turn it down to 30 and not get any degradation in illumination performance.



I cleaned the lenses of both cameras. The one on the right had a fingerprint smudge on it. I don't know how to remove the faceplate, but it seems solid on there and nothing is wiggling. It looks much better now. No idea a smudge on the lens could cause it to blow out like that at night but look perfectly fine during the day. I think I fixed it.

Cleaned Lens

 

[wittaj]

Glad you got it figured out.

Like I said, it doesn't take much for some weird IR bounce, so depending on your local conditions, you may need to periodically wipe the lens if they are suspect to dust or other objects.

You should see a dome camera with a microscopic rain drop lol.