Help: How can I improve my camera settings? IPC-T5442T-ZE
- Thread starter alwaysoff
- Start date
EMPIRETECANDY
IPCT Vendor
@MikeLud1 shared his setting on this link. But mainly have to be based on your using environement
ipcamtalk.com
Caught My First Door Checker With My New 5442 Andy Cams
Got my 5421 z12e installed. Directly under my 5442 2.8.. did a bunch of snip & sketch on captured license plates to a USB thumb. Then I was going to be all fancy and put it on this thread and then I forgot the thumb drive at work.:banghead:
Alaska Country
Getting comfortable
Try using WDR at 1 to open up the shadows. IMO BLC should be used for night settings to help reduce bright lights. A setting for night BLC could be about 50 depending on camera and outside lighting conditions.
Also increase the shutter speed from 1/125 to 1/250. i.e. from 0 - 8 to 0 - 4 to create a sharper image with movement.
Move 2D from 18 to 10 and see if it makes any difference.
Each camera and local lighting conditions are different. Cloudy vs bright. In many cases it comes down to a matter of what you want the image to look like, etc.
Jim
Also increase the shutter speed from 1/125 to 1/250. i.e. from 0 - 8 to 0 - 4 to create a sharper image with movement.
Move 2D from 18 to 10 and see if it makes any difference.
Each camera and local lighting conditions are different. Cloudy vs bright. In many cases it comes down to a matter of what you want the image to look like, etc.
Jim
alwaysoff
Getting the hang of it
Thanks for all your tips. What shutter speed + gain range would you suggest for night time?
Alaska Country
Getting comfortable
Night camera use is a real can of worms. A lot of variables to say the least. It is also one of the tougher nuts to crack!
IR settings will be different than setting with a nearby street light plus it also depends on what your needs are. Is it a static image, moving cars, color or B/W and how far away are the points of interest from the light source. Considering all the variables it is most difficult to prescribe settings that will work for your needs. Would suggest, if movement is a priority, then the fastest shutter speed( 0-4) based on lighting conditions. Keep gain in the range of 50 to 70 to the extent of keeping noise reasonable in the image. HLC about 50 or so. Some cameras can be pushed for gain while others can not.
If 0-4 manual shutter is too dark, then decrease shutter speed a little at a time to (0-10) but note that movement will be become blurry. Then add more gain and try again. There is generally a sweet spot but it will take time to achieve.
Jim
it comes down to configuring your camera and dialing it in to your field of view and using a test subject to walk around while you are adjusting.
Auto/default settings are usually going to be problematic. Auto shutter at night was probably a motion blur ghost and didn't look like a human.
And some field of views will be problematic as well. YMMV.
In my opinion, shutter and gain are the two most important and then base the others off of it. Shutter is more important than FPS. It is the shutter speed that prevents motion blur, not FPS. 15 FPS is more than enough for surveillance cameras as we are not producing Hollywood movies. Match iframes to FPS.
Many people do not realize there is manual shutter that lets you adjust shutter and gain and a shutter priority that only lets you adjust shutter speed but not gain. The higher the gain, the bigger the noise and see-through ghosting start to appear because the noise is amplified. Most people select shutter priority and run a faster shutter than they should because it is likely being done at 100 gain, so it is actually defeating their purpose of a faster shutter.
Go into shutter settings and change to manual shutter and start with custom shutter as ms and change to 0-8.3ms and gain 0-50 (night) and 0-30 (day)for starters. Auto could have a shutter speed of 100ms or more with a gain at 100 and shutter priority could result in gain up at 100 which will contribute to significant ghosting and that blinding white you will get from the infrared.
Now what you will notice immediately at night is that your image gets A LOT darker. That faster the shutter, the more light that is needed. But it is a balance. The nice bright night image results in Casper during motion LOL. What do we want, a nice static image or a clean image when there is motion introduced to the scene?
So if it is too dark, then start adding ms to the time. Go to 10ms, 12ms, etc. until you find what you feel is acceptable as an image. Then have someone walk around and see if you can get a clean shot. Try not to go above 16.67ms (but certainly not above 30ms) as that tends to be the point where blur starts to occur. Conversely, if it is still bright, then drop down in time to get a faster shutter.
You can also adjust brightness and contrast to improve the image.
You can also add some gain to brighten the image - but the higher the gain, the more ghosting you get. Some cameras can go to 70 or so before it is an issue and some can't go over 50.
But adjusting those two settings will have the biggest impact. The next one is noise reduction. Want to keep that as low as possible. Depending on the amount of light you have, you might be able to get down to 40 or so at night (again camera dependent) and 20-30 during the day, but take it as low as you can before it gets too noisy. Again this one is a balance as well. Too smooth and no noise can result in soft images and contribute to blur.
Do not use backlight features until you have exhausted every other parameter setting. And if you do have to use backlight, take it down as low as possible.
After every setting adjustment, have someone walk around outside and see if you can freeze-frame to get a clean image. If not, keep changing until you do. Clean motion pictures are what we are after, not a clean static image.
Auto/default settings are usually going to be problematic. Auto shutter at night was probably a motion blur ghost and didn't look like a human.
And some field of views will be problematic as well. YMMV.
In my opinion, shutter and gain are the two most important and then base the others off of it. Shutter is more important than FPS. It is the shutter speed that prevents motion blur, not FPS. 15 FPS is more than enough for surveillance cameras as we are not producing Hollywood movies. Match iframes to FPS.
Many people do not realize there is manual shutter that lets you adjust shutter and gain and a shutter priority that only lets you adjust shutter speed but not gain. The higher the gain, the bigger the noise and see-through ghosting start to appear because the noise is amplified. Most people select shutter priority and run a faster shutter than they should because it is likely being done at 100 gain, so it is actually defeating their purpose of a faster shutter.
Go into shutter settings and change to manual shutter and start with custom shutter as ms and change to 0-8.3ms and gain 0-50 (night) and 0-30 (day)for starters. Auto could have a shutter speed of 100ms or more with a gain at 100 and shutter priority could result in gain up at 100 which will contribute to significant ghosting and that blinding white you will get from the infrared.
Now what you will notice immediately at night is that your image gets A LOT darker. That faster the shutter, the more light that is needed. But it is a balance. The nice bright night image results in Casper during motion LOL. What do we want, a nice static image or a clean image when there is motion introduced to the scene?
So if it is too dark, then start adding ms to the time. Go to 10ms, 12ms, etc. until you find what you feel is acceptable as an image. Then have someone walk around and see if you can get a clean shot. Try not to go above 16.67ms (but certainly not above 30ms) as that tends to be the point where blur starts to occur. Conversely, if it is still bright, then drop down in time to get a faster shutter.
You can also adjust brightness and contrast to improve the image.
You can also add some gain to brighten the image - but the higher the gain, the more ghosting you get. Some cameras can go to 70 or so before it is an issue and some can't go over 50.
But adjusting those two settings will have the biggest impact. The next one is noise reduction. Want to keep that as low as possible. Depending on the amount of light you have, you might be able to get down to 40 or so at night (again camera dependent) and 20-30 during the day, but take it as low as you can before it gets too noisy. Again this one is a balance as well. Too smooth and no noise can result in soft images and contribute to blur.
Do not use backlight features until you have exhausted every other parameter setting. And if you do have to use backlight, take it down as low as possible.
After every setting adjustment, have someone walk around outside and see if you can freeze-frame to get a clean image. If not, keep changing until you do. Clean motion pictures are what we are after, not a clean static image.
Really nice summary, thanks. Bookmarked for when the tweaking begins for the new camera.
*One thing which seems to become clear to someone new to these cameras is that even a cursory foundation in photography is helpful. Not sure why, but that surprised me, but it makes perfect sense.
Interesting you say that, because most of the time those with a photography background struggle with these types of cameras because they need to rethink/relearn what settings mean in these cameras versus DSLR cameras.
It's fortuitous. The mere fact that I made the assumption in the first place may just end up placing me in the top 1 percentile here where IPC acumen applies.
haha
IAmATeaf
Known around here
@Alaska Country if I set my cam to 0-4 or even 0-10 I’d end up with an almost black stream even after upping the gain.
I know it will vary on your own use case but I tend to follow @wittaj s recommendation and start at 12 and increase until I get to a point where I’m happy.
I know it will vary on your own use case but I tend to follow @wittaj s recommendation and start at 12 and increase until I get to a point where I’m happy.