Low-light struggles / improving image quality.

[kolbasz]

Nice. I like the apparent dark capabilities.

I have 2 5442 and they are good, but it could be better. Is the IPC-B54IR-Z4E-S3 a newer/better camera for night captures?

 

[steve1225]

Nice. I like the apparent dark capabilities.

I have 2 5442 and they are good, but it could be better. Is the IPC-B54IR-Z4E-S3 a newer/better camera for night captures?

if you have 5442 in S3 variant (white/blue web GUI interface) - it's the same...
if older one (grey web GUI interface) - then newer...

Z4E means that this model have strong telephoto lenses - with zoom range 2x to 6x comparing to iPhone...

 

[kolbasz]

I have the old gray version that has to be managed with ie.

So this is just newer, but similar capabilities

 

[EagleEye7]

Here are some night captures showing various specimens walking past on the path.

This was the 20th/21st (took a while to process the video), so I am unsure exactly what settings it was running - probably very similar to what I showed a few posts back. I still have to try and tweak the focus at night. I am not sure exactly what DoF to expect, but I am assuming if I focus to the gatepost, this will provide decent focus on people just inside / outside the gateway?

Do we think this could be considered identify standard yet?

I have noticed a little bit of ghosting on some of these images interestingly, not sure if that was there before...

 

[bigredfish]

Very good!

 

[looney2ns]

Looks good to me.

 

[EagleEye7]

Here are some folk at 1AM inspecting an item.


Settings:


Still a bit of face blur, not sure if this is motion-induced or likely just resolution (lack of, relatively speaking) blur. Anyway, I have since sped up the night shutter to 6ms, as there still seems to be enough light.

 

[bigredfish]

Looking very good.

What is the distance to the target?

Sorry if I missed but is there any added IR or just onboard ? and is their any street lights close by? Any ambient light help?

 

[steve1225]

Here are some folk at 1AM inspecting an item.
View attachment 225369

Settings:
View attachment 225370

Still a bit of face blur, not sure if this is motion-induced or likely just resolution (lack of, relatively speaking) blur. Anyway, I have since sped up the night shutter to 6ms, as there still seems to be enough light.

good picture...
if you want more details, the only solutions are optically zoom-in more and put there more light (white or IR)...

 

[EagleEye7]

What is the distance to the target?

Sorry if I missed but is there any added IR or just onboard ? and is their any street lights close by? Any ambient light help?

The distance is about 60ft to those targets, plus a bit to account for the height of the camera (2nd floor soffit). So not too bad considering camera position.

Mainly the onboard IR. The only additional light at in that example would be:

• IR from a small overview turret, but this is over 80ft away from those targets and at a pretty poor angle.
• There are streetlights vaguely nearby, but I am fairly certain they would be off at 1AM.

I may increase the optical zoom as an experiment, I think it has a tiny bit more in it, currently at 1177 zoom points. Likely a minimal difference though.

Also playing with the IVS setup, I currently have a tripwire across that pavement, but I have noticed it is missing some targets, especially at night. Still tweaking.

Overall very happy with the result.

 

[bigredfish]

We have very similar scenes as far as distance and light

I'm about 2/3 zoomed.
Center of street is 50, edge of porch across street is 65ish
I run 4-6ms and 10240 bitrate

 

[InstigatorX]

First impressions

1/3 sensor on 4MP is really so bad I would toss it and start over

Other

• Turn off Variable bitrate and use CBR (constant)
• turn off h.265 and use h.264 (or better h.264.h if it has it)
• increase bitrate from 4096 to at least 8192, better 10288
• exposure will need to be at least 1/50 preferably 1/100 or faster
• hopefully there's a Gain setting you can increase

I’m curious as to why h.264 over h.265?

 

[wittaj]

I’m curious as to why h.264 over h.265?

See this post:

Post in thread 'Best Camera Settings for Hilook NVR' Best Camera Settings for Hilook NVR

 

[Ri22o]

Also playing with the IVS setup, I currently have a tripwire across that pavement, but I have noticed it is missing some targets, especially at night. Still tweaking.

Overall very happy with the result.

Do you have an SD card in the camera? If not, I would recommend it. It's a good way to review footage with the IVS rules overlaid on top.

 

[bigredfish]

I’m curious as to why h.264 over h.265?

h.264H in real world use with our Dahua cameras, produces better video quality, and the savings claimed with h.265 aren't realized

 

[EagleEye7]

We have very similar scenes as far as distance and light

I'm about 2/3 zoomed.
Center of street is 50, edge of porch across street is 65ish
I run 4-6ms and 10240 bitrate

Very nice. You have a better angle of the street itself (of course the main purpose of my cam is people entering my driveway, but it's nice to capture them walking past too), and are possibly getting slightly better face captures. What is the best way to know if you are 'running out' of bitrate? Mine is currently 8192 CBR, with 15FPS.

Do you have an SD card in the camera? If not, I would recommend it. It's a good way to review footage with the IVS rules overlaid on top.

Currently, no. I have the 'Auto Upload' function pushing events to a server. I may do this though, to be able to review the footage with the IVS rules overlaid, as you mention.

 

[bigredfish]

Very nice. You have a better angle of the street itself (of course the main purpose of my cam is people entering my driveway, but it's nice to capture them walking past too), and are possibly getting slightly better face captures. What is the best way to know if you are 'running out' of bitrate? Mine is currently 8192 CBR, with 15FPS.


Currently, no. I have the 'Auto Upload' function pushing events to a server. I may do this though, to be able to review the footage with the IVS rules overlaid, as you mention.

No downside going to 10240 I didnt see any real improvement past that

 

[EagleEye7]

Now increased to 10240.

 

[JPmedia]

With some systems, like Lorex, they only give the option of H265 and 4096kb with their 8mp cameras. When there is a big change in the image (motion, exposure) it really pixelates and looks terrible. With H264H, there is no pixelization. I believe it's related to how the image is refreshed. I believe the reason they do this is the cheap low horsepower processor and outdated design. Found this out the hard way.

 

[EagleEye7]

Yes, I understand. I think currently my cam is set to plain H.264 - I am not sure what benefit H.264H brings?