messing with lpr night settings

[trapper]

I decided to try full color experiment on the lpr night time and it looks like I need to fine tune the picture. From your experience does the attached photo look like I can change the settings and keep the LPR on color for night time or just go back to black and white. current setting color
Picture all default except gamma 14
exposure 1/4000 gain 10/50
back light hcl
wb natural
focus manual.
as always thanks for any suggestions

 

[wittaj]

You might, but I would drop that shutter to 1/2,000 or 1/1,000 and see if it improves enough to read plates.

 

[trapper]

copy that thanks

 

[The Automation Guy]

The problem with using full color instead of IR is that you are relying on either ambient light or the vehicle's license plate light to provide enough illumination to capture the plates. You'll also miss most/all front plates because they don't usually have plate lights. With IR, once things are dialed in correctly you can consistently capture plates without having to rely on outside variables (ie is the vehicle's plate light working, etc). Added to that the fact that you generally need such a fast shutter speed to capture plates that the rest of the image is too dark to be useful, and the benefit of a color capture is basically lost.

While this is a fun experiment and I appreciate the fact that you are thinking outside the box, I think you will find that IR is much more consistent for plate captures. In the end, if you want color captures you should probably use the color camera as a more general overview of the street. This would allow you to capture car color much more consistently because you can set the overall exposure settings to capture the car detail while using a separate IR camera to set to capture the plate detail. It's virtually impossible to capture both with the same camera.

 

[Timokreon]

Definitely need quite a bit of light to capture color plates, but it is possible. I've been messing with color at night myself, and I'm not quite there, YET. I could use a little more light.

 

[trapper]

great this gives my hope. I don't mind night time B and W but I am just curious how dialed in I can get this.

 

[samplenhold]

I have a B5442E-Z4E as an overview cam at the T-intersection at my house. It gives a good wider angle shot of that intersection that one of my HFW5241E-Z12E cams cover for LPR. At night the Z12E is set for BW IR plate reading and does quite well.

The Z4E is set to color 24/7 and does well for getting the meta data on the cars.

Below you can see how it does with plates at night in color. Now I have a shit load (LPR Technical Term) of light on that corner. That black pole in the center is a streetlight. I also have a lot of light coming from my front porch at the corner.

Distance is an issue. Cars that do not turn into/out of the T-street do not show the plates at all. Cars turning onto or out of the T to/from the left do well.



But the front plate is not well imaged, as others have pointed out. Compare it to the LPR cam.

 

[Flintstone61]

LOL @ Shitload
I might be able to get " some" plates with my current Z4 out under that LED street light....but some angles put me at a disadvantage for color night. So If i get serious I should leave the Z4 in color, and go after plates in IR with my 5231 z12...." Shrub Cam" coming soon to a neighborhood near me...

 

[Flintstone61]

 

[Flintstone61]

ok i put it in 1/2000 B/w with zoom priority IR...let see what the hell happens...I only have an ass load of light....

 

[Flintstone61]

hmmm

 

[wittaj]

You need manual shutter - that pic has gain cranked up to 100 to try to brighten the image

 

[Flintstone61]

holy shit i got one...using manual settings.

 

[Flintstone61]

 

[Flintstone61]

When that tree blocks a headlight....I get a few frames that are a bit more defined, actually aids in reading the plate #'s

 

[Flintstone61]

Theres ole, CYE 884 going back the other way.....with a less crumpled back plate....much nicer read.....I hope I can get a high %age read from the 5231 Z12....I think to avoid getting the neighborhood on the rampage, I will have to be a bit more covert with the z12 install.
Sorry to jump on this Post lol...I'll stop now....good night....I don't think Color LPR would work higher than 70% at this intersection, given the 4 ways the cars can come at you....

 

[bigredfish]

I have a B5442E-Z4E as an overview cam at the T-intersection at my house. It gives a good wider angle shot of that intersection that one of my HFW5241E-Z12E cams cover for LPR. At night the Z12E is set for BW IR plate reading and does quite well.

The Z4E is set to color 24/7 and does well for getting the meta data on the cars.

Below you can see how it does with plates at night in color. Now I have a shit load (LPR Technical Term) of light on that corner. That black pole in the center is a streetlight. I also have a lot of light coming from my front porch at the corner.

Distance is an issue. Cars that do not turn into/out of the T-street do not show the plates at all. Cars turning onto or out of the T to/from the left do well.

View attachment 142334 View attachment 142333 View attachment 142331

But the front plate is not well imaged, as others have pointed out. Compare it to the LPR cam.

View attachment 142332 View attachment 142330

Not Fair. You have Texas Plate advantage. Black letters on white background the way God intended.

 

[samplenhold]

Not Fair. You have Texas Plate advantage. Black letters on white background the way God intended.

Yes, have TPA. But with all of the influx of new people coming into my subdivision, I have been getting some out of state plates with very poor IR contrast. One in particular from TN.

But we also have white letters on a black plate. Some are different, yet dark, colors but always have white letters.

 

[IReallyLikePizza2]

MORE ZOOOOOOOOOOOM!

 

[Flintstone61]

Moonshine state needs to make a livin somehow dammit....