Why the huge differences in IPC-T5442TM-AS video output

[Sybertiger]

I've played around with the CAMERA > COLOR > SETTINGS but haven't found a combination that thrills me just yet. Seeking some help/suggestions. Here are three T5442TM-AS cams that are closely located to each other...one on the left side, center and right side of the garage. Notice the huge differences in the "quality" of the image. I'd say the first image below best represents what my eyes see. The second image over the driveway is dark/dingy. The third image is a combination of the first two...not great, not bad. All the images you see below are with the cams at their default settings.

 

[djernie]

You said all cameras are on default, but you also said you played with color settings on the first image. I think it may have something to do with that shade tree in the first shot. Make sure that your cameras saved your settings when you set them to default. Just my two cents. The center camera seems a bit dark. Is the sun directly on it in that shot.

 

[Midway]

I’ve just installed a couple of those cameras as well and need to go through the learning curve on how best to set them up so looking forward to replies.

I am a photographer though and the cameras have some type of auto exposure. What I don’t know is how many and how wide is the pattern the auto exposure uses. By the looks of the images, the auto exposure takes a fairly small center weighted sample from the image and exposes the entire image off that reading.

The first image with a reading off the shaded grass would overexpose the sunlight area. The other two are taking a reading off of the sidewalk and lighter dirt and road that are both in direct sunlight resulting in underexposure in the shaded areas.

Backlight, gamma, exposure, shutter speed, brightness, contrast, etc. Can all help adjust but I have yet to play with many of them. Hope you get some responses on what others have done in settings similar to yours.

 

[windguy]

Have you tried different BACKLIGHT settings?
I have two of the same T5542's setup (and two not setup yet) and BLC and WDR has helped somewhat balance out shading/sunny lighting.

BTW - Nice looking neighborhood you have in Orlando.

 

[djernie]

You said all cameras are on default, but you also said you played with color settings on the first image. I think it may have something to do with that shade tree in the first shot. Make sure that your cameras saved your settings when you set them to default. Just my two cents. The center camera seems a bit dark. Is the sun directly on it in that shot.

 

[djernie]

Here is a current pic - and my current settings on my IPC T5442TM-AS-LED, there is no sun today and it is about to rain.

 

[Sybertiger]

I’ve just installed a couple of those cameras as well and need to go through the learning curve on how best to set them up so looking forward to replies.

I am a photographer though and the cameras have some type of auto exposure. What I don’t know is how many and how wide is the pattern the auto exposure uses. By the looks of the images, the auto exposure takes a fairly small center weighted sample from the image and exposes the entire image off that reading.

The first image with a reading off the shaded grass would overexpose the sunlight area. The other two are taking a reading off of the sidewalk and lighter dirt and road that are both in direct sunlight resulting in underexposure in the shaded areas.

Backlight, gamma, exposure, shutter speed, brightness, contrast, etc. Can all help adjust but I have yet to play with many of them. Hope you get some responses on what others have done in settings similar to yours.

Yup, that what I was thinking too about the shade under the tree versus the other two cams with very bright sun. Likely you are correct that the weighting is too center focused. I played with various settings but never found settings to get closer to the first image which isn't perfect but close to what my eyes see. After fooling around with the settings and being unsatisfied with my attempts I simply set them back to factory settings so I could show y'all what the video output looks like with identical model cams that are only 15 feet apart.

 

[bp2008]

The main problem here is that you have not enabled WDR, or have it at a very low setting. Find WDR in the Backlight category and set it to around 50. I believe 44 is a cutoff point, below that WDR uses a different, less effective mode of operating. At least on some Dahua cams.

 

[Sybertiger]

The main problem here is that you have not enabled WDR, or have it at a very low setting. Find WDR in the Backlight category and set it to around 50. I believe 44 is a cutoff point, below that WDR uses a different, less effective mode of operating. At least on some Dahua cams.

Yup, that's the ticket! I went ahead and changed all three to WDR at 20. It's the baseline I needed such that the other settings (Picture, Exposure) now allow me to tweak it more properly. I realize that the sun has shifted since my initial pics but here are the updated pics with WDR-20 as my baseline...now I'll start tweaking.

 

[djernie]

Much better.

 

[weigle2]

FWIW = Looking at your PROFILE setting, I would switch it to DAY/NIGHT. Using this setting you will be able to set up 2 different sets of settings, and have the internal IR come automatically, or go off when the sun comes up. When using IR, I have always found that BLC for backlight control works very nicely at night. Settings for these are very 'tuneable' to give the best images for day or night viewing. I love mine now, using this feature.

 

[Sybertiger]

FWIW = Looking at your PROFILE setting, I would switch it to DAY/NIGHT. Using this setting you will be able to set up 2 different sets of settings, and have the internal IR come automatically, or go off when the sun comes up. When using IR, I have always found that BLC for backlight control works very nicely at night. Settings for these are very 'tuneable' to give the best images for day or night viewing. I love mine now, using this feature.

Thanks for that tip... Already been using Day/Night but I'll check out BLC for nighttime to see if IR mode works even better.