Change Camera Configuration To Handle Different Times Of Day?

Undisclosed Distributor #1

Hi All,

I would like to say "hello to everybody here" due to this is my first post on IPVM. I have a question to ask all cctv experts here.

If we can save camera config to difference profile and run by schedule in 24 hours:

1. How many profile do we need to have ?

2. How difference camera config (Shutter speed, Gain value, DNR, WDR, contrast, Brightness,...) will be most effective in different lighting conditions (Ex. Day/Night/High light outdoor....) ?

Thank you in advance and waiting for your idea.

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John Honovich

IPVM | 01/18/14 08:43pm

Welcome! Thanks for a good question.

It depends on the scene about what specific settings to change. A few general tips though:

If you are monitoring moving objects in the dark, do not let the max shutter speed to be too slow (see: Camera Slow Shutter / Ghosting Tested
Gain control almost always will automatically be maxed in very dark conditions. This is generally the right thing to do as it at least let's you see something.
If your camera does not automatically disable WDR when it cuts to night mode, it is often worth turning it off, as it improves low light performance in many cameras.
If your cameras allow schedules or profiles, you might want to consider boosting the brightness at night. I do not think you will capture more details but it might 'look' better for an operator.

Finally, see our Day/Night Profiles for IP Cameras tutorial.

Ethan Ace

IPVM | 01/19/14 01:04am

The most profiles I've seen is 5, and that's Dahua. Brickcom has 3, I believe, for day, night, and twilight. I can't see more than three really being useful unless you have very different conditions at different times of the day.

The most useful things I've seen happen on different profiles are:

WDR switching, as John says. I think this is useful, because some people do want to keep it on at night, in special cases.
Image quality parameters like brightness and contrast. Lower contrast slightly, up brightness slightly. If you reduce sharpness, you can also drop bandwidth a little bit, because it will marginally decrease complexity in the image without really losing detail at night.

Atipat C.

01/19/14 05:21am

Hi John and Ethan,

Many thanks for your quick answer, and it is very useful.I will try to do as you recommended and feedback to you sooness. , however, outside the 3 profile you mentioned. Do you have any other ideas to make this function more useful in other environments application, such as traffic application or high backlight , please recommended the setting would be great.

Thank you in advance

John Honovich

IPVM | In reply to Marketing-PM Digitalcom | 01/19/14 05:24am

For 'high backlight', are you referring to strong sunlight shining into the camera, like rising or setting sun?

Marketing-PM Digitalcom

In reply to John Honovich | 01/19/14 05:39am

Hi John,

I mean incase need to open hight level WDR to see humen face or license plate(Night with head light or high light in the mid day), any other recommend about shutter speed , gain and any Image quality parameters?

Thank you.

John Honovich

IPVM | In reply to Marketing-PM Digitalcom | 01/19/14 06:40am

WDR is one of those things that a camera is typically good at or not. There's generally not a lot of improvements one can get as 'best' WDR levels are typically the default. You should be looking at / for 'true' multi-exposure WDR when selecting cameras (explained in our WDR tutorial and this Axis WDR note).

Head lights are a huge problem and, yes, they are a type of WDR issue, in that you have extremely bright areas (the headlights) next to extremely dark areas (the night background). We actually have a report just on that which you may find helpful. See: How to Handle Headlight Surveillance Problems

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