There’s no such thing as a perfect picture
Putting up a security camera is a breeze. Anyone can do it. Anyone can do it. But a lot more is needed for a perfect camera image.
A perfect camera image meets the set objective. It provides images for overview, recognition or identification. Depending on the objective, the camera provides a wide overview or zooms in on the detail that interests you. Furthermore, the camera looks in the right direction and therefore shows the intended situation.
Based on these and all kinds of other criteria, we choose a type of camera. Fixed or controllable, with so many million pixels, with or without a motor zoom lens, etc. The choice, even if these kinds of criteria are set, is still enormous. But will you get the perfect shot from this carefully chosen camera? The answer is ‘No’.
After all, it is not only the (carefully) selected camera that determines the quality of the camera image. The circumstances under which any incidents have to be recorded also have an influence. It’s a lot easier to get a perfect camera view in a well-lit indoor space than in a casino with an overdose of flashing lights in all the colors of the rainbow. Often the conditions are not constant and changes must also be taken into account, such as switching lights and the changing position of the sun.
Overdose of institutions
Fortunately, cameras can be adjusted. This is at least as important an aspect. Without adjusting the ‘tricks’ in the software, no camera will give the optimal picture. Not surprising when you consider that this doesn’t work much differently in professional photography. Despite the use of very expensive cameras and lenses and a good dose of knowledge and experience, a photographer always gets to work with Photoshop afterwards; looking for the perfect picture.
The difference is that with security cameras, we can only do this in advance and therefore cannot respond to changing circumstances during the recording.
To optimize the camera image, the security camera’s software often contains an overdose of settings. Sharpness, colour settings and backlight correction (BackLightCompensation) are self-explanatory, but what do WDR, HLC, SSNR, Gain and 3DNR do? And do these features help optimize image quality?
Enhance image or mess up image?
It is going too far in this article to give a technical explanation of all these functions. In general, we can say that these settings can indeed improve the picture in certain circumstances. However, in a different situation with different circumstances, they mess up the image. Wide Dynamic Range Backlight Correction (WDR), for example, is a good solution if the camera is actually suffering from backlighting. But if you turn this function on permanently in an indoor area without backlighting, you will lose a lot of contrast in the image. If backlighting is a periodic problem (such as with sunlight), it is important to check at different times whether you still have the desired result. Some functions can be turned on or off based on a schedule. To make things even more complicated, some features affect other features. And with certain settings, functions are simply no longer available or visible. Fortunately, manufacturers generally use the same names for settings, but the effect of the setting is different for each manufacturer. In fact, it often differs per model from the same manufacturer. Backlight correction, for example, is a common concept, but the same setting does not always give the same result. Once you have optimized the camera image with the correct settings, you can save the entire configuration in a backup. That’s easy if the camera needs to be replaced. This must be exactly the same model, otherwise the configuration will no longer be correct. By the way, this backup is not usable to copy to other cameras in the system. After all, every camera position requires a different approach to image correction. So it’s a lot of work. You may be wondering if manufacturers can’t come up with a camera that automatically takes the perfect picture? As far as we know, they do not exist. There are cameras with forms of automatic correction, such as automatic white balance, but even these do not always give the desired result.
Conclusion
There are no cameras that just deliver the perfect picture. However, cameras do offer many setting options. However, they require thorough knowledge.
And if you think you have it all figured out, it is still necessary to test the cameras under different conditions. Subsequently, attention must also be paid to a periodic check of the camera image, as part of the maintenance contract. Finally, the perfect picture often has to do with personal preference.
What the system integrator finds beautiful and functional, the end user does not necessarily like. And it ultimately decides. Good consultation with the end user is therefore necessary.