Is WDR worth it?

[edselrt 0]

I need your help guys.

I could not decide if I will get a camera with a WDR( double scanning CCD) or just a camera with a TDN (true day and night). This is for a residential install. All cameras will be installed outside on a soffit covering the perimeter of the house. I was thinking WDR is overkill for this situation because the lighting is even. At daytime its brighter but I was thinking the auto iris lens would compensate for that.

I don't want my customer to spend extra money for something that he doesn't need.

 

Any opinion?

 

Thanks

[rory 0]

Most WDR dont even work as advertised, and in your case a good day night seems like what is really needed.

[edselrt 0]

Most WDR dont even work as advertised, and in your case a good day night seems like what is really needed.

 

thanks Rory

[WRS_Mark 0]

 

 

I know this is an indoor setting with the sun shining in through the door window, but the same rings true if it is someone walking up in front of headlights in an outdoor setting.

[rory 0]

 

 

I know this is an indoor setting with the sun shining in through the door window, but the same rings true if it is someone walking up in front of headlights in an outdoor setting.

Problem is, most progressive scan WDR cameras are terrible under low low situations, really not that great for outdoor day night apps. Also they suck at picking up really dark faces. I did the whole headlights test with for example the CNB Blue-i's (progressive scan) and it failed miserably. I cant speak for WDR such as the Panasonic's though.

 

Also going by those youtube videos, he only needed a camera with good BLC. Besides thats a small room, a small door entrance, and a bright faced guy coming through it. Plus its really not that great, nothing much any camera that has lighting in the room can do anyway - the real issue is when the room the camera is inside is dark or dim.

 

I did WDR in a store for the front door and the BLC was actually better, especially as it saw really dark faces, which the WDR did not. Also BLC let us see outside when someone was there. It even picks up the cars as they pass.

 

I also did a warehouse recently and particularly the loading dock doors, yes I can see in and out but cant see hardly anyone's face (warehouse is really dim so backlighting is a major issue there). See it depends really, with the store WDR If I came out more, their face would have been brighter, but I wanted to only get the door for a good sized capture of the face. In the warehouse i had 2, both covering 2 doors each, both zoomed to different focal lengths, one was not that bad, the other could barely make out a persons face (silhouette). If you play with the zoom some could get it better, but that defeats the purpose of the camera, which is, it should just work.

 

Bottom line is the WDR camera cant always be zoomed in for the perfect WDR position when dealing with real world apps. I think the manufacturers are tripping down on that. Also if one watches many other WDR samples on youtube, especially warehouses and loading docks, they would see it really doesnt work that great, not like WDR progressive scan is made out to be anyway. In fact in the case of the CNB and testing Monalisa's with Backlighting against their Blue-i's WDR, the monalisa tends to win. Ahhh .. marketing.

 

I know one thing, im not wasting any more money on them ... maybe panasonic . but even them, this same warehouse app has existing pano WDRs that also have issues on the other loading dock doors, at $800-1000 a camera (local end user cost) .. kind of gonna probably not use those either. Plus as mentioned their night time capabilities do not match most decent TDN cameras.

 

I have a video test I did of the WDR at the store, comparing it between no BLC, BLC, and WDR, with a number of different shades of faces and situations (people inside, people outside etc). Its not online though as its a private video (but I could send the link if someone wanted to see it).

 

Ok I dug up some snapshots;

 

no WDR, no BLC

 

WDR

 

BLC

[Birdman Adam 0]

IMO the WDR helped a lot from the first pic to the second - compare the mans clothes in the second to the ladies in the first. It's certainly not perfect though.

 

What I would want there is the WDR + medium BLC!

[Soundy 1]

Panasonic's SuperDynamic feature is like WDR on steriods. Had a CP484 "SuperDynamic III" on one job that a previous installer had set up without ALC or SDIII enabled... I put a longer lens on it for a tighter shot and enabled the SD3. Makes a big difference:

 

 

[rory 0]

Yeah but they all have white faces ... thats cheating

[Soundy 1]

Yeah, well, this is in Richmond, aka "Hongcouver" - it's the center of the local Asian community, so it's pretty much all light-colored skin thereabouts.

[rory 0]

I must say though, at least they all look very happy

Bunch of depressed people around these clubs, or they put on those tough guy faces like they have no emotion

[ak357 0]

Panasonic's SuperDynamic feature is like WDR on steriods. Had a CP484 "SuperDynamic III" on one job that a previous installer had set up without ALC or SDIII enabled... I put a longer lens on it for a tighter shot and enabled the SD3. Makes a big difference:

 

PC based ? Standalone ? IP server ?

what do u use to capture ?

hope your customer like this pix

[Malloot 0]

For backlit situations, I prefer the JVC WD310 camera, I never had a camera in my hand that performed better in the most bright backlit situations than this camera.

 

The downside of this camera is the low lux performance.

 

But damn, this camera impresses me over and over again.