Preview mode is ideal for installers when fine tuning the camera view during the installation. No login is required to access the camera view in preview mode. It is available only in factory defaulted state for a limited time from powering up the device.
To improve image quality for specific surveillance scenes, use exposure modes. Exposure modes lets you control aperture, shutter speed, and gain. Go to Video > Image > Exposure and select between the following exposure modes:
Your camera uses visible light to deliver color images during the day. But as the visible light diminishes, color images become less bright and clear. If you switch to night mode when this happens, the camera uses both visible and near-infrared light to deliver bright and detailed black-and-white images instead. You can set the camera to switch to night mode automatically.
Dynamic range is the difference in light levels in an image. In some cases the difference between the darkest and the brightest areas can be significant. The result is often an image where either the dark or the bright areas are visible. Wide dynamic range (WDR) makes both dark and bright areas of the image visible.
You can create rules to make your device perform an action when certain events occur. A rule consists of conditions and actions. The conditions can be used to trigger the actions. For example, the device can start a recording or send an email when it detects motion, or show an overlay text while the device is recording.
This example explains how to set up the camera to start recording to the SD card when the camera detects an object. The recording will include five seconds before detection and one minute after detection ends.
Shows what kind of access to the device that is active, what encryption protocols are in use, and if unsigned apps are allowed. Recommendations to the settings are based on the AXIS OS Hardening Guide.
Starts the washer. When the sequence starts, the camera moves to the configured position to receive the wash spray. When the whole wash sequence is completed, the camera returns to its previous position. This icon is only visible when the washer is connected and configured.
Pixel counter: Click to show the pixel counter. Drag and resize the box to contain your area of interest. You can also define the pixel size of the box in the Width and Height fields.
Capture mode: A capture mode is a preset configuration that defines how the camera captures images. When you change the capture mode, it can affect many other settings, such as view areas and privacy masks.
Power line frequency: To minimize image flicker, select the frequency your region uses. The American regions usually use 60 Hz. The rest of the world mostly uses 50 Hz. If you're not sure of your region's power line frequency, check with the local authorities.
Scene profile: Select a scene profile that suits your surveillance scenario. A scene profile optimizes image settings, including color level, brightness, sharpness, contrast, and local contrast, for a specific environment or purpose.
Sharpness: Use the slider to make objects in the image appear sharper by adjusting the edge contrast. If you increase the sharpness, it may increase the bitrate and the amount of storage space needed as well.
Tone mapping: Use the slider to adjust the amount of tone mapping that is applied to the image. If the value is set to zero, only the standard gamma correction is applied, while a higher value increases the visibility of the darkest and brightest parts in the image.
When the camera detects the color temperature of the incoming light, it can adjust the image to make the colors look more natural. If this is not sufficient, you can select a suitable light source from the list.
The automatic white balance setting reduces the risk of color flicker by adapting to changes gradually. If the lighting changes, or when the camera is first started, it can take up to 30 seconds to adapt to the new light source. If there is more than one type of light source in a scene, that is, they differ in color temperature, the dominating light source acts as a reference for the automatic white balance algorithm. This behavior can be overridden by choosing a fixed white balance setting that matches the light source you want to use as a reference.
Manual: Fix the white balance with the help of a white object. Drag the circle to an object that you want the camera to interpret as white in the live view image. Use the Red balance and Blue balance sliders to adjust the white balance manually.
Synchronize illumination: Turn on to automatically synchronize the illumination with the surrounding light. The synchronization between day and night only works if the IR-cut filter is set to Auto or Off.
Select an exposure mode to reduce rapidly changing irregular effects in the image, for example, flicker produced by different types of light sources. We recommend you to use the automatic exposure mode, or the same frequency as your power network.
Max shutter: Select the shutter speed to provide the best image. Low shutter speeds (longer exposure) might cause motion blur when there is movement, and a too high shutter speed might affect the image quality. Max shutter works with max gain to improve the image.
Max gain: Select the suitable max gain. If you increase the max gain, it improves the visible level of detail in dark images, but also increases the noise level. More noise can also result in increased use of bandwidth and storage. If you set the max gain to a high value, images can differ a lot if the light conditions are very different from day to night. Max gain works with max shutter to improve the image.
Blur-noise trade-off: Use the slider to adjust the priority between motion blur and noise. If you want to prioritize low bandwidth and have less noise at the expense of details in moving objects, move the slider towards Low noise. If you want to prioritize the preservation of details in moving objects at the expense of noise and bandwidth, move the slider towards Low motion blur.
Lock aperture: Turn on to keep the aperture size set by the Aperture slider. Turn off to allow the camera to automatically adjust the aperture size. You can, for example, lock the aperture for scenes with permanent light conditions.
Aperture: Use the slider to adjust the aperture size, that is, how much light passes through the lens. To allow more light to enter the sensor and thereby produce a brighter image in low-light conditions, move the slider towards Open. An open aperture also reduces the depth of field, which means that objects close to or far from the camera can appear unfocused. To allow more of the image to be in focus, move the slider towards Closed.
Barrel distortion correction (BDC): Turn on to get a straighter image if it suffers from barrel distortion. Barrel distortion is a lens effect that makes the image appear curved and bent outwards. The condition is seen more clearly when the image is zoomed out.
Crop: Use the slider to adjust the correction level. A lower level means that the image width is kept at the expense of image height and resolution. A higher level means that image height and resolution are kept at the expense of image width.
Remove distortion: Use the slider to adjust the correction level. Pucker means that the image width is kept at the expense of image height and resolution. Bloat means that image height and resolution are kept at the expense of image width.
Image stabilization: Turn on to get a smoother and steadier image with less blur. We recommend that you use image stabilization in environments where the device is mounted in an exposed location and subject to vibrations due to, for example, wind or passing traffic.
Focal length: Use the slider to adjust the focal length. A higher value leads to higher magnification and a narrower angle of view, while a lower value leads to a lower magnification and a wider angle of view.
Stabilizer margin: Use the slider to adjust the size of the stabilizer margin, which determines the level of vibration to stabilize. If the product is mounted in an environment with a lot of vibration, move the slider towards Max. As a result, a smaller scene is captured. If the environment has less vibration, move the slider towards Min.
Frame rate: To avoid bandwidth problems on the network or reduce storage size, you can limit the frame rate to a fixed amount. If you leave the frame rate at zero, the frame rate is kept at the highest possible rate under the current conditions. A higher frame rate requires more bandwidth and storage capacity.
P-frames: A P-frame is a predicted image that shows only the changes in the image from the previous frame. Enter the desired number of P-frames. The higher the number, the less bandwidth is required. However, if there is network congestion, there could be a noticeable deterioration in the video quality.
Compression: Use the slider to adjust the image compression. High compression results in a lower bitrate and lower image quality. Low compression improves the image quality, but uses more bandwidth and storage when you record.
Zipstream is a bitrate reduction technology, optimized for video surveillance, that reduces the average bitrate in an H.264 or H.265 stream in real time. Axis Zipstream applies a high bitrate in scenes where there are multiple regions of interest, for example, in scenes with moving objects. When the scene is more static, Zipstream applies a lower bitrate, and thereby reduces the required storage. To learn more, see Reducing the bit rate with Axis Zipstream
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