Some applications require IP cameras with a wide dynamic range (WDR). What is a wide dynamic range? It means that the video will look much better in situations where there are very wide light differences in the scene. You may have seen this type of problem, where you are viewing a person in front of a bright background. The background is clear, but the person is very dark and hard to see. The older IP (and analog) cameras used “Back Light” control to enhance the darker area (foreground) and ignore the background.
In this case, you can see the person but the background is lost in a bright haze. If there are people in the background you can’t see them. Today’s new IP cameras use a wide dynamic range to allow you to view both the foreground and background.
IP cameras with Wide Dynamic Range capability are the answer to monitoring areas where bright illumination coexists and contrasts with low light or shadows within the camera’s field of view. That’s why we’ve written about them and our sales engineers have recommended them so often. But who would believe one of Kintronics “very own” would find himself in a situation where a camera with WDR might have made things a lot easier for the detectives charged with identifying the suspects caught on a security camera?
IP surveillance camera systems are here to stay. You know it. We know it. Criminals know it. The Police know it. As we mentioned in our last post, the surveillance video can be supremely valuable to the police— or it can be totally worthless. To summon more of the former, and less of the latter, police department after police department has taken to giving advice and offering assistance to citizens wishing to install cameras. They all cite the same three factors that can make or break a video’s forensic value.
