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Has anyone tried the new Axis P32 Series (P3228-LVE)?

dbmdbm
edited January 2018 in Cameras
Has anyone tried the Axis P32 Series (P3228-LVE)? Axis calls it a "streamlined outdoor-ready 4K fixed dome for any light conditions." It looks like it was released in mid-2017. Here's the link: https://www.axis.com/tr/en/products/axis-p3228-lve

The purpose is outdoor surveillance, specifically license plate capture after an instance of theft and vandalism in our neighborhood last week. My Hikvision camera (4MP) mounted on the garage and aimed at the street 100' away identified the color, make, and model of the vehicle but not, alas, the license plate. So it's time to add a camera at the *end* of the driveway by the street. Also the Axis is about twice the resolution (though at about twice the price). I already have one IR floodlight illuminating the front yard and can add another aimed at the street.

I'm confident that it will work fine with SecuritySpy. But has anyone tried it and used it for license plate capture? Is the resolution and quality really worth the money? Thanks!

Comments

  • I don't have any direct experience with this camera, but it does look great and will certainly work well with SecuritySpy. Please post back with your experiences if you do decide to go for this camera.
  • Thanks, Ben! I just ordered two of the Axis P32 cameras and the Bosch IR Illuminator 5000 SR (850nm).

    I have one of the Bosch UFLED95-8BD AEGIS illuminators already, which works pretty well, but the only one B&H has in stock is the 5000 SR. Looks like the AEGIS may have been discontinued. Anyway, I'm going to try to do the wiring this weekend and, if all goes well, can let you know how the setup works...
  • Update: The Axis P32 arrived today and it's a beautiful camera. Solid metal frame and a lot more features than the existing Axis and Hikvision cameras that I have. Of course it costs 2x-3x as much! I guess you get what you pay for. SecuritySpy recognized it right away.

    I haven't installed it yet so don't know how good it will perform with license plates, especially at night even with the external IR emitter...
  • Sounds great! Thanks for reporting back. Yes, Axis cameras are more expensive than others, but you can be assured of a high-quality product when you buy one.
  • So I now have the Cat6 run to the end of the driveway and to this amazing new top-of-the-line Axis P32 camera, and the results are... not good.

    Here's a video:
    https://photos.app.goo.gl/qGtRUVzSBmrGsK2j1

    To be fair, it's rainy, it's getting late in the day, and the camera is zoomed out. Zooming in should help it a little because there would be (as one of my neighbors suggested) more pixels per radian.

    But the real problem seems to be the shutter speed or the frame rate? It sure looks likes motion blur to me. The still images are also blurry: https://photos.app.goo.gl/LDmETO6IQ2ZSpb882

    The settings on the camera seem normal: https://photos.app.goo.gl/88VU91pfjfKGsskK2

    SecuritySpy says the camera is sending images at 30fps. But it sure doesn't look like 30fps.

    Could the problem be that the late-2013 2.7 GhZ Intel Core i5 iMac that SecuritySpy is running on is overloaded? It's also handling five other lower-res Hikvision and Axis cameras. The 'uptime' command from the shell gives me a load average of ~3.0, up from ~2.1 before the new Axis was added. Activity Monitor reports ~18% system, ~26% user, and ~56% idle. That doesn't seem like it should be a problem, but something is very not right here.

    Any suggestions, anyone?
  • Lens cover looks wet. Might take some time tweak the settings just right. No doubt it's a nice camera and your system does not look over taxed. Maybe make a rain shield. It does look like water blur.
  • I agree with @meatsuit - it looks like the camera's dome is wet or dirty. To really see the true quality, make sure to clean and dry it thoroughly (and check the inside of the dome too in case any water/dirt got in there).

    If this is an ongoing problem, some kind of shield/cover would be the way to go.

    I would also comment that 30fps is excessively high for normal CCTV purposes, and this would be unnecessarily loading your Mac's CPU for little benefit. I would recommend 10fps as a starting point.

    I would be interested to see new pictures after you have cleaned/dried the dome!
  • dbmdbm
    edited January 2018
    Ben, meatsuit: Thanks for your replies. My first thought was that 30fps on this Axis camera just isn't fast enough for license plate reading. But I checked and there are commercial LPR products that use only 30fps Axis cameras.

    For instance, here's one that uses the Axis Q1604 camera to capture license plates (apparently at only 10fps!) at up to 40mph:
    http://www.ipconfigure.com/pdf - main/datasheets/Backup-Datasheet-LPR.pdf

    The now-discontinued Axis Q1604 camera is only 1.4 megapixels and with a maximum of 30fps:
    https://www.axis.com/files/manuals/um_q1604_1463739_en_1505.pdf

    So it seems like either the dome is wet and dirty, as you folks pointed out (there is a shield that I have not installed yet--the install remains a work in progress). Or cars are going faster than 40mph. I just did a quick search and many of the less expensive LPR products seem to support maximum speeds of only 35mph to 40mph...
  • I figured out my problem--user error. I've been conflating frame rate with shutter speed. For license plate capture, you need a fast shutter speed, something like 1/500th a second.

    The camera's shutter speed had been set to factory settings of 1/30th a second. It *can* go up to 1/62,500th of a second if you're, say, capturing the Red Baron diving out of the sun.

    I've increased the shutter speed, adjusted the angle, zoomed in, installed the shield, and now it seems to work acceptably well. It's not quite as good as I'd like, but I think it will be enough to give the sheriff's deputies a lead, at least in daylight.

    Here's a still image:
    https://photos.app.goo.gl/XFGVyti8HNTJN6df2

    In terms of night vision, the electricians have encountered a literal snag inside the second conduit and haven't been able to run 120V for the IR emitter yet.

    Maybe I won't need this PoE Bosch camera after all!
    https://us.boschsecurity.com/en/products/videosystems/analogcameras/specialcameras_1/dinioncapture5000_1/dinioncapture5000_1_21091

    PS: Think the Bosch will work with SecuritySpy?
  • Good to hear things are working better now. The faster the shutter speed the less motion blur, so this will indeed help to capture car license plates better. But note that faster shutter speeds provide the sensor with less light per frame, which will increase the amount of noise in the image. 1/500th sounds very short - see if you can reduce this a little (perhaps 1/250?) and still get reasonable resistance to motion blur.

    Bosch cameras all support ONVIF so I don't think you'll have any problems with these and SecuritySpy.
  • An update: The Axis camera is able to capture license plates at night. No need to spend 2x as much for the Bosch! Here are two photos, including one front and one rear plate:
    https://photos.app.goo.gl/jCjdFSlaxENcw1hI3
    https://photos.app.goo.gl/NP8flZpzscUIWL4d2

    I think this is primarily via the on-camera IR. I unclogged the second 2" conduit and now have 120V run to the street for the Bosch IR emitter. But I still need to fine-tune the direction and add the factory diffuser to widen the beam.
  • has this continued to be good? Did you add the IR emitter?
  • caseyd: Yep, the Axis camera + Bosch IR emitter continue to work well at night. I'd recommend them with SecuritySpy. Here's a capture from a few minutes ago: https://photos.app.goo.gl/eW3G6JerVXXWt8cJ7
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