Panasonic WV-NP502 vs. 484

Panasonic 484 (i.e. analog cam) at 2x sense up (1/30s) and WV-NP502 (IP cam) at 1/30s. Lighting outside is spillover from a fluorescent flood.

Wow.

Does the IP cam have an option for 2x sense up?

Thanks for the comparison. I have the 484 and am looking at a few diff IP cams to replace it.

For my purposes, I would not want a shutter speed below 1/30s. Elsewhere I do not use sense up. The stairs limit how fast someone can move in that area. The 502 will allow you to select slower shutter speeds but that would only be useful for a blurred image.

For whatever reason, the Axis P1344/3344 tends to set the exposure and shutter speeds much better than Panasonic or Arecont. Also Axis allows you to control the camera with server commands etc, pretty cool stuff. And they provide actual quality support...

The IP cams I've tried need significant added visible or IR to get the same picture at the same shutter speed as a good analog cam. I've seen lots of examples on this forum (and elsewhere) but very few people seem to specify the shutter speed used, which is important to make the right decision. This is why I've posted so many examples comparing to a Bosch LTC0355, which can be had used for $5 or less.

If you go the IP route and plan on good pics at night I'd budget some money for quality illumination (and the electricity to run it). This adds up quickly, so I run a mixture of IP and analog (digitized with Axis 241 and 243 servers that I bought used). The larger Raymax/Axis IR's are truly impressive and allow high shutter speeds low AGC and great images, but they are not inexpensive.

It is nice having the extra resolution to make out plates etc during the daytime, and limit the number of cams to get coverage. Above 1.3MP I've noticed I need to stop it down a bit also, to take advantage of the extra resolution (start to notice depth of field issues). This of course hurts night performance which is why the Arecont 3135 is kind of neat with another sensor and lens that can be set up differently.

I'm curious to see what Axis and Canon's new low light models will do when they are out.

What resolution did you select for the 502?

Best,

Christopher

Nice shots I would like to test the 502 verse the Avigilon h.264... I have some very impressive shots but I can't share

The 502 has been a solid performer for me. For best low light performance, the resolution should be set to 1.3 MP (which is reasonable when going up against the 484). I have compared the forensic detail between 1.3MP and 3 MP, and the additional detail is not that much, and the improvement in low light is significant. Also, if you want to use H.264, that too requires the 1.3MP. (I use JPEG).

Also note that the camera could lock up for a few hours in the early firmware releases, but I've not had any problems since the latest firmware was released. The auto back focus is a welcome feature.

Best,

Christopher

The 502 has been a solid performer for me. For best low light performance, the resolution should be set to 1.3 MP (which is reasonable when going up against the 484). I have compared the forensic detail between 1.3MP and 3 MP, and the additional detail is not that much, and the improvement in low light is significant. Also, if you want to use H.264, that too requires the 1.3MP. (I use JPEG).

I wish I could remember...and I've since moved the camera to another location. Right now I'm just capturing motion at 3MP using a Synology and at a lower res (VGA) using VitaminD. Higher than that for two streams resulted in a low frame rate indication on VitaminD (less than 10 frames per sec I think). Still playing with the setup...

The auto back focus is a welcome feature.

Yep, although it needs enough light to work correctly. Right now I have it shooting through some tinted and at night it does not focus so I've disabled it.

I've been wondering if I could get my Axis to do that also, as I've got it set up now to switch day/night at a given time. One could use this with IR and not have to buy the IR lenses perhaps.

Yep, although it needs enough light to work correctly. Right now I have it shooting through some tinted and at night it does not focus so I've disabled it.

You can adjust it in the browser and when you are satisfied, lock it in.

Best,

Christopher

im getting some real bad motion blur on my nw502s. My autoslow shutter is set to off (max 1/30). Ive tried both 1.3 and 3mp modes and h264/mjpeg. any ideas? its great in the daytime but at night i get bad motion blur

im getting some real bad motion blur on my nw502s. My autoslow shutter is set to off (max 1/30). Ive tried both 1.3 and 3mp modes and h264/mjpeg. any ideas? its great in the daytime but at night i get bad motion blur

Thanks for the tip! I will try that tonight! I have it set to high right now because the dnr does an awesome job.

At night time it literally looks like a person walking down the street is a ghost! I thought it was h264 artifacting (correct term?) so i lowered the interval from 1s to .2 sec. I will mess with the dnr tonight, thanks again!

I set the DNR from high to low and it worked. I also had to change the AGC from high to low because without the DNR on high it was very noisy! Thanks for the advice again!

Glad to hear you were able to get the settings to work for you. With the rapid release of megapixel IP cameras, the 502 getting a bit long in tooth, and I would probably get a different camera today, but it's been a solid performer once I installed a new firmware release.

Best,

Christopher

Tell me about it! I have two axis p3346s that blow the 502 out of the water. And they are roughly half the size!

is this the most recent firmware?

1 Application: 1.46

2 Driver: 1.10

3 Image data: 1.04

IPL version

1.00

HTML version

ENG 2.00

I have this new framerate problem where both the liveview or recorded video freezes or skips. Here are my setings: