MV52 Shutter Speed Control
Introduction
This article covers the basics of the new Shutter Speed Control tool on the MV52 Bullet camera.
This feature is available on all MV52 running a firmware version of MV4.20+.
Camera Basics
To use the Shutter Speed Control tool effectively, it is essential to understand the basics of how Shutter Speed on a camera functions and what impact specific shutter speed values can have on the final image quality.
What is Shutter Speed?
Shutter speed is the amount of time light is captured by a sensor for each given frame.
A shutter speed of 1/15 seconds would mean that the sensor is recording light and motion that occurred during 1/15th of a second.
Why does Shutter Speed matter?
If the shutter speed is set to 1/15th of a second, a car moving fast in the scene may get blurred as the car covers a longer distance within 1/15th of a second. Control over the shutter may help freeze motion based on a specific requirement.
A shutter speed of 1/2500 seconds would freeze motion for that duration, meaning it will also freeze fast-moving objects, and no motion blur will occur. However, since the shutter speed is fast, light is also captured for only 1/2500 seconds, which would mean the image can be underexposed if there is not enough ambient lighting available.
Shutter Speed vs Frame Rate
Shutter Speed refers to the time each frame from the video is exposed for. Frame Rate is the number of frames present every second.
Shutter Speed and Frame Rate are independent of each other. A shutter speed of 1/100 for 8 FPS video would mean each of the 8 frames per second is exposed for 1/100th of a second.
Configuration
To enable MV52 Shutter Speed priority mode, ensure the network is set to MV4.20 or newer.
Navigate to Cameras > Camera > Select Camera > Settings > Video Settings
The Shutter Speed option will be available on this page by default setting Auto. When the camera is set to Auto, the camera adjusts the shutter speed based on the scene & the available ambient lighting.
If the shutter value needs to be adjusted, we can toggle this option to “Manual”; please note that the default setting for Manual shutter control will set the shutter speed as 1/120 seconds. This may not be ideal for a given situation, but it is the baseline starting point. Any changes to the shutter speed using manual control will directly affect the recorded video.
Once Shutter is toggled to Manual, a warning is displayed, which the user needs to read & confirm.
Once confirmed, the manual shutter control will be visible for tuning. Hovering over the selector displays the shutter speed in seconds.
Considerations
The slower the shutter speed, the more light the sensor captures, and each frame records motion for a longer period. This can induce motion blur for scenes that have fast-moving objects.
The faster the shutter speed, the less light is captured by the sensor and each frame records motion for a shorter period. This will freeze motion for fast-moving objects but may lower the overall exposure of the video during dark scenes and induce more noise.