Home > Blog > Video Blog: High Dynamic Range (HDR) vs

Wide Dynamic Range (WDR)

Video Blog: High

Dynamic Range (HDR)
vs Wide Dynamic Range
(WDR)
Get the best balance of lighting
possible with March Networks’ HDR
technology
Jeff Corrall  |  March Networks Vice
President of Product Management

Posted on: October 30, 2019

Filed under: IP Cameras

If you’ve ever tried to capture surveillance images in a

scene with highly contrasted lighting, such as near a
large window or door, you’ve probably experienced
the following results:

Your image was either overexposed in the lighter part

of the scene, due to bright sunlight in the background,
or it was underexposed in the shadowed areas,
blacking out important details.

That’s because unlike the human eye, which can adapt

to a wide variety of lighting conditions, a typical
security camera has a limited dynamic range.

Dynamic Range
Explained

In digital photography, the easiest way to think of

dynamic range is the scale of light levels a camera’s
sensor can capture – from the darkest black to the
lightest white – in any single exposure, without losing
image details.

Once a security camera exceeds its dynamic range,

the image quality it produces will be degraded.

For example, in a scene with very bright light, a

conventional security camera will shorten its exposure
time, allowing less light in; however, this can leave
darker areas of that scene without any detail (See
example below left). Alternately, in scenes that are
very dark, the camera will lengthen its exposure time
to compensate for the lack of light.  But that can leave
bright areas of that scene looking overexposed, or
very white (See example below right).

Short exposure Long exposure

Strike the Right Balance

with HDR

Properly illuminating a highly contrasted image is

possible with a camera that uses High Dynamic Range
(HDR).

In March Networks cameras, HDR extends the

dynamic range of a camera by capturing multiple
frames – one with a short exposure and one with a
long exposure – and combining them in real-time into
one image with the best balance of lighting possible.
  Essentially, HDR merges the highest-quality parts of
two exposures into one image.

Just watch the difference that HDR can make. In this

video, we compare the HDR technology in one of
March Networks’ Outdoor IR Dome cameras to a
standard camera’s Wide Dynamic Range (WDR).

To achieve these amazing results, an HDR camera

needs a lot of processing power, and a very powerful
sensor, capable of producing 60 frames per second
(fps), or double that of a regular IP camera.

Although digital WDR used to dominate the video

surveillance industry, now features like HDR are much
more common.

While the definition of WDR varies from manufacturer

to manufacturer, generally, it refers to a camera’s
ability to produce high-quality images across a wide
range of light levels. March Networks’ cameras with
digital WDR use advanced algorithms to lighten or
darken a single exposure.

Although this kind of digital WDR process can help

improve image quality in dynamic lighting conditions,
an HDR camera can better illuminate darker parts of a
scene without overexposing lighter areas. It also won’t
create noise or distort image quality, which can
occasionally happen with some digital WDR cameras.

Ideal for Security

Applications

HDR cameras are ideal for security applications

because they provide investigators with higher quality
video evidence. Important details, such as aspects of
clothing or facial features, are easier to identify.

Banks and credit unions in particular can benefit from

HDR cameras because they often have large customer
lobbies with lots of window space exposed to direct
sunlight. Ideally, pinhole or ATM cameras should also
offer HDR because the angle and field of view they
capture typically involve bright light in the
background.

As a reminder, HDR is available in most March

Networks cameras including our new SE4 Series IP
Cameras.

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Comments

Santosh Acharya
June 18, 2020

Below is my requirement, please suggest any camera

module and it’s interface details.

HDR/WDR Sensor with IR Night vision (HDR up to

120dB)
,Camera resolution: 2~4MP, 60fps, 1080P Resolution
(User can change the resolution to 720p)

Nathan Dinning
June 23, 2020

Hi Santosh, Thanks for reaching out. Based on your

requirements, we recommend one of our ME6 Series
IP cameras. Available in dome or bullet versions, they
will support 1080p or 720p at 60 frames per second
with Multi Exposure HDR disabled. However, you can
still enable Digital WDR when streaming at 60 FPS.
The ME6 Series IP cameras also have powerful IR
LEDs, and feature next-generation security analytics
powered by Artificial Intelligence. You can learn more
about the ME6 IR Dome here, and the ME6 IR
DuraBullet here.

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