What is Lightfinder and Forensic WDR?
Axis Lightfinder delivers high-resolution, full- color video with minimal motion blur even in near darkness without the need for costly external light. It amplifies the image sensor signal and then reduces noise, making dark areas clearer and allowing operators to see detail.
Forensic WDR provides video tuned for maximal usability in scenes with a big difference between the darkest and the brightest spots. It merges two exposures and applies tone mapping to reduce noise in dark areas without introducing artifacts.
Why is Lightfinder and Forensic WDR important?
Capturing usable images in low-light conditions remains a challenge for many cameras, especially if high resolution is required. Handling extreme variations in light in the same scene, also known as wide dynamic range (WDR), is also challenging. Axis Lightfinder and Forensic WDR stop difficult light conditions from preventing users from getting what they need out of their surveillance system.
The Axis advantage
Lightfinder outperforms the human eye in low light. A combination of highly sensitive sensors and carefully tuned image processing allows cameras with Lightfinder to capture full-color images in extremely low light. Thanks to optimized shutter speed – even in low light – and minimal temporal filtering, Lightfinder also increases the usability of images with objects in motion.
Axis Forensic WDR technology solves the problem of wide dynamic range by capturing two images in quick succession and merging them into a single image, yielding good results with minimal artifacts.
Winning the last battle.
Axis Lightfinder came into being during the last stages of a fight between two camps in the surveillance camera market: *the analog camp and the IP camp. You might say that Lightfinder dealt the winning blow for IP cameras. At the time, the only advantage analog had over IP was better results in darkness. The challenge of besting analog in its last stronghold spurred the ambition of the Axis Lightfinder team.
The birth of lightfinder
The team knew a prerequisite for reaching their goal was an extremely sensitive sensor. That meant they had to integrate a new prototype into an existing camera, which was no easy task. One team member compared the new sensor to “a wild horse we had to tame to make compatible with our digital image processing algorithms, chips, and other devices.” But in the end, the first demos of Lightfinder stunned everyone. Even in a room that was almost pitch black, they could see every detail.
The power of lightfinder and WDR
Even so, they weren’t quite finished. Another key enabler of Lightfinder technology was ARTPEC-4, the 4th generation Axis system-on-chip. ARTPEC-4 also made possible a technology called WDR that was ready for market around the same time as Lightfinder. WDR solved the problem of wide dynamic range for perfect images in scenarios with extremely bright spots. Launching both WDR and Lightfinder let Axis declare victory over not just one, but two of the biggest challenges around difficult lighting.
Images that create value
Read more about how Axis ensures that users get what they need from their surveillance system
Automatic adjusment
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Lifecycle support
The art of fixing things without breaking them.
Less bandwidth
Zipstream technology.
Support for privacy
If you can’t record it, you can’t use it!
Image usability
Images that make a difference - from hardware to technology and tools, image usability is central to everything we do.