yallingup cam colour

beachparty's picture
beachparty started the topic in Wednesday, 13 Mar 2019 at 7:55pm

Hi, just wondering if something is up with the colour on the yallingup cam?
for me it seems to go between a dull sepia tone and black and white making the ocean look grey instead of blue and the swell difficult to see properly at times.
the colour on the other two W.A cams (and other states) look good so I don't think its my computer/monitor etc.
I remember some time ago when this cam was superb and the colour of the picture always vibrant so something seems to have maybe changed at some point?
being one of the premium pay to see cams is it on the cards for the colour to be adjusted at some stage? I hope so :(

thermalben's picture
thermalben's picture
thermalben Thursday, 14 Mar 2019 at 5:52am

In general, we run with the default colour settings of the cams - we haven't changed anything at Yallingup. The camera is the same brand as the other WA cams though a different model (however, it is a more recent model, i.e. newer).

The vibrancy of the image colour changes with changing weather conditions (so, early morning has poor light in the west, overcast conditions will lead to reduced image quality etc). The subject matter also influences the colours: because of the high vantage point, there is no horizon/sky in the frame, and there's only a few things in the foreground to balance things. 

This frame from Tuesday looks pretty good to me though.
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beachparty's picture
beachparty's picture
beachparty Thursday, 14 Mar 2019 at 1:48pm

nice screen shot. the issue must be my eyes I think :P
to me the frame you've posted has only a tiny little of the sepia tone I mentioned (trees for example). the picture is obviously of a high quality so no issues there at all, it would be unnecessary nitpicking.
I wish I knew how to post up a frame too, as right now the yallingup cam colour is even better and as fantastic as I remember it looking (9.45am perth time).
afternoon and later is when I normally get around to checking the cam, that is when I think the colour/view must be at it's worse and the issue is occurring; so most likely unavoidable due to camera angle, weather and sun position as you say (oh also the grey tin roofs probably don't help lol).
thanks for the reply ;)

thermalben's picture
thermalben's picture
thermalben Thursday, 14 Mar 2019 at 2:20pm

Yep the arvo light is looking into the sun so would reduce the colour quite a lot. Just as if you were there looking at it in person! We have had the same feedback on the morning view across East Coast cams ("why can't I see anything on the surfcam when it's looking at the sun glare!" etc. Erm...).

At the end of the day, surfcams are actually CCTV cams that are souped up under the hood to offer a TV-like streaming experience. But, they ain't RED Epics or anything high end, and we're constrained by bandwidth limitations too. So, in order to offer this service in a competitive business environment, there will always be compromises.

Looks pretty good right now (all except the high tide, of course):

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beachparty's picture
beachparty's picture
beachparty Thursday, 14 Mar 2019 at 3:32pm

yes indeed ;)

thermalben's picture
thermalben's picture
thermalben Thursday, 14 Mar 2019 at 6:35pm

For reference, afternoon colours right now (Yalls affected by sun glare due to camera angle; Margs is not):


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beachparty's picture
beachparty's picture
beachparty Friday, 15 Mar 2019 at 1:35pm

that is a good example and exactly what I had been seeing. hopefully this will help in case anyone else has been wondering about the colour too ;)