IR Camera Help

[Puma10]

Hi I am new to this forum and came across it via a google search. I am after a bit of info if you can help me out.

I have one of these camera setups. I know it's just a cheap ebay jobie however it's all i really needed or could afford at the time I bought it.

Anyway it works really well during the day the image and recording is just fine for me use. The part that it fails in the night time infared. The image is really grainy and you can't really make anything out. Now I assume it is just the camera's or is there something that I could possibly do to improve the picture quality? I assume there is no interference as the image during the day is pretty good..

I don't need to see 50m or anything but would like to at least see my front yard about 8m and the car in the driveway about 1.5m away from the camera.

The camer's on paper look pretty good however that could be crap. I have contacted the seller and they said send them back and they will repair them and return them to me. However I doubt they would do anything to them and then I would just up paying shipping for nothing and end up with the same camera's back in the same condition.

Day

Night

Day

Night


The DVR works fine I guess the weakest point is the camera's at a last resort I could buy some other camera's they need to be small dome ones like the ones I have as I don't want them to be too visable and look stupid.

Any advice?



Thanks
Scott

[Chimp]

thats pretty typical for cheap ir cameras. the irs tend to flood the image to much in the centre of teh picture with to much light.

[Puma10]

thats pretty typical for cheap ir cameras. the irs tend to flood the image to much in the centre of teh picture with to much light.

Oh ok yeah I have noticed that in the middle of the image it's quite bright and then sort of spreads out and gets darker.

The other thing that I have notcied is if I use one of the camera's inside in a dark room it works pretty well however when I take them outside they struggle and it gets very grainy and washy as you can see from the images.

So I guess your solution would be to get some new camera's? Any recommendations? I assume they are quite expensive?

[mtv]

The problem with most cameras with built-in infrared illumination, is the infrared beam is fairly narrow, producing the 'hot-spot' of light in the image.

This is the same as using a conventional spotlight, when what you need is a floodlight.

There are several infrared floodlights available and being separate from the camera, can be positioned to provide the best lighting of your viewed area.

You can of course use more than one infrared floodlamp for even better illumination.

The more light, the less grain (noise) in the image.

[Godzilla]

Yeah i have those cheap cameras with built in IR illumination.

The problem is they spot beam the IR light, having a white car right under it kills the image.

Also once the lens gets a little dirty the built in IR reflects off the dirt on the lens and clouds the image further.

I did however work out that you can disable the built in IR lights and put a separate IR illuminator that will spread the beam more evenly out, thus avoiding hot spots and a wider coverage.

[Puma10]

I did however work out that you can disable the built in IR lights and put a separate IR illuminator that will spread the beam more evenly out, thus avoiding hot spots and a wider coverage.

Oh yeah I know you can switch them off. When I bought them one of the IR was broken they sent me a new board with IR's in it. The front of my house is starting to look a bit freakish with having 2 camera's and alarm box and a light sensor under the patio of 1.5m X 1.0m haha

I don't have eve's so there isn't anywhere for me to put these..

What IR illuminator did you go with?

[fandtm666]

i had a few with the inbuilt ir and had similar issues , i then installed some ir flood lights and pulled out the inbuilt ir and made a huge difference.

[Puma10]

What ones did you go with?

The thing is I am trying to do this as cheap as I possibly can. I have seen some on ebay however I wouldn't know what I am looking for. A lot of them just look like the camera without the camera in the middle.. I assume these would be pointless.

Can someone send me some links of some that would be ok.

You know even better would be an IR strip. I could run a long strip of them up under the gutter or facia board that wouldn't be so intrusive..

[mtv]

You know even better would be an IR strip. I could run a long strip of them up under the gutter or facia board that wouldn't be so intrusive..

Try searching... you'll probably find more.

If you are handy with a soldering iron, you can make your own... or convert other LED fittings which have a diffuser, to spread the light evenly.

[MegapixelMan]

I like how people say SONY Cameras.... You mean YUM CHA !!!!!

First of all, the cameras you choose should be rated in lux via IRE... If they are not then some asian made up the specs and puts it on the paperwork.... Remember he who makes that cameras makes the spec.



The second mistake you made is EBAY !!!! Try a reputable supplier who you can take the gear back to, some are genuine and some well are as good as ebay.

Thirdly, if you are looking at a IR Illuminator the only way to go ios RAYLED...

850nm ( means you can see the LED )
940nm ( means LED lights are not visable in the dark )

If you have any questiosn or what to know where to buy them let me know.

Jamie

[mtv]

Performance, both with cameras and lighting is generally reflected by cost.

Cheap cameras and lighting produce much lower-quality results than professional-quality gear.

Basically, you get what you pay for.