Any suggestions for night exposure settings to improve this fox capture?

[105437]

All... this fox was recorded in my driveway with my 5231 using an external IR illuminator with camera IR turned off. There is no ambient light, rural area. Recently, I've been working with my night settings trying to improve things. What are your thoughts, thanks!



Camera settings (Backlight is off)

 

[paul@austins.tv]

I would probably reduce sharpness and gamma.

 

[sebastiantombs]

An auxiliary IR flood, or two, to even out the lighting, full frame, would help a lot.

 

[bigredfish]

In addition to both of the above good suggestions, Im not a fan of an exposure range at night with IR. Try fixed manual 1/120

 

[105437]

Appreciate the suggestions! I'll try 1/120 and see about getting an additional IR out there.

 

[NightLife]

If your objective is to observe the foxes in detail then you might try something in the environment which will make them pause, and dwell, even if only for a few seconds. I will be in the same boat next week, when I set up my new Color4K-X, and try and capture the critters on my own rural property. I suspect if things become difficult at night, that I'll employ a few IR floods to reduce shadows, and try increasing shutter speed. Honestly just a guess. Too much of a neophyte at this point.


Good luck!

 

[sebastiantombs]

I know I've posted this multiple times, but here's a screen grab of a fox using a 5442T-ASE, 6mm, at about 30 or 40 feet at night. There is additional IR in the scene and the IR in the 5442 is shut off.

 

[wittaj]

If your objective is to observe the foxes in detail then you might try something in the environment which will make them pause, and dwell, even if only for a few seconds. I will be in the same boat next week, when I set up my new Color4K-X, and try and capture the critters on my own rural property. I suspect if things become difficult at night, that I'll employ a few IR floods to reduce shadows, and try increasing shutter speed. Honestly just a guess. Too much of a neophyte at this point.


Good luck!

Keep in mind the color 4K/X does not see IR so adding IR will not help....

 

[NightLife]

Keep in mind the color 4K/X does not see IR so adding IR will not help....

Right, I recall that now. I think it was the recent review where the reviewer said the Color4K-X had some of the finest B&W he'd seen in a camera, ironically. I made the leap back into thinking he meant IR, even though I already knew it wasn't. D'uh.


But like all the other addicts in here, I'm sure I'll end up with 20 cameras one day, with a myriad of overlaps and differing tech. One single camera with it's accompanying tech may never do it (all).


Even @sebastiantombs capture of that fox is pretty underwhelming. It's heading in the right direction, but still a ways off from being acceptable if one were more interested in critters than villains. (which in my case, I am) I know I'll definitely have my work cut out for me when I set up the camera and begin tweaking settings. I anticipate a huge, but enjoyable learning curve.


IR definitely has it's place in capturing wildlife. Foxes will look pretty different under IR, and even things like ringworm, and scaring will be highlighted more than if you saw that animal in daylight. It's a bit like having x-ray vision - IR removes certain patterns which we want to see, such as with certain red foxes, and allows us to see below that layer in a manner of speaking.

 

[NielK]

Here are a few frame grabs from a 5442 turret, 6mm mounted on a pergola about 6 feet high in a rural back garden (moon/starlight only). External IR illuminator, camera IR off, night mode shutter speed @ 20ms. Foxes are about 10, 20 and 60 feet from the camera and the gate at the back of the garden is about 75 feet away. The owl picture is unusually clear because it set off one of the LED security floodlights.

Inevitably, a 6mm camera will only produce clear images of small animals at relatively close distances. The usual trade-off between field of view and distance.

 

[jack7]

Here's a fox and raccoon dining together. A raccon had dumped some birdfeeder seed from about 20ft above about midnight. I knew there would be activiy later, so pointed my 25X PTZ at the spilled seed area.

 

[bigredfish]

Nice capture!

 

[NightLife]

Here's a fox and raccoon dining together. A raccon had dumped some birdfeeder seed from about 20ft above about midnight. I knew there would be activiy later, so pointed my 25X PTZ at the spilled seed area.

Beautiful capture. I'm always amazed when I see creatures in nature simply co-existing like this. Cautious, but respectful. That looks like a male grey fox kit; perhaps it's first season. It's a bit early to disperse, but it may have by now, or you'll be seeing more.

 

[NightLife]

I'll post this movie, only because it shows where I'm coming from (a Spypoint game cam @ 10 FPS, 1080P), and within a few weeks hope to have the Color4K-X sorted out. And this shows one of this yrs kits ("Strawberry") being half startled by a younger skunk appearing at what the kit feels is 'his' watering hole. The image getting suddenly brighter is the second cam being triggered by the skunk. I also have an LED dusk to dawn light fixture 15' above and behind the camera 10' which helps a touch.

Cannot wait to transition to adult cam(era)s finally. Game cams are ok, but leave a lot to be desired.

View attachment 2021 Strawberry startled by a skunk. Sept 29 2021.mov

 

[NielK]

Here are a few frame grabs from a 5442 turret, 6mm mounted on a pergola about 6 feet high in a rural back garden (moon/starlight only). External IR illuminator, camera IR off, night mode shutter speed @ 20ms. Foxes are about 10, 20 and 60 feet from the camera and the gate at the back of the garden is about 75 feet away. The owl picture is unusually clear because it set off one of the LED security floodlights.

Inevitably, a 6mm camera will only produce clear images of small animals at relatively close distances. The usual trade-off between field of view and distance.

And just last night, the camera caught an otter taking a 15" carp out of the pond. To keep the file size down, I've downconverted the video to 720p and trimmed the length somewhat (from the original 8 minutes of butchery).

 

[superpatpat]

I know I've posted this multiple times, but here's a screen grab of a fox using a 5442T-ASE, 6mm, at about 30 or 40 feet at night. There is additional IR in the scene and the IR in the 5442 is shut off.

View attachment 103556

wow the image is beautiful, what kind of additional IR you put which model?

 

[sebastiantombs]

Amazon.com

That is on the opposite end of the house filling in around the spruce tree area. The near one is actually a 3241 with IR on so it can see things effectively.