Color Night Vision?

Xeddog

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I didn't see a forum for general questions about cameras, so I'll try here for now.

I have some Lorex equipment, and four of the cameras are advertised with Color Night Vision. I have four of the cameras, but are probably older first generation cameras. As such, the color night vision is rather worthless if you ask me. If you have an area that is illuminated with good strong street lights or some other light source, it might be better. My area are so dark that the color part doesn't work Goes to b/w), and the one that does is pointed in the direction of a street light about 100' away. It does maintain color at night, but the resolution drops and the image is still quite dark and very grainy.

Lorex is the only brand of camera I have seen that even mentions color night vision, so the purpose of this is simply to ask if anyone knows of any other brands that offer it. I have looked a quite a few DaHua cameras (which I think Lorex rebrands), HIKVision, and a couple of others. No mention of the feature.

I'm not looking for any more of them, mind you. I'm just curious if any other cameras offer it.

Thanks,

Wayne
 

bigredfish

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Color Night Vision - "Marketing" :D

Most all cameras will allow you to force color at night. Nothing special. Its simply overriding the default action of going to B&W and turning on IR when it gets dark. The thing is most cameras won't do well without a great deal of light in color at night.

Generally, unless you have a LOT of white light, you're going to be better off with higher definition and clarity letting the camera go to B&W with IR. Now the same can be said of IR> if it's weak, you still wont get a good image.

Better cameras such as the Dahua Starlight series will provide better images at night in B&W and color, but even they have limitations with regards to forced color mode at night. It's all about the light you have, either white light in color or powerful IR in B&W.

Example but not common (Make sure and set youtube to 1080p): Good White light and good Dahua Starlight allow for good night color image
Example (Make sure and set youtube to 1080p) - same scene in B&W with good Starlight camera
 

Peek

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How do I get enough white light if the cameras I have don’t show good picture? My camera goes off many times at night but I can’t tell what it took picture of. It shows great pictures during the day.
 

Wildcat_1

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@Peek white light is a tough one because you really do need a ton of it and great camera placement IF your goal is for perfect color night vision in a currently dark area. With that said the 1/1.8" 4mp cams from Dahua (as you can check out in reviews a number of us have posted) do very well due to their low light sensitivity and phenomenal sensors. Of course you do have the option of switching to B&W and benefiting from the IR lights on cam (or augmented depending on your install location). What a number of us prefer to run is a mix, color and B&W in set install locations (cameras overlapping a target zone) so that you up your chances of perfect capture at night and benefit from color for details such as clothing, car colors etc etc. Again the sensors used in a number of these cameras are starting to get to a point where thanks to their sensitivity and processing power, that less can hide in the shadows ;)

HTH

How do I get enough white light if the cameras I have don’t show good picture? My camera goes off many times at night but I can’t tell what it took picture of. It shows great pictures during the day.
 

looney2ns

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How do I get enough white light if the cameras I have don’t show good picture? My camera goes off many times at night but I can’t tell what it took picture of. It shows great pictures during the day.
What camera exactly? What exactly do you mean by goes off? How are you recording the video?
 

Peek

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What camera exactly? What exactly do you mean by goes off? How are you recording the video?
I have my own post here from very early this morning that tells what I’m doing with my cameras along with pictures.
 

Peek

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@Peek white light is a tough one because you really do need a ton of it and great camera placement IF your goal is for perfect color night vision in a currently dark area. With that said the 1/1.8" 4mp cams from Dahua (as you can check out in reviews a number of us have posted) do very well due to their low light sensitivity and phenomenal sensors. Of course you do have the option of switching to B&W and benefiting from the IR lights on cam (or augmented depending on your install location). What a number of us prefer to run is a mix, color and B&W in set install locations (cameras overlapping a target zone) so that you up your chances of perfect capture at night and benefit from color for details such as clothing, car colors etc etc. Again the sensors used in a number of these cameras are starting to get to a point where thanks to their sensitivity and processing power, that less can hide in the shadows ;)

HTH
Thank you for your reply!! I need to better understand how I can quickly establish a good picture. I didn’t mean to hop on someone else’s post but need to better understand the lighting aspect and quick. I have my own post here from very early this morning that tells what I’m doing with my cameras along with pictures. Please check it out because it sounds like you really know what you’re doing.
 
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