How can I get better definition at further range when camera is next to porch light?

[sebastiantombs]

I've been using those IRs for about three years now They work fine and throw a fair amount of IR out to about 60-80 feet. I had that first one you listed and it crapped out, with no warning, after about a year and a half. Replaced that one with tis one, but I'm using it to light up the whole back yard, roughly 1/2-3/4 acre -

Amazon.com

 

[AveryFreeman]

I've been using those IRs for about three years now They work fine and throw a fair amount of IR out to about 60-80 feet. I had that first one you listed and it crapped out, with no warning, after about a year and a half. Replaced that one with tis one, but I'm using it to light up the whole back yard, roughly 1/2-3/4 acre -

Amazon.com

Wait a sec, your back yard is about 32,000 sq ft?

 

[sebastiantombs]

^^ Yup. Lot's of mowing, lots of trees, lots of twigs/branches, lots of shredding, lots of work. The front is about a 1/3-1/2 acre too.

 

[AveryFreeman]

^^ Yup. Lot's of mowing, lots of trees, lots of twigs/branches, lots of shredding, lots of work. The front is about a 1/3-1/2 acre too.

God damn, and I thought my yard was big

 

[sebastiantombs]

Yeah, we're starting to think about "downsizing". It's getting to be a full time job at our ages.

 

[AveryFreeman]

Yeah, we're starting to think about "downsizing". It's getting to be a full time job at our ages.

That's why settlers had like 9 kids to tend the farm

 

[The Automation Guy]

Hey,

I have this IPC-HFW1831C-PIR mini-bullet. It's a nice little camera, I like its features as a front-door cam. But the picture at night really sucks for any distance further than the porch. A lot of that I think is because it's next to the porch light. The porch shows up well, but anything beyond that is dark and too washed out to see.

The problem is the amount of dynamic range there is in that picture. You have the very bright exposure from the light bulb and very low light areas of the outer yard. The camera simply cannot expose for that wide a range. Currently it is setting it's exposure for the bright areas which makes the low light areas become nearly black. Ultimately, you need to find a way to get the scene more evenly covered by the light. It might mean reducing the wattage of the bulb in the light, cutting the bushes to reduce the amount of light being bounced back, getting the yard brighter, or moving the camera where it won't have such a huge difference between the bright and dark areas (by getting the bright area out of the center of the frame) or a combination of all of these things.

 

[xgsound]

Try a very low (?20 to 40) wattage bulb in the porch light. At night it will still be very helpful. I sometimes even used an adapter to "christmas" 7W lights.

 

[Holbs]

move that camera to the inside of that bush at 5' level...whalla! Hidden and perfect for facial ID

 

[wittaj]

move that camera to the inside of that bush at 5' level...whalla! Hidden and perfect for facial ID

Like this!

5442 picture quality issue

I would try a little faster shutter to try to knock the IR bounce off the sides. Did you try manual shutter so that you can lower the gain? Do you have the turret or the bullet? If the bullet, the near is the top IR and the far is the bottom IR (or reversed would need to check LOL), and you...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[Old Timer]

Try a very low (?20 to 40) wattage bulb in the porch light. At night it will still be very helpful. I sometimes even used an adapter to "christmas" 7W lights.

I picked up a string of led lights with medium base cheap from amazon, and use them in places I need a little light.
They are 2.5 watts, and perfect for just enough light for a camera to work well.
We mow 3+ acres for a yard. Takes 3 hours plus trimming the edges. Keeps the wife out of the bar.

 

[TonyR]

Like this!

View attachment 87684

5442 picture quality issue

I would try a little faster shutter to try to knock the IR bounce off the sides. Did you try manual shutter so that you can lower the gain? Do you have the turret or the bullet? If the bullet, the near is the top IR and the far is the bottom IR (or reversed would need to check LOL), and you...

ipcamtalk.com

Nice!
I'm sure @Parley has some leftover camo tape!

 

[Bitslizer]

I've been using those IRs for about three years now They work fine and throw a fair amount of IR out to about 60-80 feet. I had that first one you listed and it crapped out, with no warning, after about a year and a half. Replaced that one with tis one, but I'm using it to light up the whole back yard, roughly 1/2-3/4 acre -

Amazon.com

is this truly 45 degree? I'm searching for cheap affordable narrow angle one to throw IR out as far as possible, as low wattage as possible

 

[sebastiantombs]

@Bitslizer It's hard for me to say it's "truly" a 45 degree pattern. There is a brighter area down the center which looks like maybe 30-45 degrees, but it throws so much IR it's lighting up everything. In my case, it's soffit mounted about 11 feet off the ground and is angled straight out into the back yard with no downward tilt. It lights up an area about 220x300 with no problem, if that helps.

 

[AveryFreeman]

Like this!

View attachment 87684

5442 picture quality issue

I would try a little faster shutter to try to knock the IR bounce off the sides. Did you try manual shutter so that you can lower the gain? Do you have the turret or the bullet? If the bullet, the near is the top IR and the far is the bottom IR (or reversed would need to check LOL), and you...

ipcamtalk.com

aw, dude, you're going to make me use conduit? I'm not sure my shop vac's still up for that...

 

[wittaj]

You could just lay it on top of the bush like @looney2ns neighbors professional installer grandson would probably do

 

[AveryFreeman]

Unfortunately I've tried the WDR@50 and moving the camera so the porch light is not in the frame, and none of that appears to have helped. I'll try changing the "always on" color setting to IR/B&W tonight and see if I can see further than 5 feet ffs.

I haven't really tried that many things so I'm not giving up yet, but it has crossed my mind that maybe it's just a crap camera for night (anything's possible, right?)

 

[AveryFreeman]

You could just lay it on top of the bush like @looney2ns neighbors professional installer grandson would probably do

I've heard that's how the pros are doing it these days

That, and Milestone

 

[wittaj]

See if this thread helps you any:

Dahua HFW-1831E in-depth review

I present you a review of HFW-1831E camera. This is a h265 Lite series model, most likely equipped with fairly new IMX334 Sony sensor. This is a 1/1.8 inch, 8 megapixel CMOS with a pixel size of 2 micrometers. I got a model with 4mm lens, giving a horizontal FOV of around 87 degrees. I will...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[AveryFreeman]

See if this thread helps you any:

Dahua HFW-1831E in-depth review

I present you a review of HFW-1831E camera. This is a h265 Lite series model, most likely equipped with fairly new IMX334 Sony sensor. This is a 1/1.8 inch, 8 megapixel CMOS with a pixel size of 2 micrometers. I got a model with 4mm lens, giving a horizontal FOV of around 87 degrees. I will...

ipcamtalk.com

I got the 2.8mm - that was my bad

Edit: I think the only thing similar about those two cameras is the model number - IPC-HFW1831C-PIR is like:

· 1/2.5” 8Megapixel progressive scan CMOS
· H. 265&H.264 dual-stream encoding
· 15fps@8MP(3840×2160)
· WDR(120dB), Day/Night(ICR), 3DNR, AWB, AGC, BLC
· Multiple network monitoring: Web viewer, CMS(DSS/PSS) &
DMSS
· Micro SD card slot, up to 128GB
· 2.8mm fixed lens
· Max. IR LEDs Length 20m

It's a tiny little thing:


20m IR distance, that kinda says it all right there...