I assure you it wasn't cold enough to snow...

[Sybertiger]

...there were no tornados reported last night. So, what's going on here? Bug swarm, spiders, bad nighttime settings on a Dahua IPC-T5442TM-AS??? It lasted 3 and 1/2 hours and appears to be a persistent bug swarm.


It should look more like this out there:

 

[John Q Public]

It looks like fog or high humidity, the camera IR is illuminating the water molecules. I get the same sometimes, its wired but it happens.

 

[sebastiantombs]

Definitely fog/drizzle. I see the same thing here, near shore, quite often due to almost hitting the dew point. It's one of the built-in "features:" when using onboard IR for illumination. It also seems dependent on wind speed and direction in relationship to the camera view.

 

[guykuo]

I agree it is fog with camera IR illumination. Swirling pretty much confirms it is fog.

 

[beepsilver]

See this with IR on and any level of fog. Also, if you're using a camera with SSA backlighting you'll see similar symptoms even with very little moisture in the air.

 

[bigredfish]

Fog

 

[essjay]

Fog.....

 

[adamg]

Fog

Super cool. Bonus points if you can focus the camera at maximum near distance next time that environment happens, it might show better detail on the water particles.

 

[bp2008]

You can drastically improve the camera's vision in fog / rain / snow by turning off the camera's built-in IR and installing an IR illuminator a few feet away from the camera. This way you don't have anything directly in front of the lens being hit by high-intensity IR, so the camera sees right through it.

 

[bp2008]

See what I mean:

Cam with Internal IR enabled:


SAME TIME with cam with no internal IR:

 

[Sybertiger]

You can drastically improve the camera's vision in fog / rain / snow by turning off the camera's built-in IR and installing an IR illuminator a few feet away from the camera. This way you don't have anything directly in front of the lens being hit by high-intensity IR, so the camera sees right through it.

I've had a couple of THESE since September. On my list of installations. And, THESE to power them.

 

[bp2008]

I got a 12 LED version of a different brand for $45 in Nov 2016 and it has been pretty great. It is mounted near several other cams on the garage and basically doubles the amount of IR light flooding the area.

 

[Sybertiger]

I ordered the 18 LED version but returned it because I thought is a rather large bohemoth to mount on my aluminum soffit...it's a big heavy sucker. And, at 18 watts it exceeded my POE active spiltters by a few watts.

Where do you suggest they should be mounted relative to the IP cams? I assume behind if you can? Is three feet away typically optimal?

 

[adamg]

I ordered the 18 LED version but returned it because I thought is a rather large bohemoth to mount on my aluminum soffit...it's a big heavy sucker. And, at 18 watts it exceeded my POE active spiltters by a few watts.

Where do you suggest they should be mounted relative to the IP cams? I assume behind if you can? Is three feet away typically optimal?

You can plan the design of where to mount by testing with a normal light spotlight or flashlight, something like:

Think of the infrared emitter just like a normal directional light. So if you mount it far away from your camera, you will be lighting up the 'unseen' side of the people you are trying to see on camera. Whereas if you mount it as close as physically possible, you will have some degree of the problem you have with built-in emitters, where miniature obstructions in front of the camera because super bright.

 

[sebastiantombs]

I usually mount IR emitters a foot or two to one side, or the other, and a little behind my cameras. In heavy snow, and rain, there are still objects seen by the camera but it is reduced to unusual conditions rather than just a foggy or misty night.