IR Illuminator or Camera Upgrade
- Thread starter OSU_BuckeyesFan
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Mike A.
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Hard to say how much not knowing the camera and what adjustments are possible, etc., but, generally, likely would help. Pretty much any camera benefits from more light so even if you end up with another it's not money wasted. These are good and cheap enough to try:
(Way too much red tint for me in your picture. Should be a way to adjust that to get a more natural coloring. Try white balance.)
(Way too much red tint for me in your picture. Should be a way to adjust that to get a more natural coloring. Try white balance.)
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Mike, Thanks for replying. The camera is an old Hanwha, QNO-6012R, and the IR's are either on/off, no in between. I have another camera (same model) on the other corner of the house, the IR off of it can be seen in the black/white picture. Since the yard isn't very big, I was hoping to install an illuminator in the middle of the patio to help with both cameras. The link you provided states its viewing angle of 90 degrees, maybe I need a wider angle?
I am not sure why the picture looked so red there, I didn't notice it until I uploaded it.
I am not sure why the picture looked so red there, I didn't notice it until I uploaded it.
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You would be shocked how much better a newer camera would perform.
The 5442 (54IR) would be a huge jump in performance and maybe additional IR wouldn't be needed.
The 5442 (54IR) would be a huge jump in performance and maybe additional IR wouldn't be needed.
Wittaj, do you have a link, please? Also, would you happen to have some images of that camera I could see as well?
Mike A.
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The angle is much wider than 90 degrees. It's very wide in both dimensions (side-to-side and top-to-bottom). I have to tip some of mine way up to keep from blowing out the scene where they are and they still light things up all over. In the middle of those two I'd expect that it will light up most of your yard for both cameras.
ETA: Ahhh... I think the 90 degrees in the listing is for adjustment of the bracket not for the illuminator itself. The way it's shown is confusing. As above, the latter is much wider.
(That image looks much better!)
ETA: Ahhh... I think the 90 degrees in the listing is for adjustment of the bracket not for the illuminator itself. The way it's shown is confusing. As above, the latter is much wider.
(That image looks much better!)
The 5442 (54IR) is the go to camera on this forum. Probably more of those than any other model.
Here are some of the review threads of the variants.
Here are some of the review threads of the variants.
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Mike A.
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I don't that I can put my hands on quickly but I'll try to remember and post some after it get dark here tonight.
Mike A.
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Camera view close to yours as far as scene/distances. This is an earlier version of the same camera recommended above (which are very good). Harder for me to do since I have a bunch of cams all overlapping and I have things set up that way as far as exposure/IR on or off, etc., that I had to juggle. Anyway, as close as I can get easily...
Cam on auto with IR illuminator only, no cam IR, no other lighting. (Just to show how much of an area the illuminator lights up. Note this is with it tipped up quite a bit to tone things down some near-field.):
Cam as I usually run it set @ ~1/120 exposure, IR illuminator only, no cam IR:
Cam @ ~1/120 exposure, camera IR only set to 50%:
Note that you could make this camera look MUCH better using its on-board illumination. I have it mounted relatively low (~5') and it's not really intended to capture things off into the distance. I have others doing that. It's in between two others and watching the area up to about 1/2 of the frame. With the camera IR on here even with a faster shutter the cam adjusts the image to the brighter area and you lose things in the distance. You could change that to get more with different settings/mounting. But I was trying to show the illuminator here, not the camera.
Cam on auto with IR illuminator only, no cam IR, no other lighting. (Just to show how much of an area the illuminator lights up. Note this is with it tipped up quite a bit to tone things down some near-field.):
Cam as I usually run it set @ ~1/120 exposure, IR illuminator only, no cam IR:
Cam @ ~1/120 exposure, camera IR only set to 50%:
Note that you could make this camera look MUCH better using its on-board illumination. I have it mounted relatively low (~5') and it's not really intended to capture things off into the distance. I have others doing that. It's in between two others and watching the area up to about 1/2 of the frame. With the camera IR on here even with a faster shutter the cam adjusts the image to the brighter area and you lose things in the distance. You could change that to get more with different settings/mounting. But I was trying to show the illuminator here, not the camera.
Mike A.
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Bottom line, they put out a bunch of light all over and greatly improve the overall view even with a good camera. Well worth the relatively little money in my book.
I didn't really make the point that I intended to well with the last image. Which was that, at least with the Dahua cams, I get a much better image with the camera's IR turned off and relying only on off-camera lighting. That's how I run all of mine now. The on-board IR is fine and you can get it very good, but I can never get things to look as good as I can with it turned off. It tends to make a hotter spot where the camera is pointed and, even with everything set to manual and whatever compensation you want to apply, the cameras still internally adjust the overall image to the brightness at the center and you lose most of the detail beyond that balanced out in the dark. Also, even with "SmartIR" turned on, things closer to the camera typically get blown out kinda badly. With off-camera lighting you light up and preserve the background/overall image and avoid blowing out things nearer.
This capture of my light-colored dog in the same view shows that better. With the on-camera IR you'd never get the image as good. With the dog about 3' from the camera you'd have a glowing white dog with most detail of it lost in the brightness and most all of the background lost in the dark. Much better balanced overall image with off-camera lighting. (There's some other lights/cameras involved here which is why I didn't use it above but same applies.)
TL/DR: Get both and run using off-camera IR. Maybe both in some settings but you won't need to. You've got a bunch of reflective surfaces there between the patio, shed, fence, and trees in the background all that will light up very well and it will look great.
I didn't really make the point that I intended to well with the last image. Which was that, at least with the Dahua cams, I get a much better image with the camera's IR turned off and relying only on off-camera lighting. That's how I run all of mine now. The on-board IR is fine and you can get it very good, but I can never get things to look as good as I can with it turned off. It tends to make a hotter spot where the camera is pointed and, even with everything set to manual and whatever compensation you want to apply, the cameras still internally adjust the overall image to the brightness at the center and you lose most of the detail beyond that balanced out in the dark. Also, even with "SmartIR" turned on, things closer to the camera typically get blown out kinda badly. With off-camera lighting you light up and preserve the background/overall image and avoid blowing out things nearer.
This capture of my light-colored dog in the same view shows that better. With the on-camera IR you'd never get the image as good. With the dog about 3' from the camera you'd have a glowing white dog with most detail of it lost in the brightness and most all of the background lost in the dark. Much better balanced overall image with off-camera lighting. (There's some other lights/cameras involved here which is why I didn't use it above but same applies.)
TL/DR: Get both and run using off-camera IR. Maybe both in some settings but you won't need to. You've got a bunch of reflective surfaces there between the patio, shed, fence, and trees in the background all that will light up very well and it will look great.
Mike A.
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No, same one. I have other lighting in the yard there that I mentioned that you see some of in that image but it's mostly just that one Tendelux Di10 for that camera/view. They do have another Di20 that's higher power for a little more but you don't need that for the area that you showed.
Flintstone61
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these are a couple of images of that camera in 6mm and 2.8 mm(color shot) but with no IR, using street lights above it as light source.
Flintstone61
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I'm looking for a good 5442 IR .jpg, ... but I use my 5442-z4e as an LPR cam at night. so it isn't representative of a back yard shot.
I've tried a number of IR illuminators. They all have center hotspots, some better than others, but always better than the built in IR with my cameras. The best setup I have is two 4-watters that are spread out some to better cover the camera's FOV and distribute the hotspots.