Lit up neighbors

[StratRider]

I plan to put a cam that covers my driveway but I also have a neighbor right across the street that thinks he has to run his 2 billion watt driveway light from dusk till dawn.
They won't change it ( I've asked before when I wanted to step out front to watch satellites overhead ).
I am pretty sure this will cause a "hot spot" on whichever camera I use and now wonder what others do to block that kind of situation.
Adjusting the camera to not include that elevation wouldn't allow me to see all of my property and have considered just hanging something near my camera with a blinder on it to cover just where his light is.
Would this work? Have others done it?
It would be awesome if software was able to just black out certain pixels on your camera too, but I have never heard of that capability.
Thoughts ?

 

[bigredfish]

picture would help. Unless its a spot pointing straight at you, it may well help more than hurt.

 

[StratRider]

picture would help. Unless its a spot pointing straight at you, it may well help more than hurt.

yes, he has it mounted on a flat surface facing almost straight at me. I'll try to get a shot after dark tonight.
Since I will be placing another cam near my front door, it will be picked up on that one also.
A blocking technique will likely need to be used.

 

[beepsilver]

If your camera has HLC backlight like some of my Dahuas do, that would help a lot. I haven't tried privacy masking (overlay feature in camera software) lights before...may try that tonight to see if it works.

 

[Mr_D]

You'll have to do some tests with an actual camera but it may not be as bad as you think. I have a front door mini-dome with the porch light in frame and it looks fine. I actually got more flare when I tested the camera from a position on the same wall as the camera with the light just out of frame.

 

[StratRider]

okay, haven't bought the cameras yet as I am trying to follow some advice and look for possible problems ahead of time.
The door cam will likely be the 5231 for the audio and the driveway cam is likely to be a 2231 but I am not sure if I will ever need to use the zoom on those so still looking.

 

[bigredfish]

Better to have zoom and not need it than to need it and not have it

 

[StratRider]

Okay, what's the best way to block this.
Most likely this location will get a 2231 camera.

 

[Mr_D]

Wow its like a spot light aimed at you. Maybe get a few green lasers off Aliexpress and aim them at your neighbor's windows until he gets the idea.

 

[fenderman]

I think the camera will adjust fine to that. Many city's have light pollution ordinances. Check yours.

 

[Parley]

Maybe talk to your neighbor about the goals of you camera helping to protect the neighborhood. Maybe he will work with you on the light. I have had excellent responses from my neighbors.

 

[StratRider]

We've been neighbors for 22 years and I do like these folks. Just hoping that the cameras I put out here could deal with it on my end first.
If not, then I'll install the camera and show him what's going on and see what we can adjust. I'll have to ask him what he is really trying to accomplish with this light and angle.
Light pollution isn't something I had thought of, so I will look that up before I talk with them and weave it into the conversation.
But surely I am not the first person to have to deal with a situation like this and still wondering if others have rigged up something to block it.

 

[fenderman]

We've been neighbors for 22 years and I do like these folks. Just hoping that the cameras I put out here could be dealt with on my end first.
If not, then I'll show install the camera and show him what's going on and see what we can adjust. I'll have to ask him what he is really trying to accomplish with this light and angle.
Light pollution isn't something I had thought of, so I will look that up before I talk with them and weave it into the conversation.
But surely I am not the first person to have to deal with a situation like this and still wondering if others have rigged up something to block it.

There is nothing you can rig up to block it unless you intend build a wall.

 

[Mr_D]

Your camera will likely be higher than where you took the picture from. The camera that produced this picture is about 7.5' high, right above the garage door, and angled downward to avoid the neighbor's windows across the street. I don't think you'll have too much trouble keeping his light out of frame. This is a 3.6mm Dahua starlight turret.

 

[bp2008]

A camera's privacy mask (which is just software overlaying black squares) would not help in the slightest.

Even pointing the camera away from the light so it isn't directly in the frame will not stop lens flare.

First, see if it is actually bad for the camera's performance. Being as far away as that, the light might not be bad at all.

If it turns out to actually be bad, then you can work on solutions. Maybe the neighbor would be willing to move the light or put a diffuser on it to spread out the light more (making it less bright from your camera's perspective). Or you could add your own supplementary IR or visible lighting, thereby allowing you to increase the shutter speed to reduce the glaring effect of the neighbor's light and simultaneously sharpen your own video.

 

[StratRider]

Actually I held my camera right up where I anticipated installing it as I wanted it as low as possible for better face detection.
I can mount it up on the soffit which will be about 16 inches higher and point it lower if I must, but was hoping for other options.
I figure if I can block out the sun with my hand, I could block part of my camera with something too - IF it would work.

 

[StratRider]

@bp2008 thanks for that bit of info on the overlay, etc.
When I get the computer and cameras set up - I'll tinker with them, visit with the neighbor and come back to update the thread.
Thanks all.

 

[bp2008]

I can mount it up on the soffit which will be about 16 inches higher and point it lower if I must, but was hoping for other options.

You might have to point it quite a distance away to make a difference anyway. It is like if the sun is near your camera's FOV but not quite in it, you can still get strong lens flare from the sun.

Example (this is not an IP cam, it has a more complex lens and looks through a dirty window)

I figure if I can block out the sun with my hand, I could block part of my camera with something too - IF it would work.

That could do the trick, however it might be tricky to accomplish and if the obstacle was anywhere near the camera it would cause IR to reflect back probably worse than the neighbor's light had been. You would almost certainly need to turn off your own camera's IR and use external IR illuminators (or visible light) as a replacement.

 

[StratRider]

That could do the trick, however it might be tricky to accomplish and if the obstacle was anywhere near the camera it would cause IR to reflect back probably worse than the neighbor's light had been. You would almost certainly need to turn off your own camera's IR and use external IR illuminators (or visible light) as a replacement.

Now THIS isn't something I had NOT thought of either.
Looks like I will be making some kind of deal with the neighbor then.
Appreciate all of the input.

 

[bigredfish]

I also think the camera will adjust to it, maybe need to use a little HLC

The other thought is that you seem to be proposing mounting in the middle of the driveway/garage? You will get better coverage with two overlapping cameras on either side of the garage, and I dont think the light will be as much of a problem as you wont be aiming straight at it.