Trendnet IP Dome Camera - Night Vision Issue

[Andrew Wilde]

Relative Newbie to CCTV here........

I have a Trendnet TV-IP311PI v1.0R Dome Camera which works fine in the daytime but it is at night when I am experiencing the issue with picture quality with the IR night vision active.

The original camera I had which I purchased 2nd hand worked fine in the day but was blurry at night as you can see from the picture - "Outside Shot - Original Camera"



I found that if I bought the camera into the garage the picture was fine at night as shown in the picture - "Inside Shot - Original Camera".


I have played around with the settings in the camera's menu which makes it very slightly better at night but then in the day the picture is very brght and grainy.

Thinking it was an issue with the camera itself I purchased a new additional camera of the same model as set it up in the garage ("Inside Shot - New Camera") which was fine in the dark, however when I moved it outside and swapped it with the original camera I am getting the same issue with blurry feeds???



The camera is mounted under my white UPVC eaves on the ground level, the eaves connect with white UPVC windows in case that is of interest to determining the cause - could the blurry image be caused by light interference or another issue which is not present when it is in the garage. I cannot understand why there is a difference when then IR is working when outside and when in the garage. I have got the cameras both running on the latest firmware revision.

I would be grateful for a resolution as the current night images would not be good if they were needed following an issue occuring that they are there to deter and protect against..........Help

Thanks in advance

 

[aristobrat]

The camera is mounted under my white UPVC eaves on the ground level, the eaves connect with white UPVC windows in case that is of interest to determining the cause - could the blurry image be caused by light interference or another issue which is not present when it is in the garage.

Regarding the whited out image, one if the issues that domes can have is that if enough IR reflects back towards the camera, it can cause the image to white out like what you're seeing above. Your white eaves may be reflecting IR back. If you want to confirm this, climb up at night and take the dome part of the camera off temporarily and see if it has an effect on the image quality. Turret and bullet form-factors don't usually have this problem.

The camera model you have uses an older, smaller 1/3" image sensor that doesn't do particularly well in low-light even in better circumstances. If you're ever in the market again for a newer camera, I'd highly suggest that you take a look Dahua/Hikvision. These two companies serve the professional market and are typically the only two that use the latest generation image sensors in their models. There are some newer image sensors specifically designed for low-light situations that should give you significantly better image quality.

Here's a review of a newer Dahua model that is popular due to its low-light performance:
Review-OEM 4mp AI Cam IPC-T5442TM-AS Starlight+

Because these models are designed for the pro-market, it's not easy to find someone who will sell directly to consumers like us. At the beginning of the review it makes mention of Andy (@EMPIRETECANDY). He's a very well liked and trusted forum member here who sells OEM Dahua. He's based in China and ships worldwide via DHL. If you're interested in any Dahua camera, he's a great place to buy from. He's sold multiple thousands of cameras to forum members here (all around the world) over the past few years.

 

[Andrew Wilde]

Thanks Aristobat for your reply

I did try that last night but omitted to put it in, when I remove the dome at night with the IR on the picture is fine, I cannot however leave them like this outside in the elements.

I appreciate what you say about the kit and I appreciate they are not that expensive in the grand scheme of CCTV, but is there anything I can do to get it better than it is if not perfect and to professional quality as I have invested in 5 cameras overall - 3 x Dome - TV-IP311PI and 2 x Bullet - TV-IP310PI and TV-IP314PI which I want to protect the front, back and a side passage of my property with.

I will add that the bullet cameras images at night are without issue as you can see below:

 

[sebastiantombs]

Read the Cliff Notes in the WiKi, in the blue title bar, at the top of the page. You're dealing with consumer grade cameras that are not very good performers at night. Here's a screen capture of a Dahua T5442 at night. It's a 4MP camera and there is no IR as you can see, full color.



Dome cameras are prone to IR reflections which will inhibit night vision. Bullets don't have a dome but do attract spiders which cause false alerts. Turrets, while not totally free of spider problems, are far better than either a bullet or a dome.

 

[looney2ns]

Thanks Aristobat for your reply

I did try that last night but omitted to put it in, when I remove the dome at night with the IR on the picture is fine, I cannot however leave them like this outside in the elements.

I appreciate what you say about the kit and I appreciate they are not that expensive in the grand scheme of CCTV, but is there anything I can do to get it better than it is if not perfect and to professional quality as I have invested in 5 cameras overall - 3 x Dome - TV-IP311PI and 2 x Bullet - TV-IP310PI and TV-IP314PI which I want to protect the front, back and a side passage of my property with.

I will add that the bullet cameras images at night are without issue as you can see below:

View attachment 54010

Study this Cliff Notes.

 

[samplenhold]

You say that you "...want to protect the front, back and a side passage of my property..." but you really need to define what you mean by 'protect'. If you just want to 'see what happened' after the fact, then your present equipment will probably be fine. However, if you want to ID people (a face) that did something that your cameras captured, you will need cameras that have good low-light performance.

Still shots of scenes with no movement will always look fine, like your bullet night shot. The real test is to look at a person moving through the field of view. Can you ID the face? Is the image blurred?

As far as trying to get a better picture w/your current dome, try moving it away from the soffit, which is probably reflecting the IR light. If it can't be moved, try placing something in matte black on the reflecting surface.

 

[aristobrat]

I did try that last night but omitted to put it in, when I remove the dome at night with the IR on the picture is fine, I cannot however leave them like this outside in the elements.

OK, so that confirms that IR reflecting back into the dome is really contributing to the issue. The only suggestion that I can think of is to swap this dome out with a bullet (that shouldn't be impacted as much by the IR reflecting off the eave), then move this dome to another location where IR reflection isn't an issue (like the driveway cam?).

is there anything I can do to get it better than it is

Maybe others will have more ideas, but I don't have any other than adding more light on the outside of your house at night, but even that may only help a little.

The image sensors in the cameras you're using are smaller and designed in a way that has wires and what-not on top of the sensor, all of which reduces the sensor's ability to capture light in every pixel. That results in dark, grainy images. If you compare the image quality from your cameras (with IR turned on) to the image posted above (which isn't using IR), it's a pretty big difference.

 

[looney2ns]

The entire goal of security cams is to "know who did it, and not just what happened."

 

[mat200]

Thanks Aristobat for your reply

I did try that last night but omitted to put it in, when I remove the dome at night with the IR on the picture is fine, I cannot however leave them like this outside in the elements.

I appreciate what you say about the kit and I appreciate they are not that expensive in the grand scheme of CCTV, but is there anything I can do to get it better than it is if not perfect and to professional quality as I have invested in 5 cameras overall - 3 x Dome - TV-IP311PI and 2 x Bullet - TV-IP310PI and TV-IP314PI which I want to protect the front, back and a side passage of my property with.

I will add that the bullet cameras images at night are without issue as you can see below:

View attachment 54010

Hi @Andrew Wilde

There's a few things you can try, however chances are you will need to upgrade to a better non-dome camera.

1) Turn off IR leds if possible. Augment with an external IR light or white light.
2) Clean dome
3) Check foam / rubber ring around the lens which is supposed to help keep the IR light from the internal IR leds out of the lens.

Honestly I don't think you will have much success with this older dome camera in terms of significant improvements of low light image capture.

 

[coney27]

Your problem is 100% due to the fact that the camera is mounted under your white eves. The IR is reflecting off the eves back to the lens. I had the same issue when I mounted my PTZ. Try adding a junction box or bracket to the camera base to give some more distance from the base of the camera and the white soffit. Once I added the junction box to my PTZ my IR feedback disappeared. And the junction box was no more than 2 inches thick. Well worth the $15 waterproof junction box.