What could be causing IR glare?

amrogers3

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Mounted the IPC-HDBW5441f-AS- E2 2.8mm. I noticed I have some weird IR glare in the corner. There is no light on that side of the house, it is completely dark. Turn on illumination and there is glare.

When I turn on illumination, there is significant IR glare. Anyone know why this is happening.




Turned on Backlight BLC to brighten. Illumination is turned off. Those are the only two settings changed.
 
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wittaj

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IR glare and reflection/bounceback can come from anything. That electric meter could be doing it.

But looking at that and the top right hand corner, I think the seal isn't tight on your camera and you are getting IR bleed. I would take the black cover off and take a look at the seal around the lens. That or there is a gutter or something just outside the field of view.
 
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Mike A.

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The meter looks to be the source of the 3 lens flare circles. Size and shape matches well.

Agree that it looks like something else is happening in that corner. Is there something outside of the view shown that could cause reflection? Doesn't need to be in the cam view to do so.

As a test, might cover the meter quickly with something.
 

bug99

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That is the problem with dome covers on lenses. If you install an IR blaster off angle a few degrees and turn the built in one off, the problem will largely go away as well.

I assume that you already know that the FOV is way too wide for this location, by about 3x. a 6mm or longer would be the right choice there (unless you are trying to watch the meter dial spin :)). I see that this camera only comes in two sizes (zz top suddenly came to mind there), 2.8 and 3.6. If you have another, dropping it down and going with a narrower FOV will likely solve this issue and give you twice the effective resolution.
 

wittaj

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^This. I didn't realize this was the boobie cam - nobody calls it by it's real name LOL.

Yeah, the seal is not tight around the lens when you put the dome on OR the lens is angled too much such that the seal is now no longer on part of the dome.
 

bp2008

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The power meter is not causing lens flare. If it was, it would appear really bright to the point of being washed out. And the lens flare artifacts would more likely be in the opposite corner of the field of view from the source.

This looks pretty clearly like the little black ring around that lens is not pressed against the glass dome properly, so light from the IR LEDs is lighting up the glass in front of the lens (and some of the dust on the glass too, hence the distinct speckles).
 

bp2008

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Here is an example of lens flare. Light sources circled in red. "flare" spots circled in blue. If you draw a line through the bright light source and through the center of the lens, the flare spots all appear along that line.

Notably the center of the lens isn't always at the exact center of the sensor's field of view, because lenses are not always perfectly aligned with the center of sensors. Light sources just outside the FOV can also cause lens flare.

 

amrogers3

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Thanks for the advice and helpful suggestions. It has been raining here but once it dries out, I'll take the lens off and see if the IR reflection is still present. I will also check the seal. I dont remember messing with this, I thought it was factory sealed and couldn't be removed easily.

@wittaj - I'll check the seal but it may be the angle. I had to mess around with the angles because I messed up the install and didn't rotate the base where it needed to be when I installed it. First timer here doing the best I can. ;)

If it is not the seal and it is the angle, there isn't much I can do. If I turn on BLC Blacklight and turn off the illuminator the picture is pretty good.

@bug99 - I need to capture the space in between the two homes to include the space next to the fence. Trying to capture a wide area.

IR off and BLC on:
 
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wittaj

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With the boobie cam (or almost any dome), it isn't factory sealed and every time you take the dome off you are exposing the seal and potentially rolling it or creating a gap taking it off and on. It is the little rubber thing around the lens.
 

TonyR

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With the boobie cam (or almost any dome), it isn't factory sealed and every time you take the dome off you are exposing the seal and potentially rolling it or creating a gap taking it off and on. It is the little rubber thing around the lens.
In addition to admitting air that is possibly more moisture-laden than what was trapped inside, providing a potential in the future for lens-fogging condensation as it cools. :idk:
 

amrogers3

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Ok @wittaj, I think you are spot on bud. I think it is angled too much. Here are some photos that should explain this phenomenon.

The white circled light is obscured and I believe it is bouncing back off the white mount. As I can get eye level with the sensor, you can see the IR light is behind the mount.

(1) Leave it as is. The picture is still pretty clear where it needs to be clear or
(2) Turn on BLC and turn off IR (you can see examples of both above) BLC seems to provide the clearest picture with IR off.

So I dont think there is a great solution but I defer to your advice.

IMG_5661.JPG

IMG_5660.JPG
 

wittaj

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Yep, I forgot in your original post that this was the boobie cam as nobody uses the numbers LOL, but I experienced that too so I knew exactly what it was once I realized it was the boobie cam.

Options are to add some foam up there to block it from getting into the lens, paint that IR, leave as is since it isn't impacting your area of interest, or use the BLC but I would confirm that you do not get blur motion or ghosting with that. Backlight and B/W nighttime sometimes do not play well together.
 

Mike A.

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Can you move the mount some to give you a more out-the front view. Looks like the cam is relatively high as it is. But BLC is an easy answer if it works for you.
 

amrogers3

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@wittaj, thanks bud, great advice. I am not sure on the blur. That is something I will need to check. I'll see if I can take a still shot of a recording and determine if there is any blur/distortion.

@Mike, I can't move it unfortunately. There really isn't any good way rotate the base. I can take a pic to show you what I mean. I won't be able to explain it in a way that makes sense but a picture would help show the issue.
 

Mike A.

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You know better how it's mounted. Just a suggestion. I also have one that's shooting at an angle. I had to play with it some to get things best positioned. I ended up with kind of a 3/4 turn to the mount (domes sitting at say 2 and 7 on a clock) and lenses rotated internally to best let the lower lens look down and the upper to look out without interference/IR glare.
 

looney2ns

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You can try rotating the lens 180 degrees, and that might put the IR led a little further away from the case.
Then rotate the picture 180 in the web setup gui of the cam to match.
 
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