Scruit

I'm not a professional, just a home user. Avoiding direct sun can be a case of trial and error. Even if your camera is facing downwards, all it takes is a puddle on the ground at the right time of day and the sun can be reflected directly into the camera. The experts here can tell you better than I can, but I can tell you that my experience is that no apparent long-term damage has resulted from headlights shining directly into any of my cameras. The sun is another matter. I have a camera in my car that looks out the windshield and the sun is unavoidable. I have used an auto-iris lens to let the camera reduce the light coming in, and I'm about to add a UV/IR filter. I cannot comment on long-term effects, but my instance it that it's not good to intentionally point right at the sun at midday. Also, it should be mentioned that if the sun is directly in shot then you image is probably going to be useless as the camera struggles to compensate, if it even can.

I'm not a professional, just a home user. I have a 7" LCD screen that I carry with me when I adjust camera aim. I use this for initial focus adjustment. For precise focus adjustment, I hook up the camera to a portable TV that I take outside with me. It's a PITA, especially in the sun, but gives a better result. I also put something in shot at the distance I want to focus on. An old license plate sometimes works but can be a little small. This gives me a better idea of when I'm at best focus.

Current status: After adjusting the angle of the 'galvanometer' and adjusting the color settings while facing a store front (lots of posters in different man-made colors) I can see almost all of those posters in proper colors... Except one green poster that appears yellow... Other green posters and the shop's awning were ok - just this one poster. I wonder if the inks in the 'yellow' poster reflects light of different wavelenths than the other green posters - wavelenths that humans can't see but the camere can? Grass still appears yellow, but man-made objects are almost all in proper colors. The IR/UV filter will be here soon so I can see if that's the problem. If it doesn't fix it then I'll have to decide between a new camera-lens combination, or just accepting the yellow grass (at the risk of raising questings of the footage is used in court) Does anyone have any recommendations for a low-cost outdoor camera that is 12v and has a 3.5 or 4mm Auto-iris lens (or c/cs mount)? This camera mounts behind the rear-view mirrors, so small size is important. EDIT: I turned all the lights off in my garage and the camera was able to see objects lit by the IR from a TV remote control up up to 5' away. Even when the lights were on I was able to see the 'white' glow of the IR light from the remote control reflected off my arm that was 4' from the camera. I believe this means the camera has no IR filter, am I correct? I don't plan to use this camera with IR lighting because it's in a car - If I'm driving then there will be daylight or headlights.

I'm not a professional, just a home user. I faced this issues and dealt with it in two ways: 1) Understand that you can have the best quality camera in the work, but that quality must be matched with approriate wiring and a good quality recording. ie, if your DVR is set to 'Good' recoding instead of 'Best' (or whatever your DVR calls it) then the higher quality image from the camera will be wasted. 2) I also replaced a single camera that was 30' from the door I was aiming at, with two cameras - one provide a wider 'overall' view' and one providing a closer 'identification' view. (The camera was moved slightly soon atfer that pic so that the porch light was not in shot - it was blinding the camera at night) It meant using two channels instead of one - but having two cameras worked much more effectively than a single 'compromise' camera. BTW: With the camera being so close to the door there is a risk of tampering. I make sure there were no connections visible, and the wiring is all in hard plastic conduit, except for the last 8" going to the camera. Also, there is a second camera at the other end of the porch, and the two images overlap so you can't approach and disable either without being filmed by the other. My other cameras are out of reach without a ladder.

I'm not a professional, just a home user. Generally I don't use wireless anywhere I can run a wire. This is partly for quality (I don't have the expertise to make it work 100%) and partly for privacy. I don't want someone to sit outside my house and see my video signals. Two stories about range: 1) I bought a Swann Microcam III camera so that I could attach a camera to my RC plane and record the video on the ground. First time I plugged it all together I got a strange image that was mostly snow but included some repeating patterns of light that started in the center of the screen and moved outwards. I adjusted the antenna a little and could see the moving lights more clearly and thought to myself; "That looks just like the windows StarField screen saver..." I stepped outside with the receiver and my 7" LCD test screen and the image got clearer until it was obvious that it WAS the star field screen saver. At that moment the imaged changed to a paypal login screen. I started to walk up and down the street using my body to block the antenna and try to make it a little more directional until I found the house that was xmitting the signal. I knocked on his door (I know him) and showed him that I could see his computer screen. Turns out he was using a video xmitter to send his PC signal to a big screen TV in his den, and using a wireless keybard and mouse also. AS soon as hea realised I could see his computer screen clearly he freaked out a little, asking how long I'd been watching. 5 mins,I said; long enough to track him down. I get the feeling he might have been visiting some website earlier that he maybe didn't want me to know about... BTW, his house is HALF A MILE from mine. And his xmitter was rated for 300 feet. The signal only had to go through one wall at his house, one wall at my house and the rest of the distance was open air. 2) Once I got my wireless camera set up on my RC plane, I got this quality image even from a plane that was half a mile laterally and about 400' in the air. This is with the camera mounted upside down on the bottom of the plane, and the receiver on the top of the roof of my house so there is 100% line of sight. Even mounting the camera on the side of the plane wrecks the image when the plane banks and puts a wing between the antennas.

I'm not a professional, just a home user. I use RG6 for all CCTV video signals throughout my house (and my car). I also use short pigtails of RG59 for the last 8" or so because it's not as stiff and works to reduce stress on the connection at the camera/DVR. If I had to start over I'd run the power with the coax so I could power the cameras from a UPS in case of power outage (not uncommon here in Central Ohio). Right now they rely on power outlets near the camer location.

Lesson for the day: When they say 'specifications subject to change without notice' they really mean it. I opened up the lens to check the wiring colors - they don't match the manual. The wiring actually matches the camera, both drive and damp, and both polarities are correct. Confirmed lens operation by sitting in a dark garage and then turning the headlights on and off - The image bleaches out for liek 1/10 of a second before it adjusts to the new light level. When the headlights turn off the image goes black for 1/10th of a second before it adjusts up and you can see stuff again. So, here is what I know so far: - The camera sees colors normally under artificial light - Under low sunlight colors are very light, tending slight to the yellow for grass - Under high sunlight grass appears yellow - In shade, car colors appear normal - Sunlight reflecting off a car makes the whole car appear yellow - LED brakelights appear as red - Incandescent brakelights appear as white - The Auto Iris lens sees grass as muted green, slightly yellow in late evening sun - A manual Iris lens saw normal grass colors under the same conditions with the same camera - The basic function of the DC auto iris is confirmed to be ok - it adjusts for sudden changes in lighting Another thought: The manual says that the "Galvanometer" should be oriented to the left as you look at the camera. I had it at the top right. I adjusted the threaded section on the back of the lens to bring the 'galvanometer' bit to the left like in the manual. How important is this? So it's definitely something with that lens on that camera. I don't have another DC Auto Iris lens or camera to try it with. Some possibilities now: 1) The auto iris is not working correctly, even though it's fundemental operation appears to be normal. Maybe letting in too much light? 2) The lens is damaged/faulty in that there is a color shift as the iris opens to maximum Is the IR filter in the camera or the lens? Could it be possible that the manual iris lens has an ir filter but the autoiris lens does not? I thought the ircut filter was in the camera (if at all)

Two updates... 1) Here is a comparison of the Auto-iris lens versus a manual iris lens THe manual iris lens is an accurate representation of the color of the grass and house. (The images were pixelated by the capture process for posting the pic to the web) 2) The camera lists the DC Auto Iris connections as: (counter-clockwise from bottom left) Bottom Left = 1: Damp - Yellow Bottom Right = 2: Damp + Red Top Left = 3: Drive + White Top Right = 4: Drive - Green The lens does not identify pin numbers, just colors of wires (the plug is molded on so there is no way to see what color the wires are) Damp + Black Damp - Green Drive + Yellow Drive - Red Well, there's obviously something not right here. I have to try to figure out how to identify the pin numbers/colors in the lens now... Making the assumption that the lens is wired correctly... I measured the resistance between the + and - of the damp and drive coils (top pair and bottom pair. The bottom pair, which should be the damp coil, measured about 700ohms, while the drive measured 200. There is no continuity between the top and bottom pins.

Better to be a smartass than a dumbass.

I can check that when I get home into the garage and close the door. I can also park my car in the driveway after dark with the car/house lights all off and see if I can see the driveway lit up by the 850nm emitter on the license plate camera I have on the house. If I can see the glow then there is no IR filter... I know it can defintely see the emitter itself as I drive towards the house - looks like the porch light is on. I'll check that tonight. I have the manuals somewhere so I can compare the pinouts. I know it's a lot to ask - but I'm approaching the point now where the functionality is not worth the price. If I have reached the limits of what cheap hardware can do then so be it.

That image is taken from a TV capture card attached to the DVR output. The car's LCD screen shows the same colors. I can hook it up to an actual TV to check it out. I know that the camera can 'see' the IR on a remote control, though. I'll have to post examples tonight... I'm confused by the half/half car though - the half in shadow was normal and the half in sun was yellow. Seems to indicate the camera is reacting to the sunlight refelcting off the car. inside the parking garage this morning all the car colors were normal. I can swap the lens for the old 4mm fixed iris lens and see if it still sees yellow. Do the DC-Drive auto-iris cables use a standard wiring? The lens was prewired with the connector and I just plugged it right in. If the lens was opening too wide would it do this? I did ty adjusting the 'level' on the camera, but that just made the yellow grass even more yellow, or made the image darker until I couldn't see it any more - but still yellow. I help up color cards to the camera inside the garage yesterday and all the colors appeared normal. I put an old license plate which was red/white and blue on the hood of the car in sight of the camera - and I left it there as I backed out of the garage. Inside the garage the colors were bright but as I got outside the colors became very muted, but still visible as red white and blue - in the background the grass was still yellow. The weather forecast is calling for cloudy skies for the next few days so maybe I can see what the grass looks like when it's not under direct sun. I also looked at gettnig a *true* day/night camera with mechanical filter and auto iris and I was getting prices like $400 back. All I need is a 12v camera that can look out of a car windshield, not be blinded by the sun, and see cars around me in their actual colors. Is that too much to ask?

I did that test yesterday - it CAN see the IR flickering on the remote control. I believe you are correct about the indoor rating. I had thought that indoor/outdoor ratings had more to do with changing lights levels and weatherproofing... So I mistakenly thought an indoor camera with an auto-iris lens would be ok inside a car as long as the storage/operating temps matched the temp inside a car (sitting in the sun, etc) Sitting at a drive-thru this morning... The building cast a shadow over half of the maroon car in front of me. The part of the car that was in shadow appeared maroon and the area in the sun appeared yellow. I have ordered UV/IR cut filter for the lens - should be interesting to see how that goes. That will also help with the fact that the camera occasioanlly has the sun in view while I'm driving.

Camera is ATW and has no switch for AWB. I tried adjusting the color settings on the DVR input and still never got close to the right colors. If I reset to factory defaults I find that the colors are normal indoors under artificial light, but messed up outside under sunlight.

As you can see in the above pic, grass appears as yellow. I thought this may be because of the sun - but I noticed today that the camera sees greens as yellow/orange. I'm going to sawp the lens tonight to see if it's the camera or the lens. If it's the camera then I'll print out a color bar test and hold it up in front of the camera. Is it possible for exposure to the sun without an auto-iris lens could damage the camera in a way that would make green look yellow? Could it be a bad lens? EDIT: After a bunch of searching I found this prior post: The responses suggested that too much IR light might be getting in and that an IR cut filter may help.... If I hold a color card up to the camera and everythign looks good then should I go with an IR cut (to allow visible light but reduce IR light) filter? A "Hot Mirror" filter?

I'm not a professional, just a home user. If the vehicle is far enough away that visual motion detection does not work, then could it possibly provide any useable video? If it was my car and it was that far away I'd go with a zoom lens just for quality of the video, and then as a side effect you should find that detecting motion shouldn't be problem. I have some cameras that are designed for an overall view of a large area so I can tell of someone is there - but the video would be useless at identifying who it is. I have other cameras that will let me see if people in some areas are people I know or not, but still not close enough to put on a wanted poster. Finally I have very close up cameras at a couple of key points that provide video images good enough to put on the TV news. What I'm getting at is you have to understand that a long range camera showing a wide area is not going to provide you with any probative information in case of vandalism.

I installed a 4mm DC Auto-Iris lens and here's the result I get when looking at the sun. The sun in completely in shot, but the camera is still able to see enough of the road (driveway in this case) to be useful. This camera is intended to provide evidence in an accident, and lane position, direction etc is all visible. This also allows me to aim the camera further up so I can see the status of traffic lights until I'm almost under them - another potentially vital piece of evidence in a collision. This is great. THe image will be a little clearer still after I wipe away the greasy fingerprints I left during the install. I also set up a CRT TV outside and hooked it into the camera so I could focus it better - I had previosuly focused it using the 7" LCD screen in the car but I couldn't get a crisp picture no matter what I did. The CRT worked much better. One last thing... What can I do to the camera to ensure it's not damaged by the direct sun? Or is the auto-iris going to do that? Thanks for all your advice!

My time is cheap.

I'm not a professional, just a home user. I have a 1/3" BW CCD camera with a 75mm manual iris lense and 850nm IR filter, plus 850nm Illuminator, that is aimed at the thinnest point in my driveway about 90' from the camera. All equipment source from ebay, and total cost was about $200 for everything. I've also spent probably 20 hours in adjustments and improvements. I've had to do a few long-term tests (ie put a license plate out there and caputre an image every minute for 24 hours then review all the images to ensure caputre under varied light conditions) and I usually review the DVR when someone drives into my driveway to ensure I got the plate (only 3 or 4 cars a month drive into my driveway). It's a lot of trial and error. Mostly error at first... I get very good coverage, but there's always exceptions - ie a truck with a license plate that is obscured by mud, or a car that has no front plate (even though they are required here) that drives forward into my driveway and then backs out. The performance I get is very good, especially for the money, but it's been much more work than buying a proper LP camera. Definitely an ongoing project, not just an install-adjust-forget thing. If you want the best coverage with no fuss then get a real LP camera. If you have the time and enthusiasm to tinker with it for a couple hours each month, and can afford many missed plates for the first few months until you get it dialled in to you local light/weather conditions, then you can probably can get away with a homebrew system like mine. For me, if the only way to capture license plates was a $1500 camera then I would simply not have that function in my system and that kind of money exceeds my after-insurance exposure in a burglary. My system only exists to try to reduce my risk/exposure in a burglay/vandalism situation, and the $$ I spend must be appropriate to that goal. There's no point me spending $10k on a cctv system when my insurance deductable is only $500 (and the insurance only rips me off for another $1000 in 'depreciation'

Camera is supercircuits pc-23c - 1/3" Monochrome High Performance CCD - 250,920 Pixels - 480 Lines Resolution - 0.04 lux Minimum Illumination - 1/60 - 1/100,000 Automatic Shutter - C/CS Mount Lens Compatible (lenses sold seperately) - 12 or 24 Volts DC/AC Power (power supplies sold seperately) - 2.3" x 2" x 3.77" - Weighs 192g - 5 Year Warranty Lens is Fujinon H6x12.5R 12.5-75mm Lens has a 52nn screw-in 850nm IR cut filter. Next to the camera is a Panvigor "120 feet" IR illuminator aimed at the focus point. The focus point is about 90' from the camera. During the day the image is very good and I can read the license plate easily. At night the IR illimnator kicks on and the plates reflect well and are readable. The problem I'm having is at twilight - where there's enough ambient light to stop the illuminator turning on, but not enough for a good image using the manual iris set to a compromise setting. I've attached a picture of the license plate camera at night. Question 1: Before I go out and try to price up a 75mm lens with auto-iris (camera supports auto-iris) is it worth turning on the backlight compensation? Would it help at all? Question 2: I set the iris/focus at night, not twilight. Is there any chance that setting the focus/iris at twilight would help? (where the light is lowest, considering the illuminator isn't on yet) I've tried covering the illuminator's light sensor with tape to have it run 24x7, but the sensor is behind thick glass and the light from the IR leds themselves will light up the tape and make the light sensor think there's light all the time. Result is the illuminator is half on all the time, not 100% Question 3: Would all my problems be solved by an auto-iris lens? What could I expect to pay for a usable 75mm auto-iris lens? BTW, the characters that are visble are 7 and 8

Problem 'solved'. I opened up the illuminator and put a piece of electrical tape on the light sensor. It now runs 100% all the time. The plate lights up just like at night. Now I need to see if the plate is bleached out during the day... shouldn't be, as the ambient sunlight is brighter than my $70 illuminator. Here's a before/after. The before is the illuminator withthe light sensor uncovered. The after inset is the light sensor covered. http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m159/Scruit/twilight_beforeafter.jpg

At night: (trying to upload pic - get error message Could not access ftp directory: 'attachments/thumbs'. Please check your FTP Settings.) http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m159/Scruit/night.jpg

The iris and focus were set at night with the illuminator and filter on. When I get home from work tonight I'll post full day and full night pictures. Changing the BLC made no difference to the headlight glare. Fortunately at night the illuminator is bright enough that the plate is still clear even with the headlight glare. Will post pics tonight.

I am not a professional - just a home user. The TV that I am using for a monitor got burn-in from the text display fro each camera. I eventually removed the text because I know that camera 1 is pointing at my driveway . The other thing I did was to move the entire camera system into a closet with a lockbox, so the monitor is no on all the time - just when I was to interact with the DVR itself. Everythign else I do remotely. Every TV in the house is capable of switching to the CCTV channel with a press of a button so there isn't any real need to have a monitor sitting there on all the time. Most of the interaction withthe DVR is through my main study computer that has a TV capture card, so no burn-in issues there either.

Shutter speed is automatic - not sure I can change it. I haven't touched the gain. On the back of the camera there is a switch for Normal/BLC mode and there's a 'screw' for "Level" (is this the gain?) I was hoping the IR filter would block out more of the headlights - and it does block out enough that the license plate is visible during the day, and at night (with illuminator) regardless of headlights/highbeams. The problem is just that during the twilight period of about 30 minutes the illuminator is turning on after the the point at which there is enough ambient light for the camera to read the plate. If I adjust the gain upward then maybe the camera will be able to 'see' until the illuminator turns on. I wish the illuminator had a setting to adjust it's light sensitivity. I'm just about ready to take it apart and cover the light sensor with a piece of electrical tape.

The camera supports auto-iris in dc or video drive. I have ordered a 4mm dc drive auto-iris lens for the camera. We'll see how it goes. As long as the camera is not being damaged then I'll probably just live with the bleaching (UV filter you say?) I only ever have problems in the winter time when driving east in the morning and west in the evening. I probaby only 'lose' about 30 seconds of video to sun glare from my morning commute of 30 mins - but knowing my luck that's the 30 secs where I'll need the camera. I'd like to post links to example videos on youtube but the forum won't let me post links... ?