Washed out night vision on new camera

[lindsayspop 0]

I just replaced a camera in my system with a vandal proof dome type camera. The old bullet camera operated well until I broke it cleaning the lens. The new camera is 1/3" Sony CCD with horizontal resolution of 600 TVL. It has 48 LED's and during the day time the color and focus is outstanding. I checked it for the first time last night and the image is totally washed out with what appears to be concentric white circles in a field of grayish white. The image is barely visible behind the wash out. I have it mounted under the overhang in front of the garage. The system is pretty basic so the only settings are on the dvr -- contrast, brightness, chroma, etc. None of those adjustments fix the problem. Can't adjust the camera itself.

Any theories on what's wrong before I send back the camera?

Thank you.

Phil

[Soundy 1]

There should be a rubber or foam gasket that fits around the end of the lens and presses against the dome to block the light from leaking in. Check that it's present and positioned properly.

[lindsayspop 0]

Thanks, Matt. I'll report back on what I find.

[lindsayspop 0]

Well, I took Soundy's advise and checked the gasket around the lens to make sure it was installed and that it wasn't leaking light into the lens. It was installed but I removed it and placed an additional gasket from my broken camera just to seal it tightly. It seemed to help some but I still have a problem as shown by the attached image. I contacted the distributor and they said I was getting reflection back from the LED bouncing off the casing. I don't know how that could be since the LED is centered at the bottom of the camera and is unobstructed by the casing. Since the camera is installed under a white overhanging eave is there a chance it's reflecting off of that? I'll try re-positioning the LED tonight but I never had this problem with the bullet camera that was used previously.

[camera-newbie 0]

It certainly seems like you're getting reflection from something and I'd guess it's internal to the camera-- I suppose you could temporarily unmount it and see if anything changes but I'd guess it's internal to the camera.. What happens if you disable the power to the IR? I'm assuming it'll clear up -- you could try that just after the IR kicks in, in the early evening perhaps while there's still some light out to allow a picture.

[shockwave199 0]

Don't wait, don't fix. Send it back for a replacement. Although you may have voided the warranty already by trying to fix the camera yourself. Good luck.

[the toss 0]

Check the LED mounting assembly. If it is not mounted squarely you will get internal transferance of the IR through the perspex dome. A bit like optical fibre transmission

[lindsayspop 0]

I gave up on trying to make the camera work. Even tried adjusting the position of the LED as was suggested but to no avail. Thanks to all for your advice but I'm sending it back.

[groovyman 0]

A few years ago I bought some IR domes with the same results you have. I never purchased that style dome again - too much trouble. I spent more time trying to eliminate the reflection than running cable, mounting and focusing combined. I ended up with a peephole view in order to eliminate the reflection.

 

[Soundy 1]

A few years ago I bought some IR domes with the same results you have. I never purchased that style dome again - too much trouble. I spent more time trying to eliminate the reflection than running cable, mounting and focusing combined.

Yep... this is part of why I just don't do IR cameras AT ALL. Better to use a camera simply works with low light, rather than trying to "fix" the problem with a handful of cheap LEDs.

[shockwave199 0]

Is the OP talking about a bubble dome type or an eyeball dome? I haven't have trouble yet with IR bullets or eyeball type domes, but I wouldn't get IR in a bubble type dome because of this ugly problem that I've seen all too many times here. If you must have IR in the camera, bullet or eyeball for best results, imo.

[SEANHAWG 1]

It definetely looks like IR reflection off of something, thats the only plausible cause. Is there anything real close to the cameras that is causing to it reflect? if you are using an EYEball dome then its possible that you are getting IR reflection off the casing if you have the camera angled too much.

 

I don't know how that could be since the LED is centered at the bottom of the camera and is unobstructed by the casing.

 

Even tried adjusting the position of the LED as was suggested but to no avail

 

What do you mean by this? You keep referring to a single LED, but in your first post you say 48 pc led. Dont get the photosensor mistaken with the LED's. If any of the 48 LED's are being obstructed in any way, you will get major glare like you are getting.

[lindsayspop 0]

Sorry. I meant LED mounting assembly as was mentioned in an earlier post. Here's a picture of the camera as mounted. I even went so far as to add black electrical tape to the frame where there might be a reflection. Perhaps the elevation is too low to get the view I'm trying to achieve and the camera is moved to far up in the enclosure. It's of no use to me if I can't see more that 20 feet in front.

[tomcctv 190]

hi. you can see from the design of the camera what your problem is. way too many IRs

 

just as a test cover all your IRs up with tape and see what its like tonight.

[lindsayspop 0]

Geez, and I thought more was better. I'll try it and report back.

[SEANHAWG 1]

You can tell from your picture that indeed your casing is reflecting IR back to the lens. look at the right side of the eyeball, you have IR's pointing right at the right side of the casing. Tilt your eyeball down more and the problem will go away.

[shockwave199 0]

It does look like from that picture you have a nub of the casing wall causing the problem. Try readjusting so that eyeball is seated properly without any part of the casing in front of the IR. If you can't do that and get the angle you want, you'll either need a fixed focus camera with the proper size lens to get the fov you want, or a varifocal that you can dial in the right fov. Your camera may indeed be busted. I would doubt it's because there's too many IR leds. Even if that array had something close enough to bounce it all back at the camera, it would be more likely to just white out completely than to do what yours is doing, ime.

[Soundy 1]

Oh, yay, IR.

 

Here's a better idea: replace the whole thing with a VCM-24VF and you won't have to worry about the IR at all

[Six9siX-Joe 0]

Something about ir dome reflection

More is not always better

My setup (same camera different ir plate)

Ir - same size 5mm

The lens has to be as close as possible to the protective glass

[lindsayspop 0]

At the risk wearing out the subject I thought I'd wrap up what I found out upon the advice of members of this forum. There apparently are too many IR's for the type of use I'm putting this camera to. I have it mounted under an eave in a residential application and found that in order to get the view I want I run into a problem of getting reflections off the camera mounting housing where I have placed the lens as close to parallel with the ground as possible. Were the elevations different and the angle of the lens less acute it might work okay.

In order to test the theory of too many IR's reflecting into the housing I taped over at least half of them with electrical tape. It's a temporary fix but it does prove that there is too much going on with intense IR reflection for this application. Also, I think the design of the housing is inferior in that there should be no point at which the housing should interfere with the lens or cause reflection. Thanks to all of you for your help. I'm returning the camera and going back to a bullet camera -- the type that was working well before I broke it.