geowal3 0 Posted November 23, 2005 Hello! New guy here with a home application problem. I'm trying to use the gear I have and not incur the expense and complexity of IR. Besides, I would like the effect of a bright spotlight surprising the occasional stray car on my long driveway. I've been all over this forum and others like it trying to find out: Can I simply use a triggerd regular floodlight or spotlight for night illum to get a low lux (Sony SPT-M124 rated .1 lux minimum) camera to work? Application is a rural driveway in the woods, distance from camera about 100-150 feet. If the answer is yes, should the light be mounted near the camera or behind and/or off axis a bit? Thanks, geowal3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rory 0 Posted November 23, 2005 Hi, welcome .. 100' will be too far away, basically if you have a light mounted near the camera, it will not light up the area 100' away (unless you get a large light). If you have a light mounted 100' away, it will just be a dot basically, the surrounding area will be dark. You may see what is in that dot, but either way 100' is too far to identify. You could however mount a light 100' away, then use a 5-50mm lens to manually zoom the camera into that area on installation. That Sony camera should do pretty well in low light, though its not a high res camera (according to specs found on google - 380TVL?) At night time clarity drops, even with lighting, even with a good low light camera, ofcourse the larger the light the better. BTW I just installed a 400'+ IR Spot Bulb last night ..and a 80x80 IR Bulb also, from Extreme .. sweet stuff, like having a ton of lights or even close to daylight, but still after 50' or so cant identify people, and if they are too close or in line of the IR center, too much glare on their face. Still nice to see in Pitch dark Rory Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
