mikmort 0 Posted December 11, 2014 Hey folks, One of my IP cameras is pointed out into my driveway and street in front of my house. There is a decent amount of light from street lamps as well as lights attached to my house. At night time the camera goes into night (b&w mode), but the IR illumination from the camera itself does not appear to be significant relative to the ambient light. My question is whether to leave the camera in night mode (actually day/night where it auto switches based on light) or just keep it in day mode? Does 'night' mode help improve the image quality in low light if IR is not (a significant) part of the illumination? I've tried both day any night and it they seem comparable in terms of detail. You get a lot of color noise in 'day' mode as the light is still fairly low but some color information which can be helpful. Obviously I can compare images myself and just choose what I prefer, but I'm curious if theoretically the 'night mode' should provide a better image if IR illumination is not a factor? -Mike Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
buellwinkle 0 Posted December 11, 2014 I would leave in color (day) mode if it doesn't make much of a difference. At night, colors get muted when there's not enough light, but never hurts to have color as a reference if available. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MaxIcon 0 Posted December 11, 2014 I've done some recent testing on this on a Hik 2032, and found that low light details show up better in color compared to BW if there's no IR. This is mainly due to increased contrast, since there are more variations in a color image. When converted to BW, many colors map to the same shades of grey, losing any differences between them. I also have some older Vivotek IP8332 cams that I keep in color at night, even with IR, for the same reason. I get slightly better sensitivity and a fair bit better contrast and detail. It may vary depending on the camera you run. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
