Infrared Camera Makes Center of Picture Too Bright

[moe 0]

I have a CNB-BE4815NVR. At night the infrared leds make the center of the monitor too bright. All other areas of the picture are ok. It's a very bright circle in the center of the screen and I'm afraid I might get screen burn. The camera is viewing in complete darkness. Is there any way to fix this?

 

Thanks

[CollinR 0]

Get a BW bullet and mount it near the first, patch the video feed to the new one.

 

Quit buying cams with IR on them, if you need IR buy an external emitter or use a cheap IR cam.

[moe 0]

I took a look at the manual and there is something called "DC Level Adjustment V.R" According to the manual, it is "used to adjust video output level of DC driven auto iris lens or ELC mode, when the brightness control of the monitor does not operate correctly"

 

Is this what I may need to adjust?

 

Thanks.

[scorpion 0]

This may not apply in your case, but is it possible that the internal "shield" is not pressed foward against the glass? This prevents reflection from the IR to bounce in to the camera.

_____________________________________________________________

 

This is usually seen in cheap bullet color cams that I get. Getting a longer IR throw may resolve this kind of video. I am only guessing, but it sounds like the camera looks straight out in to darkness. There are no trees, or shrubs for the IR to bounce off of, and the camera does not have anything to look at.

 

When it is dark go out, and stand in front of your camera. I believe the "IR ring" will go away while you are standing there. The camera has something to look at. When you walk away the ring will reappear.

 

If that happens then reorient the camera to "look" at something, or get a longer distance IR camera.

 

Let me know what you see.

[moe 0]

This may not apply in your case, but is it possible that the internal "shield" is not pressed foward against the glass? This prevents reflection from the IR to bounce in to the camera.

_____________________________________________________________

 

This is usually seen in cheap bullet color cams that I get. Getting a longer IR throw may resolve this kind of video. I am only guessing, but it sounds like the camera looks straight out in to darkness. There are no trees, or shrubs for the IR to bounce off of, and the camera does not have anything to look at.

 

When it is dark go out, and stand in front of your camera. I believe the "IR ring" will go away while you are standing there. The camera has something to look at. When you walk away the ring will reappear.

 

If that happens then reorient the camera to "look" at something, or get a longer distance IR camera.

 

Let me know what you see.

 

Thanks, but the camera does have evergreen trees about 30 feet away in its center eye (thats mainly where I get the bright white ring). There are other objects around in it's view also.

[scorpion 0]

Is it because the evergreen is to close, and you are shooting IR at 50 meters?

 

I would imagine it is like a spot light on the evergreen.

 

I would relate that to a photograph where the photographer was to close to the person, and the flash just whitewashes their facial features.

 

Is this more what you are seeing?

[zmxtech 0]

I have had this problem with many IR cams that dont have a mix of different angle IR leds and IR power control like the extreme stuff has.

 

What you want a nice even spread -and be able to vary the power

of the IR to suit .

 

The other problem is total white-out when something gets to close to the spot.

 

My cheap $99 "test" cam blasts IR so much it's unusable -but then it makes for a good IR spotlight for my sanyo DN [real] camera.

 

They boasted that it will do 20m -it actually goes 50m + across the street lights up the next factory and you cant see anything 10m in front everything is whited out -very silly !

 

People selling IR cams seem to boast on how far a camera can

throw its IR light -this is BAD you need to be able to control the spread and power.

 

External IR illumination always wins over internal -there are some exceptions like extreme and cantronics etc...

 

The internal IR led type [like bullet cams] pick up [flare-up] dust, rain, insects and fog that degrade a good picture. [because its to close to the lens]

 

 

my 2c

[CollinR 0]

Do you have a ring around the outside of the feed or a bright spot in the center?

 

Either way IR on the cam sucks and this is directly related to that, if possible return the camera.

[moe 0]

Is it because the evergreen is to close, and you are shooting IR at 50 meters?

 

I would imagine it is like a spot light on the evergreen.

 

I would relate that to a photograph where the photographer was to close to the person, and the flash just whitewashes their facial features.

 

Is this more what you are seeing?

 

That is exactly what I'm seeing. Great. I thought I read 50 FEET on this camera.

 

Can I cover some leds up with black electrical tape?

[scorpion 0]

Cut the Tree!

 

NO? OK. How about reorienting the camera enough to keep the view, and get the tree out of the IR "hotspot".

 

150 FEET!!! What are you looking at a football field???

 

Actually this is what I use for alot of docks here in florida. The camera will be mounted to the dock, and the boat can be seen at night. The IR does not have anything to bounce off of so you really need some umf behind the IR. Just watch out that the camera is not angled down, and you get the IR in to the water. You may get a lot of hot flashes if the water is real choppy.

[moe 0]

Cut the Tree!

 

NO? OK. How about reorienting the camera enough to keep the view, and get the tree out of the IR "hotspot".

 

150 FEET!!! What are you looking at a football field???

 

Actually this is what I use for alot of docks here in florida. The camera will be mounted to the dock, and the boat can be seen at night. The IR does not have anything to bounce off of so you really need some umf behind the IR. Just watch out that the camera is not angled down, and you get the IR in to the water. You may get a lot of hot flashes if the water is real choppy.

 

It's aimed partially at a staircase in a backyard and lots of evergreen trees are behind the stairs and border the whole backyard. No matter where I aim it will hit a tree or some other object.

[zmxtech 0]

on my $99 'el cheapo cam I did cover up most of the LEDs with tape I think there was 1 left -that was bright enough to light up 10m in front and not white out the picture]

 

-yep return the cam If you can -and get a real one !

[scorpion 0]

I would use window tint to "filter" down the IR, and you can leave a hole open for the camera to view through.

 

Can you move the camera back away, and zoom in more?

[zmxtech 0]

to fix it get a DN camera and a IR flood that is at least a few metres away. up high.

 

window tint may reflect back into the lens /be seen from a distance ?

depends on the lens shrouding....

 

z

[CollinR 0]

Rather then using window tint you might play with something like those window clings. Window tint cuts down on light transmission while maintaing clarity, this will basically reduce the problem but not really improve the situation. You really want something that has as close to 100% transmittance as possible but also has a very low clarity. This will scatter the light across the FOV rather then leaving a dimmer bright spot in the middle.

 

Something like wax paper might be decent but it will impact transmittance too. You might be able to hole saw a piece from a shower door/skylight/bath window. Those are all designed to have a high transmittance and a low clarity for lighting as well as privacy.

 

Also taking sandpaper to the area infront of the LEDs would probably scatter it well.

[scorpion 0]

and don't rub the sandpaper in the middle of the lens! LOL!

 

Great Idea CollinR!!!

 

I wonder if you could do the same with vaseline around the edges. This would be good for a short time use, but would collect alot of bugs in the long term!!

[CollinR 0]

Scotch tape even, you can get that in clear and haze as well.

 

Getting the right stuff the first time around is mo better.

 

 

Doesn't Christmas time make every CCTV system nice?

[moe 0]

on my $99 'el cheapo cam I did cover up most of the LEDs with tape I think there was 1 left -that was bright enough to light up 10m in front and not white out the picture]

 

-yep return the cam If you can -and get a real one !

 

You buy $99 cameras and are telling me to get a real one? Do you even know what a real camera is made of?

 

There is nothing wrong with cameras with leds attached. And the specs on this particular camera are excellent. This is a solid camera with superior picture quality.

[CollinR 0]

This is a solid camera with superior picture quality.

 

They why ask for help with it?

[scorpion 0]

because among us on the forum we have a million years of experience combined!

[moe 0]

This is a solid camera with superior picture quality.

 

They why ask for help with it?

 

Because I needed help with a specific problem at night. There is nothing wrong with the camera. If anything it's my own fault for misreading 50 meters for 50 feet on the IR range.

 

I appreciate the helpful posts, especially from Scorpion. Other posts, such as "Quit buying cams with IR on them", "IR on the cam sucks" and "return the cam and get a real one" when you probably never even worked with this camera, don't really help.

[rory 0]

Make sure the camera is not mounted up high, All in one IR cameras are best placed as low as possible to get the most out of the IR. Expect perhaps 50' of IR even with a reflective surface for the IR, even if the camera tells you otherwise; if you get more IR then cool.

 

Another reason for the narrow IR beam is that most come with 30 degree beams. You would need external IR with wider beams to get a better selection, and that can cost $$. So basically typically are stuck with the 30 degrees. Could try to point some of the IRs outwards also.

[scorpion 0]

There is a camera that I buy that has wide, and long throw IR. The problems with this is that some of the IR LEDs are large, and also to get wide, and long throw LEDs you need a lot of them which makes the face of the "camera" a very large "surface" area.

 

This is the the problem with bullet cameras. Cheap ones cannot be very big to keep cost down, and the cost prevents both kinds to be installed. Cheap wide angle bullets, are easy as they only need the wide dispersion LEDS.

 

Cameras that brag about long throw IR suffer from picture quality as they do not have wide angle LEDs.

 

Yes there other items that can make a good, bad, or a great camera, and I am not a camera expert, and these are only my opinions from what I have seen in the field.

 

Security Cameras Direct CFC6300VF is one that I use quite a bit. It is a pain as you have to disassemble it to set the camera, and reassemble it to mount it.

[RickA 0]

Collin had some good suggestions to help diffuse the light from the LED's, I would try the scotch tape to see if it helps, not the clear type. Then if the picture improves try sandblasting the area around the led's.

[mr.surveillance 0]

I don't have any experience with this particular camera but have had the same problem with other ones. My solution: I put a round sticker over the lense area and used a spray bathroom window privacy frosting, (avalable at most hardware stores), then removed the sticker. This dissapated the IR more evenly, although it did cut down the distance.