Poor Night Vision with IP8M-T2499EW-28MM

[davebray131]

I purchased two of these cameras from Amazon. I only have one connected to see how well it works. So far the results have been very poor. The image is great during the day, but at night I cannot make out anything other than a few faint objects. It does not matter if the object is 10 feet away or 50 feet away. I tried with the camera default settings and then I tried to adjust the settings (increase IR power, etc.) but nothing seemed to help. I have attached the image of what this camera shows during the day and the same image during the night.

I am trying to determine if this is the actual quality of the camera or if I have a bad camera or bad settings. I have to assume it is either a bad camera or bad settings since the reviews and pictures on Amazon show great night vision. I don't want to open the second camera until I can get the first working, but I will if the first is deemed to be defective.

I have contacted Amcrest support and only received a canned response that was of no help.

[longedge]

Welcome to the forum.

Is the camera behind a window or inside some sort of protective enclosure? That looks like a reflected blur to me.

[usarmympdad]

If the firmware on your cameras are like the firmware on mine, you have settings for daytime and separate ones for nighttime. For Nightime use, I recommend that you set your Exposure setting to "shutter priority", and set the shutter speed to 1/180. Also for nighttime and daytime settings, set the BLC mode to OFF. Don't forget to click the SAVE tab each time you change a setting. As for Daytime Exposure settings set it to AUTO. Also, make sure ANTI-FLICKER setting is set to OUTDOOR for both daytime and nighttime use.

[davebray131]

The camera is located on the soffit. I have attached a picture for reference. The is nothing in front of it that could be reflecting the IR beam.

[davebray131]

usarmympdad, thanks for your feedback. My firmware does have separate settings for day and night. I have attempted to adjust some of the the settings that you mention but I have not tried setting shutter priority. I will definitely try that tonight when it gets dark. I did verify that BLC mode is set to off. My setup does not have a 1/180 setting so I will try 1/120 and 1/250.

[usarmympdad]

Davebray131, try the 1/120 setting first, then try the 1/250. You will then be able to determine which setting is best at capturing photos that clearly show a person or persons face in the triggered zone area.

[Revo2Maxx]

Well I am not sure what the issue is that is very odd that the picture looksl ike that.. Only time my Pictures ever look like that is when it is very Fogy out or if it is Very Humid as I live in a very Humid area...

So one of the things that can be done in most cases and I am sure in other cases where people are not rational... There are settings that you can adjust in a Schedule of time.. While this might be a pain in the back side at times it is the best way to make adjustment for your needs...

Just keep in mind that over time your Schedule will need to change some because what you have setup lets say from 620am will one day not look right at the night setting anymore and will need to be adjusted.. I have 2 cameras that I have to do that with to make sure that I can change the day view to shutter 1/100000 rather then being set to auto and night time set to 1/4 and not auto.... Then at some point the days will need to make changes or I will have either a Black screen or a white screen depending on the hours the changes need to be made..

Just remember that this would be under your Camera Conditions, Then Profile area changing from day night or normal.. In the Profile Management tab you would set what you want for the times of the Day to night and then you would set if you want Normal, fulltime or schedule if you set to Schedule then the times you set in that area will be when on the normal conditions page where you change the profile from day, night and normal... Set your day and night in there making sure to save at each profile before changing to the next profile and making the changes in that one again after the second profile is set you save and that should be all that is needed and at the set time that profile will take affect and your camera will change to your settings for your needs...

However before you do all that... I would double check and make sure your IR is set to Smart IR and not manual at full power... Another thing to remember is most times if a Normal settings are set and you have WDR turned on it will also be for night and WDR isn't good at night to be honest... Again that is things that you can setup in the Profile for day and night to make things work right.. IN one of my cameras I have HLC on at night and WDR on at day if I let just normal mode go I would loose some of the picture that with the modes active I can now see...

Edit: One Last thing and this is something that just came to mind as I posted this and looked again at your camera.. If you have taken the camera apart for installing a MSD or to reset or something of that nature.. You may want to make sure that the Camera IR gasket is in place because looking at your picture again it does kind of look like IR Reflections and with that type of camera only way would be from behind the front panel.. I will have to go take a look at mine I own. It isn't a IP camera but is made somewhat the same so I should be able to remove my front area and see how or why there is IR leaking into the Lens area...

[patric]

The lens flares do strongly suggest infrared reflections. You can verify by shutting off the IR illuminator with the camera set to black-and-white at night.

[Revo2Maxx]

Yeah I would for sure try what Patric has said to try and turn off the IR.. IF it is set on Smart IR and I am going to guess that it isn't however if it is move it to manual and then turn it all the way off... Another thing I would try and do is clean the leans.. Also it kind of looks like it might be IR Reflection from your Soffit while it is hard to say however where your camera is mounted there is a lip and I am going to guess even though you can't see it in the picture I am going to guess that it is hitting that lip and the IR is bouncing back into the camera lens.. Why it isn't affecting the top of the picture has to do with type of Reflection it is.. The way to test this is to take something to extend your camera down some 1x4 or some 1x1 and make a box around the area that the camera can sit out another inch from the current mount location might even need a 2 inch With it extended out if there is no more reflection you will need to move it down some or relocate it so there is no issue and if you have a IR blaster you could also turn off the Amcrest IR and use a Blaster to give you the light you need that would be the most costly however it would also be the best solution..

I took apart 2 cameras I own that look like this.. First was a TVI 1080P camera from 2014 and sadly there is no way that the camera and IR on my model could leak IR to the camera from within the housing seeing the IR is sealed away from the Lens area.. So I thought ok well I do have some Dahua CVI cameras that are kind of built this way however they are box cameras.. So I went took one down from my Shed and installed one of my Amcrest cameras in its place so I could take that one apart.. The Dahua is from 9-2013 and after taking this camera apart the IR is also closed off from the lens area...

Front of Dahua CVI camera

20200918_001123_resized.jpg (627.78 KiB) Viewed 1744 times

Front of my Turret TVI camera

20200918_001202_resized.jpg (568.92 KiB) Viewed 1744 times

Inside of TVI camera

20200918_001220_resized.jpg (615.28 KiB) Viewed 1744 times

Inside the CVI Dahua Camera x 2 pictures

20200918_003722_resized.jpg (744.84 KiB) Viewed 1744 times

20200918_003727_resized.jpg (726.67 KiB) Viewed 1744 times

[davebray131]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I experimented with the shutter priority and noticed it was already set to 1/30. I changed it to other settings(1/120, 1/250, etc.) and while the picture changed it didn't get any better. A little darker or a little lighter, but still washed out.

I tried turning the IR light off and the picture looks normal, but obviously very dark. That picture is attached.

I am going to try taking the camera down today and moving it to a dark room so that I can experiment with it at times other than the middle of the night.