In the picture, I switched the Camera to Manual so that the setting options should 'in theory' match the setting options on the Z12. Actually, I have it set to Auto because when I switch it to Manual and enter a shutter speed like 1/1000, or even much less, I can not get the image to look nearly as good as when it is set to Auto. At 1/1000 I have to adjust the Gain up to 100 and still the picture does not look nearly as good as with Auto. I have tried the brightness settings etc. and it never comes close to the Auto quality at night. If I pull the car in the driveway and turn on the interior light of the car - the image is super sharp
So, I know that more light helps.
I do have a coach light about 2 ft from the camera and I currently have three 15 watt bulbs in there so that they coach lights do not look super bright - they give a nice look. If I increased the brightness of the coach light near the camera, do you think that would help the image quality? The camera is zoomed in so that the image starts towards the bottom of the driveway - the sidewalk is 30 ft from the Camera - or does the light need to be shined on the image to be recorded (ie a flood light facing the street) or would increased light at the camera help? I am currently at 15FPS 4,096 bit - tonight I will try to increase that to see if that helps too?
Thanks for your advice!