day vs. night video images

[davidlopez2384]

during the day my cameras are extremely clear, when vehicles pass by the video is perfect. the problem i have is during the night, in IR mode or color mode, vehicles, people walking, basically moving items look extremely unclear. example is a kid was riding one of those hoverboards and he basically looked like a ghost rolling down the street. when a car goes by it is just streaks of light, and you can barely make out the type of vehicle it is. i don't understand how during the daytime they work perfect but not at night.
i have a kantech 3TB dvr
and Illustra 610 HD outdoor dome cameras

any help would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[Kawboy12R]

Exposure time is waaaay too long. 1/30th or maybe 1/25th of a second is about the longest exposure you'd want to be able to get a clear image of a slow moving person. Fast people, particularly close to a camera, are still blurry at 1/30th. Getting sharp pictures of moving vehicles in dim light is tough. Even 1/60th gives blurry vehicles at 30mph 60 feet away. Look in the exposure settings for the cameras and bump them up to 1/30th or faster if you've got great light.

 

[davidlopez2384]

ok we might be getting somehwere !!

under auto exposure i have these options i can adjust....
Method: center weighted or target exposure control
Exposure Compensation: from -2 to +2
Max Exposure: 1/3.75 to 1/1000
Min Exposure: 1/30 to Unlimited
Sensitivity: 1 to 10
Max Gain: default to 32

then there is manual exposure which only has...
Exposure time: 1/3.75 ~ 1/10000
Gain: 1 to 32

under the auto exposure i adjusted the max exp to 1/30, 1/60 etc to see what it would do, and the image gets darker and darker, obviously b/c right now it is dark out. but i would have to drive by, or fast walk to see the results.

 

[Kawboy12R]

At night, the faster you set the max exposure the darker and/or grainier the picture will get. You'll have to balance grain with blur. Increase the light to increase your best exposure speed with low grain and blur. Either that or change cams to ones with larger lenses and/or better low light sensors. I bet you'll be reasonably happy at 1/30th, particularly if you also improve your lighting.

 

[davidlopez2384]

a car just drove by and it was BETTER. thanks a lot !!!

 

[Kawboy12R]

You're welcome. Fiddle with it til you find the best balance for what you're trying to capture. Try around 1/500 for plates at night if you're using IR. Everything else will be really dark but the plates won't overpower the sensor so the numbers can emerge from the glow.