Difficult lighting- gentleman’s club

Superior Security Experts

Superior Security Experts

Young grasshopper
Sep 25, 2019
43
11
Manhattan Illinois
I’m bidding a job that is very dark, has black lights, and customer doesnt want the red ir’s visible. Is there a low light camera that can do this? Black and white picture is ok.
 
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They have cameras that have bigger sensors to absorb more light with super low lux ratings. These don't have IR lights but have built in white LED's which can be disabled in the settings. They will be in color 24/7. Examples would be the Hikvision ColorVu and the Dahua Nightcolor lines.
 
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lewic said:
They have cameras that have bigger sensors to absorb more light with super low lux ratings. These don't have IR lights but have built in white LED's which can be disabled in the settings. They will be in color 24/7. Examples would be the Hikvision ColorVu and the Dahua Nightcolor lines.
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Ok. Think they’ll work with black lights? Very dark setting.
 
I honestly have no idea if any IP cams can see ultraviolet (probably not though?).

Inexpensive modern low light cameras are pretty amazing in dim lighting, in some cases seeing better than a person can (if given long enough for exposure) without internal LEDs on. But they do still require some light.

You could also go with 940nm IR illumination. It is generally less efficient than 850nm, but doesn't make the telltale visible red glow and if you're using it indoors I assume it would be good. I've never used 940nm before so I don't know if some cameras may be better than others at detecting this wavelength.
 
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I'd get a single 5442 and try it out in forced color with the emitters off. No way to know without testing.

The issue is you can take a super long exposure in a dark setting and get a wonderfully bright static image. But upon playback, any attempt to pause the video for facial I.D. will be met with motion blur rendering it fairly useless.
 
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I have got both the Dahua and Hikvision version and don't have the white LED's turned on. The only thing providing lighting in the area are two solar accent lights (about 10 lumens each) and the neighbor's porch light across the street (about 150 feet away) and the image is very good.
 
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By the way, on some cameras black and white mode can produce a sharper and clearer image than color in low light. But color is often really useful in the event of a crime where the cops are looking for a suspect that was just on the scene.
 
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Minimum illumination specs are the big thing to pay attention to for low light performance. Of course these specs aren't often directly comparable between manufacturers (sometimes not even within products by the same manufacturer). Anyway this is one of the "5442" cameras mentioned by @biggen: Amazon.com: Loryta IPC-T5442TM-AS 2.8mm Fixed Lens 4MP Starlight+ WDR IR Eyeball AI Network Camera English Version: Home Improvement It has some of the best low light performance available for under $200 per camera. Note this is a Dahua camera. The name "Loryta" is just a name used by this particular seller so he can sell them on Amazon.
 
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You could consider keeping the IR emitters off but using external IR emitters that could be well hidden in a club. A lot of them have an array of LEDs that are purple or some softer color. Might be that they could be worked into the décor of the club.

But like @biggen said, test out a 5442 and see if it will give you the performance needed.
 
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From my testing the Hikvision based units get better image compared to the Dahua ones so with the LED's turned off on the cameras then I would suggest the Hikvision units. The image will be a lot brighter. I have played with the settings such as shutter speed on both and that is what I feel if comparing the two.
 
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samplenhold said:
You could consider keeping the IR emitters off but using external IR emitters that could be well hidden in a club. A lot of them have an array of LEDs that are purple or some softer color. Might be that they could be worked into the décor of the club.

But like @biggen said, test out a 5442 and see if it will give you the performance needed.
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^ This.
 
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Superior Security Experts said:
I’m bidding a job that is very dark, has black lights, and customer doesnt want the red ir’s visible. Is there a low light camera that can do this? Black and white picture is ok.
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Hi @Superior Security Experts

This is what I would do:

Take several cameras to the location and run a test and comparison.

Show it to the customer.

Ask the customer which 2 cameras he wants bids on them.

Otherwise Customer will just often go with lowest bid on the hopes it works..
 
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