Do all starlight cameras go black when switching from night to day?

[marklyn]

I have a Dahua 42212TNI starlight camera (no IR).
When the camera switches from night to day it always starts with a black picture then fades to a color picture within about 8 seconds. It generally happens only when the night/day switch occurs or enough external light causes it to switch (thinking it's day).
I've been in contact with Dahua support and they've had me try several troubleshooting steps and even upgraded my firmware (that yet doesn't exist publicly) to a newer version but it still does it.
I feel certain it's the night to day switch because it happens in the early morning hours within minutes of each occurrence and then all video from that point is color.
Would appreciate knowing if anyone else has or is experiencing this issue and what Dahua camera you have.
Here is a link to a short video showing the issue.

 

[bp2008]

What are your exposure settings? Is it switching based on ambient light or do you have the camera changing profiles at a certain time or what? Seems to me like this could be caused if it is still too dark when the camera switches to day mode, so it takes longer than expected for the exposure and gain to auto adjust for the darkness. It looks like the camera is going to very slow shutter speeds to achieve that level of image brightness, which makes it worthless for security anyway.

Consider some pre-trigger recording time and no Blue Iris timestamp overlay in your Blue Iris config.

 

[bigredfish]

hmmmm.. assuming the scene was completely black to begin with prior to the switch...
Here's an example of a Starlight bullet (with IR obviously) switching from night to day profile. Note it does go almost black for a second when it starts to switch. I think thats normal...

(switch YT player to 1080p)

 

[crw030]

@bigredfish is that built-in IR, or do you use an illuminator? I would say my 2MP starlight domes aren't quite that clear without having 3DNR set so high I have bad motion blur.

 

[marklyn]

What are your exposure settings? Is it switching based on ambient light or do you have the camera changing profiles at a certain time or what? Seems to me like this could be caused if it is still too dark when the camera switches to day mode, so it takes longer than expected for the exposure and gain to auto adjust for the darkness. It looks like the camera is going to very slow shutter speeds to achieve that level of image brightness, which makes it worthless for security anyway.

Consider some pre-trigger recording time and no Blue Iris timestamp overlay in your Blue Iris config.

I initially had it set to trigger based on a night and day profile. In those situations it switched when the ambient light was bright enough to cause a switch to color (ie: car light, security light), and in that situation when the ambient light went back to normal night the camera would go back to night mode. In each instance the switch from night to day would be preceded with a black screen that fades to a color video. After Dahua tech started looking at the issue he had me change it to change on ambient light instead of schedule. So each morning (around 6:23am) it changes with the same issue (black to color fade-in). I already have BI set with a 7 seconds pre-trigger and already have the timestamp overlay, which is somehow double stamped in the example video on the original post (not sure why that happened on that example video). My night setting is set to auto with an AE recovery of 15 mins (not sure yet what AE recovery is but left it at default).
Your example video shows what I would expect mine to do, quickly change from BW to color.

 

[marklyn]

@bigredfish is that built-in IR, or do you use an illuminator? I would say my 2MP starlight domes aren't quite that clear without having 3DNR set so high I have bad motion blur.

This camera has no built in IR, however to the right of this camera on the far side (other corner) of my house, about 50' away is a HIKVISION with IR that is always on, so that is what you would normally see as a "light source". Below that HIKVISION camera is a security light that occasionally turns on for possums, cats, etc., and that sometimes triggered the Dahua to go from night to day.

 

[bigredfish]

@bigredfish is that built-in IR, or do you use an illuminator? I would say my 2MP starlight domes aren't quite that clear without having 3DNR set so high I have bad motion blur.

That has built-in IR. In full disclosure, there is a street light about 100ft away off to the left...

 

[marklyn]

That has built-in IR. In full disclosure, there is a street light about 100ft away off to the left...

bigredfish, I don't get what you're saying. Are you making a statement in regard to something I said or are you making a point? Not sure.
Although the Dahua doesn't have IR, it does show a good night picture with the ambient light so it's not at all dark at any time.

 

[bigredfish]

I was simply answering @crw030 's question with regards to my video...

 

[bababouy]

To the original post, there may be a difference, with the time that the camera changes from day to night or vise versa. In the first video, the camera is going from night to day which takes a few more seconds then the second video, where the camera is going from day to night.

 

[marklyn]

To the original post, there may be a difference, with the time that the camera changes from day to night or vise versa. In the first video, the camera is going from night to day which takes a few more seconds then the second video, where the camera is going from day to night.

The second video is also going from night (IR) to day. When the car backs up enough in increase in ambient light triggers it to day/color, and fast I might add. I wish mine did that.