Night Vision Question(s)

[Tiger_Claw]

Hi guys,

:moon:

Can anyone provide a break-down of the different types of night vision technologies being used in cameras and explain each technologies pros and cons, i.e.,

• Which is visible and invisible to the human eye
• Which is best suited for short and/or long distance
• Which type typically lasts the longest before burning out
• How to properly identify what type of illuminator (add-on) light works with each

Tiger

 

[nayr]

Your only basic option is active infrared; where IR LED lighting provides lighting on a frequency just beyond the visible but still within the camera's sensitivity... most cameras filter out IR light in the day to provide a better image and then disable the filtering at night for the use of night-vision.. Cameras without IR lights built in are typically not capable of turning the IR filter off and thus they wont see anything from any IR sources at night... the best these can typically do is about 200ft with high powered IR.. they are all LED based so life is dependent on how well they were designed to disapeat heat.. if done right they will outlive the camera.

Forward Looking IR, aka FLIR Cameras are not affordable for residential/consumer use... your talking $25k for an entry level FLIR PTZ.. they detect IR signatures given off by heat sources and can spot small objects for miles.

 

[icerabbit]

I'll start by going the easy route and sharing a URL, rather than type out something that's going to be less concise

http://www.hownightvisionworks.com

As Nayr said, IR is pretty much the only homeowner option.

And, I'd say with a preference to softer broader illumination rather than single point harsh spotlights which will cause most recordings of a subject to be burned white.

 

[Tiger_Claw]

Cameras without IR lights built in are typically not capable of turning the IR filter off and thus they wont see anything from any IR sources at night...

These must be the types of cameras some people own who mentioned that their aftermarket IR LED illuminators didn't help. This is what confused me when I was searching for my own IR LED light.

For some reason I thought that some of the affordable cameras had LED's that weren't visible at night. I guess my thinking was wrong. :jaded:

Thank you for providing comments to this post. It helped.

Tiger

 

[Tiger_Claw]

I'll start by going the easy route and sharing a URL, rather than type out something that's going to be less concise

http://www.hownightvisionworks.com

As Nayr said, IR is pretty much the only homeowner option.

And, I'd say with a preference to softer broader illumination rather than single point harsh spotlights which will cause most recordings of a subject to be burned white.

Talk about information overload! Damn. I was going cross-eyed reading about the different types. :mad-new:
Thanks for the link bro..

Tiger

 

[icerabbit]

The point really is that can research yourself crazy, but for all of us IR is where it is at for surveillance at home, and extending on what nayr said, if you have an outdoor camera with built-in IR leds, it will have a means of controlling them, turning them off for instance also should you decide on placing a couple external IR lights, vs depending on the internal leds or lamp.
Don't overthink it too much. And I speak from experience as I'm known to procrastinate, research more, analyze, ...