Tree causing underexposure at night?

M

Mr_D

Getting comfortable
Nov 17, 2017
595
527
Southern California
I have a 5231R-Z and a test rig. One side of my house doesn't have much on it, but all the bedroom windows are there.

Picture 1 shows one bedroom's window and my test rig. The window actually has two sliding parts, the left of which someone tried to break into a few month ago. I couldn't get it right against the house but you get the idea. From that position, the red camellia is not in frame when I zoom in a bit, but I can't see most of the window below it either.

Picture 2 shows the camera a bit lower and farther back. The next two pictures are from that location. The daytime picture is zoomed to 140 (approx 3.6mm). For the night pic, I zoomed to 260. I'm afraid if I zoom in too much, I'll lose the window. The wall going left right from the camera's perspective is maybe 30' away.

Is there a way to let the tree overexpose to throw more IR toward the front of the house? I played with the IR light settings when I brought it back inside but the manual slider didn't seem to do much. Is an external IR light my only choice?



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Have you tried playing around with the BLC setting? It's in the Backlight part of the settings. If you turn it on and select customized you can experiment with the size and location. It may not help but it might be worth a try. I've had it help on one of my Hiks but never tried it with my Dahuas.
 
If you cant trim the plant back then yes a external IR will be your best bet. Place the IR Under the ridge line under the soffit out of the view of the camera. Or under the camera. Otherwise it will be like looking at a street light. It will bloom the picture.

BLC will help. But you really need to trim the plant if possible.
 
I didn't think of BLC. I thought that was for daytime but I can see now how it could help at night.

I can't really trim the tree. It's in a narrow space and you're probably seeing 1/2 of it. If I trimmed it back, there'd be nothing left and it makes a nice visual barrier between the houses.

My neighbor has some motion-sensor solar lights over the bedroom windows. They're not that powerful but they'd probably do the job here too since any additional light would help.
 
Mr_D said:
I didn't think of BLC. I thought that was for daytime but I can see now how it could help at night.

I can't really trim the tree. It's in a narrow space and you're probably seeing 1/2 of it. If I trimmed it back, there'd be nothing left and it makes a nice visual barrier between the houses.

My neighbor has some motion-sensor solar lights over the bedroom windows. They're not that powerful but they'd probably do the job here too since any additional light would help.
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Hi Mr_D,

iirc that plant takes forever to grow - so I'd also be reluctant to trim too much.

I think you can help the view by placing a IR illuminator further down the view to illuminate beyond the plant and window better.

You may also try to mount the camera lower down on the wall as that will allow you to have less of the wall in the shot.
 
I already have a PFA 130E junction box that I plan to use. Would putting an L-shaped wall bracket on it help get it farther away from the wall? Or do I just need to aim it more to the right?
 
Mr_D said:
I already have a PFA 130E junction box that I plan to use. Would putting an L-shaped wall bracket on it help get it farther away from the wall? Or do I just need to aim it more to the right?
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Hi Mr_D,

Try out some different spots and angles - sometimes just a little move can make a better view.
 
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