Infa Red Illuminators

[paulb]

Hi I have recently bought a 140 led illuminator looks like a security light to look at. Anyway i'm playing around with it as i have no previous experiance , i thought it would be just a simple case of puting it up and pointing in the direction of the area i want to illuminate but it appears not or the result are not what i imagined. I have 3 cameras on a wall like this


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\ Cam 1\ |cam 2| /cam3/

Or to show better http://82.3.206.60/view/view.shtml

So i put the illuminator in the center thinking that would give me a better coverage but it doesn't seem to do that. My question is this do i need a illuminator for each camera pointing in the direction or is it the type of camera's i'm using not picking up the infared properly ? What i want to do is see at night from the camera's. Does anyone have any example cams with LED illuminators so i can see what i should be especting to view , like i said i have no experiance of illuminators so any help greatfully recieved.

Paul.

[drmacchi]

I Paul, the rule is every cam has its own illuminator.
If you use one for three , you will not have a good result. See image , it's faster to explain
Then it depends how dark is that zone during the night, i mean street lights , house's lights etc etc.
My solution for a similar problem was a 500w with IR sensor for people moving in your private zone, you will take nice pictures as in full light day.
Cheers, lorenzo.

[paulb]

Hi drmacchi

Thanks for coming back to me , you certainly got it right with the dark spots lol. I do have a 500 watt security light that comes on as soon as someone enterest the drive , but i wanted to view camera's when its dark so i can see if theres movement before they hit my property , so if i hear noices outside i can just simply take a look. I was looking at the image on bwired.nl of the driveway and that looks awsome in the dark but i cannot afford the price tag on that camera as good as it is lol. But if i could achiew something like that i would be a very happy chappy lol.

Paul.

[Esteban]

Just a couple of questions that might help people give you an answer:

-What model cameras are you using? Am I right assuming you're using an Axis video server with some cams hooked up to it?
-Are your cameras 'IR compatible' in other words can they 'see' IR? If not, your lamp won't help as IR will be filtered out by the camera's IR filter.

By the look at your camera stream the light is not doing anything at all. Do you see any improvement when you switch the light on or off at night?

If the light we can see in 'video 1' are reflections from the LEDlight and not external streetlight then you'll need either a stronger light, put it closer or change the exposure on the camera.

[drmacchi]

This is one of my camera, pal resolution with native IR (quite cheap, 115 euros). Outside is really dark, we live in a forest..............

paul.jpg (13.35 KiB) Viewed 7411 times

[j.hoekstra]

@paulb:
I'd be looking at Esteban's tips, I get the same kind of picture as you and don't use IR.
I'd guess your camerass aren't IR or nightvision ones and then the IR filter is put in to prevent distortions, some cameras can have them taken out but then produce horrible pictures at daytime.

[paulb]

Again many thanks for the replies its certainly helpful.

When i put the illuminator on the left and right camera does show more detail be it not as much as i had hoped. I guess maybe the camera's filter infared to a degree , the genter camera picks nothing up with or without the illuminator.

Yes i do use a Axis 2400 server and just plg camera's into it , but i can't for the life of me remember make and model numbers of the camera's as they have been up for about 6 maybe 7 years.

So i think i might be looking at a day / night camera that takes a C mount lens what specs on Lux etc do i need to be looking for ?

Paul.

[Esteban]

Then it could well be that your cameras are not made for night use in combination with IR. Have you yet looked at the possibility of changing the exposure on the cameras?
If you're buying a day/night InfraRed camera the LUX is not really that important anymore, since it'll see in the dark thanks to the IR, hence seeing even at 0 LUX. In general though as a rule of thumb buy a camera that needs no more than 1lux to give you an image (day specs) and it should be fine.

C-mount lens camera is not necessarly needed, you might be able to find a camera that fits your needs with a fixed lens at a cheaper price...

For some general info on what x amount of LUX corresponds to, have a look here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight

[r_255]

By lurking the web i saw many tutorials on how to remove a IR filter on photocams and webcams.
Just check your models and see on google or there is a simple fix for your camera

[Esteban]

That is something you could do, but this can result in the cameras having a crappy day image afterwards.