New CCTV system, unhappy with night quality

[garmcqui]

Hi,

I have just finished installing a CCTV system at my work, which comprises of:

1x Ademco 16-channel H.264 DVR (1TB HDD)
11x Honeywell HD73PX 600TVL Vandal Resistant IR Dome Cameras

DVR details:
http://www.ademco.eu/products/23/ADKRD164A

Camera details:
http://www.citysecuritysystems.co.uk/honeywell-hd73px-cctv-dome-camera

Everything is connected, motion detect recording is enabled on all channels and I can log into the DVR from home and view live/recorded images, which is great.

I currently have the DVR set to record in highest resolution (D1) at 6FPS.

However, I'm unhappy with the quality, which is much lower than I had expected, especially at night. I will post some day/night images to try and highlight the issue...

As you can see, the image quality at night is terrible, and most definitely wouldn't enable intruders to be identified.

Is there anything else I can do? Should I exchange these cameras for something different?

Thanks in advance!

Gareth

 

[OwainDIYer]

Apart from possibly Cam 6, your intruder's won't be large enough on screen for evidential Identification.

Your problems are down to lighting, either external lights shining into the camera or the camera's internal IR lights reflecting off the dome interior.

Resite the camera or external lights, or turn off the external lights, disable the camera internal IR LEDs and use external IR illumination.

 

[garmcqui]

Hi, thanks for your reply.

I can zoom in the cameras more, so will do that, along with switching off the external lights.

I'm not sure how to switch off the camera's internal IR - will have to read up on this. Any recommended external IR?

Are these cameras any good, or are there better ones I should swap them for?

The CCTV is vital at night, not so important during the day (as there's usually someone there).

 

[SimonH2]

... I can log into the DVR from home and view live/recorded images, which is great.

Ah, internet connected DVR - you might like to read this.

As you can see, the image quality at night is terrible, and most definitely wouldn't enable intruders to be identified.

OK, go outside at night holding a candle and try to observe what's going on across the yard (see camera 1), and get someone to shine a bright torch directly at you. What can you see apart from the bright torch ?
That's what you've got with cameras 1 & 3 - the lights in the field of vision simply overwhelm the camera. The internal IR illuminator will be "quite low powered" and useless at the distances you are trying to work over.

For long distances, you'll need separate high powered illuminators. And you need to position all the cameras so that they don't have any lights or reflections of their own illuminators (see camera 6) in their field of view. Be aware that something just out of the field of view may also cause problems - particularly once the dome has a bit of dirt and/or water droplets on it.

There's a reason high quality outdoor CCTV systems tend to have large camera housings, with heaters to prevent misting up and even wash/wipe on the window.

 

[sparkymarka]

READ THIS .... all cheap low quality dvrs say no more

 

[bernardgreen]

If the cameras have manually adjustable focus then adjusting the focus to get the sharpest images is best done at the lowest level of lighting.

There are ( or were ) cameras which had one mechanical focus setting for daylight illumination and a different one for use when illumination was infra-red as well as the different iris ( aparture ) settings. This was necessary if clear, sharp focused images were needed as lenses have different focal lengths for visible light and infra red.

It might be that "economy" cameras have a fixed focus set for infra-red images where the iris ( aparture ) is going to be large for the dim illumination and then for day light rely on the smaller iris becoming closer to a pin hole which reduces the loss of focus.

 

[harry0harry]

I have one of those cameras exact same one and it works very well in a totally dark area,night quality is very good and distance from cam to area of protection is 16 foot so well within its limits.
I am more than happy, it came via ebay as a job lot of cctv cameras,cheap as chips.

Harry.

 

[EightyTwo]

We use Raytec RayMax infrared illuminators. But they cost twice as much as your camera! We used Dennard 2020 in the old days but PAR56 lamps aren't cheap and also need replacing (about once a year). You might struggle to find them in the spot (NSP) or flood (WFL) light versions.

I think that you should first work out what you actually want to look at. 3/4 of Camera 1 is looking at a yard and 1/2 of Cameras 3 and 5 are looking at walls (and very close bits of wall, too!). Remember that you don't need a "pretty picture" like you would if you were taking a photograph - just fill the screen with the important stuff. A person that is less than 1/4 of the height of the picture could be really hard to identify. I'd clean the domes and focus the cameras at night (easier in winter ). Then check that any foam or rubber gasket that is around the lens is pushing onto the dome to stop the ir light from getting straight into the lens and b*gg*ring up the agc.

Most decent day/night cameras cost five times as much as yours and would be put in a housing/enclosure with a heater. You may like to consider a 1/2" camera if night vision is really important for you.