Ebay Colour Cameras & Night Time

darkage · Post by **darkage** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 4:33 am

Ok so Black & White imaging is the best for night time with IR LEDS. Professional cameras seems to only come in colour these days whcih will actually switch to black & white at night when light levels fall.

But what about the el cheapo cameras from ebay.

Interested in these http://tinyurl.com/lncbg The cheap capture card I would expect to only do black & white but could be wrong.

My main question is would these cameras operate in colour mode at night time therefore more crappy image quality or do they actually switch to black & white mode. If not seems like the best option is to buy black & white cameras only.

Any issues with night time & ebay colour cameras is what it boils down to.

Post by **zoneminder** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 9:26 am

I think most will switch to B&W as the light level falls. This is where you will probably see a difference in the quality depending on the price. I think top end systems have a mechanical filter which will drop down where cheaper ones do it electronically.

You can also get the situation, whch I have with one of my cams, where as the ligth falls (or increases) it spends half an hour flipping back and forth between the two before it makes it's mind up.

jameswilson · Post by **jameswilson** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 9:46 am

re garding genuine 'day/night' cameras these have an ir cut filter that is removed during ir use. The cheaper units dont have an ir cut filter and this is why there colour mode is poor and colours are inaccurate. These are called day/nights but shouldnt be!
Also watch out for colour/mono cameras as these usually have the ir cut filter perm in place and as such cannot use ir at night!

lazyleopard · Post by **lazyleopard** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 1:34 pm

Another common problem with switching between IR and visible light is the way the focus shifts, so a camera that's nicely focused for one produces a slightly out of focus image for the other. :/

darkage · Post by **darkage** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 1:39 am

Thanks for all that have responded! (:

What would you think of the following cameras. Anyone have experience with these kind of cameras. I understand they aren't high performance models, but looking at it from a budget vs performance aspect, it may do the job. Planning to have one camera facing my front lawn from just under the eave with one for the backyard as well. As long as I can make out a person at night time then I would be happy with that.

http://tinyurl.com/s8ev2

http://tinyurl.com/lnbk8

http://tinyurl.com/lncbg

Flash_ · Post by **Flash_** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 6:28 am

Note: My speciality is IP cameras, so no claims of accuracy for the following.

Brief looks suggests they're cheap and of fairly low quality.

CMOS sensors and what's probably an electronic iris (rather than mechanical) are both the lower quality end but that's reflected in the post.
I haven't much exerience with night cams, other than day/night cams without IR emitters can't see Jack at night.

They should work, although you could run into trouble using them with Zoneminder (unless they supply true mjpeg or jpg stills - some IP cameras say they do, but use a java or activex wrapper to "interpret" the stream, meaning it's not to standard and they've had to bodge it). This is a problem with the cheaper end sometimes (but not always!). If you can't find confirmation here, on the wiki or across the web then there's no guarantees. That said, with these analogue cameras I understand it's more the case that the card needs to be supported under Linux rather than the cameras.

The Hong Kong sellers have a variable reputation. From what I've read they're often fine but if something goes wrong, or they're dishonest, you've lost your money.

jameswilson · Post by **jameswilson** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 8:34 am

you will get focus drift from natural to ir light, But you can buy 'ir' lenses that minimise this shift. But if you focus fro night use day use should be ok. If you focus for day then ir will be out!
As a ballpark and for compare only a proper 'day/night' camera cost in the region of £400 plus lens plus housing
http://www.securitywarehouse.co.uk/cata ... ucts_id=11
But bear in mind this is a proper pro camera and everything else is a consumer thing. Plus you predominantly get what you pay for so a £50 camera when compared to a £400 is gonna perform as you expect!!

JAmes