Unidentified flying objects on infrared

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konctl
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2018 10:48 am

Unidentified flying objects on infrared

Post by konctl »

Hello,

does anybody know what the hell are things like these in the frames below? They produce around 200 events every night when the infrared is on.

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Insects? Hardware problem? They appear on both my (new hikvision) cameras. It's become really annoying.

I noticed that windy conditions produce more such events. Which is weird if they are insects, because I 'd think that insects fly less when there is a lot of wind.

Many thanks.
rockedge
Posts: 1173
Joined: Fri Apr 04, 2014 1:46 pm
Location: Connecticut,USA

Re: Unidentified flying objects on infrared

Post by rockedge »

those are insects!! Probably moths....I have it all the time... they bounce the infra red light and go so fast that it will streak the video with infra red light lens flare

you could add zmeventnotification server and do object detection perhaps to filter out the bugs.

Not sure yet on how the object detection works on night vision cameras but we could find out

Over all...your hardware is OK

NOTE Also debris blown in the wind can cause the same effect
konctl
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2018 10:48 am

Re: Unidentified flying objects on infrared

Post by konctl »

Thanks! I cleaned the camera and the surrounding walls today morning (there were a lot of moths and various insects), tonight it's the same. It's as if they saw me cleaning and called their friends to get back at me.

I will try the machine learning hooks with zmeventnotification during the next week, I 'll post my findings. But still, it feels a workaround. I have nothing against insects in general, but I won't tolerate them in front of my cameras. I 'll see if I can install infrared bulbs on the ground maybe. Otherwise I guess I will declare a chemical war.

Jokes aside, a very difficult problem.
CountyLine
Posts: 63
Joined: Thu Aug 29, 2019 5:22 pm
Location: USA

Re: Unidentified flying objects on infrared

Post by CountyLine »

I have found that tiny specs on the lens can cause those kind of artifacts. They are out of focus and so appear to be a lot larger than they really are. Sometimes the specs are inside the camera.

I get them on one camera only when the sun is in a certain position. Cleaning the exterior hasn't helped, telling me the problem is internal.

Also, bugs crawling on the lens can produce similar soft focus results. However, the bugs don't reappear in the exact same spot every day.

Close up moths usually are identifiable as such, in my experience.
skyking
Posts: 84
Joined: Sat Nov 03, 2007 4:07 am

Re: Unidentified flying objects on infrared

Post by skyking »

I have seen spider webs blow across and show up big/out of focus.
My best motion event I found looking for a break in to a moving truck. I am scrolling through the events and get this perfect crow at about 5' from the camera, wings spread.
Yetanorwell
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Apr 09, 2021 1:56 pm

Re: Unidentified flying objects on infrared

Post by Yetanorwell »

I have loads of these on the cameras around the stable, they are dust motes which happen to be blown past the IR leds. I see them both on the inside as well as the outside cameras, the latter mostly show them when there is a bit of wind.
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