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3 Solutions for CCTV Cameras in Low Light

A camera set in a position where light levels are low won’t always pick up the detail it needs to. Sometimes, the simplest solution is the best. It’s often easiest to install a light source nearby. This isn’t always possible, and light sources can always be broken. Further complicating matters, many details are still hard to catch on camera in the evening, morning, or late at night. There are a few ways to select a more capable CCTV camera for low light spots that need more vigorous security solutions:

Day/Night Camera: This is a useful solution indoors and outdoors. Day/night cameras make use of an IR filter. This blocks out a range of light at certain times of the day so that details won’t be washed out. The IR filter levels are decreased as it gets darker out. In other words, the camera is naturally adept at seeing at night. The solution here is in making a night-use camera with a filter that also makes it useful during the day.

Wide Dynamic Camera: Wide dynamic cameras are great CCTV cameras for balancing harsh light and low light in the same image. This can often happen in entrances and exits to your location. Glaring daylight comes in from the outside, meeting lower light levels inside. With most cameras, the result is either that details are completely washed out or that dark shadows block out detail. With wide dynamic cameras, the light levels are balanced out pixel by pixel. This makes the entire image clear, even when harsh light and dark shadows meet in the same image.

Their nighttime advantage comes in being able to handle headlights and bright lights at night. Many cameras lose the image in the glare. Wide dynamic cameras are able to handle the brightness of the headlights without losing the rest of the scene. This makes them particularly useful for parking lots and locations that are near roads or areas with regular bright lighting at night.

Thermal Camera: A thermal camera is the ultimate CCTV camera for low light. does exactly what you imagine it does. It picks up footage by using heat to distinguish people and things. Think of how the Predator saw in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “Predator.” The idea’s the same, although modern imaging capabilities far surpass 1980s special effects. The advantage here is that a thermal camera can see just fine in absolute darkness and in daylight. It can see through smoke and fog. They can pick up a surprising amount of detail. Thermal cameras can also resolve objects at very long distances, making them the ultimate CCTV camera for perimeter security, such as along a fence or wall.