My night video view is black as coal. How do I see night time and change this?

[Bullpen87]

My driveway video at night is too dark. How can I change this?

[TomMac]

First check to verify that the Night Vision is on ( settings of camera )

If it is, then several questions...

How dark are we talking... snapshot ?

How far are we talking about?

Do you have external lighting?

In most of the cameras the bulit in IRs are only good to a max of 20-30 ft.

Beyond that, not much ( see below pic ) as light follows the inverse sq law.

You can get external lighting, external IR flood lights ( 850 nm ) is about all you can do if looking beyond the normal distance... since the PIR only pick up people to 25 ft, the IR built in is usu enough.

the above is a Pro 2, about 6 ft off ground ( so light appears better thna normal )

Center tree is about 20 ft out.... as you can see a fast drop off of lighting

[Bullpen87]

Thank you for replying. I want visibility 1-15 ft from the camera. Night vision is on. One streetlight about 100ft away is the only light source nearby.

[jguerdat · Accepted solution]

That streetlight may well be the issue. If it's positioned in the right way and bright enough the autoexposure in the camera will be fooled. You will need to reposition the camera so the streetlight isn't in view or mask it somehow.