Night Vision - dynamic switching?

[hellosb]

I'm wondering if there is an option, currently or planned, for dynamic switching of night vision? 

At the moment, one of my cameras is located directly below an external motion-activated security light. I've noticed that if night vision is "ON", as soon as the security light activates, my video is over-exposed. So the night vision works for the 3-5 seconds prior to my security camera triggering, but then it is useless. 

 Alternatively, if I select "OFF" for night vision, as soon as the security light is triggered, the video looks quite good. However, the security light takes 3-5 seconds longer to trigger than the Arlo Pro 2; or sometimes the security light doesn't trigger at all. And then I see nothing. 

I was kind of hoping that I was missing some kind of option to all night vision to be active, but deactivate as soon as sufficient background light is available (e.g. my security light turns on). So that I get the best of night vision and light assisted clour vision. 🙂 

Any thoughts? Any plans for development? Thanks in advance. 

[steve_t · Accepted solution]

Black & white vs color is dynamically switched depending on available light levels to the lens.

Night Vision on/off merely controls whether the IR LEDs come on in the dark.

If you point your Arlo Security light directly at the camera, you'll see the camera switch back to color mode when the light comes on.
Not sure why Arlo chose to have the lights on a bridge that connects through the internet. The lag between motion detection by the camera and then the light coming on can be quite significant, as you've said

[hellosb]

Thanks - now I understand. Unfortunately, my current setup doesn't allow for the light to be in front of the camera. But I think I may be able to hack something reflective to shine the light toward the lens, in order to force the dynamic switch. 

[jguerdat]

The Night Vision setting is just an on/off for the IR illuminators (the dull red ones around the lens). AFAIK, it doesn't affect the camera operation in any other way although that could be wrong.

The camera has automatic exposure control so it will over-expose with the addition of light as you note but should dial back the exposure with continued extra lighting. Of course, something important could be happening while the camera is readjusting the exposure.

What kind of motion light is it - the typical outdoor type? You can try to readjust its position and/or sensitivity setting to match the camera's (or readjust the camera sensitivity in your modes and rules to do the same thing). As an alternative, there are the Arlo lights that can be added to the system which work well with the camera. They're not as bright as the typical outdoor light so don't blast the camera exposure and can be set up so the camera triggers the light or the light triggers the camera - or both.

A different solution could be to just move the camera away from the light so the blast doesn't affect the exposure so much.