Arlo|Smart Home Security|Wireless HD Security Cameras
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Killhippie
Prodigy
Prodigy

Ive gone though two Pro 4's and both have the same issue. At night you have a very dark image outside even if you adjust brightness, even though there is a street light outside which goes off at 1am. Turn off HDR and the image goes to colour and picks up detail really well with the street light on. Turn HDR back on and its black almost, you can see my porch door only. (without spotlight and colour on) when its pitch black after the lights go off it stays the same pitch black, I can't see anything yet movement makes the IR brightness leap up for a few seconds, which is useless as you cant see what the camera caught.

 Now if I move the camera into a dark cupboard the image is great really bright night vision and no the spotlight does not come on, so what's going on when its pitch black outside my porch with the camera in night mode only. I don't want to be forced to use the spotlight as I prefer not drawing attention to the cam and I don't need colour night vision all the time.

Also in my camera roll I downloaded an image from my Pro 4 when its in Library mode the thumbnail has all the detail clear as day (captured in IR only) but when you tap on the thumbnail to expand it the image it goes black as it opens up, just like night vision mode in the app live streaming when the light is off outside, yet when it goes back to thumbnail view it shows up all the detail outside my porch brightly and as I said with plenty of detail. Something isn't right here with either 3.5 app and the new pro firmware and/or  iOS 14.7. Its a mess tbh, an expensive mess. Is this a known bug?

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StephenB
Guru Guru
Guru

@Killhippie wrote:

No I'm not, but last night I had IR brightness at full power for maybe less than 1 second when it caught a hedgehog. If I am in my wheelchair and come round to face the camera and its armed the LED's light at full brightness illuminating the ground and myself clearly on my iPhone. Surely if it was auto exposure wouldn't it produce dark images 24/7 even when armed? 


All I can see are your pictures.  They clearly show that the exposure is set to prevent the left wall from being over-exposed.  

 

You might try toggling HDR, and see if that makes any difference.  But I think you'll get the best results if you shift the camera to keep that wall out of the field of view.

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JamesC
Community Manager
Community Manager

Could you provide some screenshots of what you're experiencing? That may help us better understand the issue.

 

JamesC

Killhippie
Prodigy
Prodigy

I will do when it gets dark, I've been using the spotlight and colour setting with HDR at the moment with the otherwise it just does not work properly as mentioned so I will upload tomorrow if there is movement of Foxes and Hedgehogs etc.

Killhippie
Prodigy
Prodigy

The odd image thing on the iPhone where it appeared more derailed has changed with 14.7 but the dark view has not. Here is live view in the first image in night view mode only followed by night view mode lightening up as a fox has triggered the cam and less than a second later when the fox is out of shot it goes really dark again. My Go never did this and was bright all the time. If the camera picks up something moving very fast you literally get a bright flash as the image gets brighter in night view mode and then it’s pitch black again

.

The dark image looks the same when the streetlight is on which is just out of view. These images were taken after it goes off at 1am, it does not pick up its light in live view but if you adjust brightness it will briefly turn night view off and you get a vibrant colour image at night as the streetlight is so close. Both cameras behaved the same on this firmware so I sent one back somewhat disappointed as I don’t think it’s a hardware issue, as I imagine in this position they all do it. The image in my view should be brighter in live view anyway which it isn’t. Adjusting the brightness to 100% doesn’t give you that extra vibrance you get when the camera is triggered. 

 

Why is it only brightening up when it sees movement and that’s not the spotlight doing either rather, than being that bright in live view mode? If I have smart notifications on you basically have no idea chance to know what the camera saw as it just does not capture objects in time at all  For instance here you would not have seen the fox just the last remnants of the infrared brighter image  followed by the darker view. Which is pointless. Also I don’t want the spotlight and night time colour on as it brings to much attention to the camera. 78FB1E25-C3F2-42F8-960E-ED51508BF77B.jpeg2A97A029-3CAC-49EF-AA52-732E1D4C329B.jpeg0C71BFED-CC48-4D2D-A010-66A8CAB1CBA3.jpeg

Killhippie
Prodigy
Prodigy

Oddly I cannot get my images to show up.

StephenB
Guru Guru
Guru

@Killhippie wrote:

Oddly I cannot get my images to show up.


Embedded images don't show up until a mod reviews and approves them.  That takes a bit of time.

 

Night vision relies on IR LEDs that are built into the camera.  They aren't on all the time (the battery would drain too quickly if they were).  It might take a bit of time for the IRs to fully illuminate.

 

I am thinking that you might get better results if you adjust the camera so that the wall isn't in the field of view.  There is a lot of illumination on the wall, and that likely is affecting the automatic exposure.

Killhippie
Prodigy
Prodigy

Ah that makes sense, thanks for the help. I can see you point of view, but if I press live view in the app shouldn't the IR illuminators come on full strength? If I were to sit in my wheelchair out there it would see me and the image would be bright. My old and now deceased Arlo Go and even my Arlo essential XL coped with it fine but the Pro 4 is really struggling. Sadly that wall has to be in the picture otherwise it then overlooks a small rural junction and could startle drivers if I used the spotlight, as its very quite around here. I was asked to move the essential because of that. I had hoped the Pro 4 would cope better. I just don’t understand why the essential XL and the Go performed perfectly in the same position. Also both were much brighter when you started live recording via the app with the Go giving instant full brightness like the Essential XL did. I did get my Carer to open the door ( it opens inwards) and the brightness was perfect. I guess I’ll try to move it away more but it’s odd how a new camera with better optics gives a more delayed and dimmer picture than a 1080p or 720p camera. Thanks for all your help. 

StephenB
Guru Guru
Guru

@Killhippie wrote:

 if I press live view in the app shouldn't the IR illuminators come on full strength?

They do. It does a short while (less than a second) for LEDs to come up to full brightness.  But I think the high contrast due to the wall reflection is the big problem here - the image of the ground is dark all the time, and I think that is because the autoexposure is dialed back due to the bright illumination on the wall.

 


@Killhippie wrote:

Sadly that wall has to be in the picture otherwise it then overlooks a small rural junction and could startle drivers if I used the spotlight, as its very quite around here. I was asked to move the essential because of that. I had hoped the Pro 4 would cope better. I just don’t understand why the essential XL and the Go performed perfectly in the same position. 


Are you using the spotlight?  Nightvision doesn't need it (low level color does).

 

One other difference with the Pro4 is that it has a wider field of view.  That might be increasing the problem with the wall reflections.

Killhippie
Prodigy
Prodigy

No I'm not, but last night I had IR brightness at full power for maybe less than 1 second when it caught a hedgehog. If I am in my wheelchair and come round to face the camera and its armed the LED's light at full brightness illuminating the ground and myself clearly on my iPhone. Surely if it was auto exposure wouldn't it produce dark images 24/7 even when armed? They work fine if they are triggered by an event like the fox, even maximum brightness is achieved, when placed in a small cupboard the IR lights up at full brightness bouncing off four walls and a shut door, about 3 foot square and that would cause all sorts of exposure issues I would have thought, there is no reason I can see for the IR LEDS to come on at full brightness and illuminate the ground if it sees movement when armed with no exposure issues but does not when its just in live view.

 Maybe the Pro 4 has some power saving mode possibly? Having had two Pro 4 devices do this I'm wondering if its a firmware issue, as I said full brightness is achieved for however long an object triggers the PIR when armed and is in view of the PIR and you can see the ground clearly, but just not in live view.  Thanks for your help I really appreciate your thoughts, I hope you can see my point of view too. Why does it illuminate at full brightness when armed but not reach full brightness in live view when not armed, it should do full brightness in live view too when not armed surely, or am I missing something? Thanks once again.

StephenB
Guru Guru
Guru

@Killhippie wrote:

No I'm not, but last night I had IR brightness at full power for maybe less than 1 second when it caught a hedgehog. If I am in my wheelchair and come round to face the camera and its armed the LED's light at full brightness illuminating the ground and myself clearly on my iPhone. Surely if it was auto exposure wouldn't it produce dark images 24/7 even when armed? 


All I can see are your pictures.  They clearly show that the exposure is set to prevent the left wall from being over-exposed.  

 

You might try toggling HDR, and see if that makes any difference.  But I think you'll get the best results if you shift the camera to keep that wall out of the field of view.

Killhippie
Prodigy
Prodigy

well its been adjusted as much as it can be as the other wall then just does the same thing. I may alter the fov to see if that helps but I get the feeling the Go with its 130 fov like the  essential XL were actually better units and could cope with the same position and wall without issues. Thanks for your help. I'm going to remove the images now. I think I may invest in a different system.

 The whole point is to have the door in view so I can see who comes to that area and for added security due to my disability and if I get it moved to get the wall out the way I'm going to get to many triggers from the junction opposite and smart delays the response to much. I use smart but for storage only not the smart cloud analyses as it slows down the cameras response to much.

 A doorbell cam would just blow out as that would face east and on sunny days you would not see anything. The limits of a 80 year Bungalow, Wi-Fi and some modern tech not being necessarily as good as older tech. Thanks for your help anyway.

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