Better at night - color or black & white

[Drewman88]

"Better" is a subjective word, means different things to different people.

Just trying to determine which setting is "better."

The black and white night vision filter will enable when there is not enough ambient light in the image for a color image to be displayed.   That's why color will only work with the spotlight.  (Go it, I copy this from other discussion.)

Does that mean if I set it up at black & white WITH the spotlight, my nighttime videos will be even better?

This camera is for my driveway, there are ambient streetlight, but for the camera, it's sort of in the middle spot between low light and not enough light.   It does not matter to me if the video is color or black & white.  I want to choose a setting that will allow the camera to work "better" in low light situations at night.

[StephenB]

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@Drewman88 wrote:

"Better" is a subjective word, means different things to different people.

The best way for you to sort out what works best for you is to try both settings.

Low Light Color can kick in even if the spotlight is off - it depends on how much ambient light is in the area.  If that turns out to be your situation, then it is probably best to keep the spotlight on.  But the spotlight will also create some glare, that you might find distracting as you drive towards (or past) the camera.

Another factor is that the spotlight announces to anyone crossing the field of view at night that they have been detected.  The IR Nightvision is much harder for an intruder to spot.

FWIW, the camera that covers the middle portion of my driveway has the spotlight off, in order to keep the spotlight from shining into the driver's side window.  Cameras that cover other sections of the driveway have the spotlight on.