Night images too dark

[RasmusBro]

Hi 

When I initially bought my Arlo, the night images in my garden were fine. But I think I may have accidentally changed a setting because all night pictures are dark now. To the etxent where it is pretty much uselss. Anyone has an idea how to change that. I have searched the forum and manual without luck.

Regards

Rasmus

[jguerdat]

There are no settings you can change to make night vision better or worse.  Perhaps a description of what the difference is would help.  For instance, were the first videos in color and are now black and white?  Are the current videos black or just illuminated for a relatively short distance?  Are they blurry now?  Night vision is limited due to the IR illuminators having a short "throw" and the lack of color is just the attempt to get a useful image in a difficult scenario.

[TomMac]

The only adjustment you may have changed is the IRIS level... tho it really shouldn't effect the IR viewing much.

go to live view mode, start the camera at night for a live view.  There is on the bottom right what looks like a 'sun' click on that.

It is a slider bar that allows a small amount of adjustment for brightness... click on left or right on bar , wait a sec and you'll see the iris/brightness change a bit.

When done save on exit.

[RasmusBro]

Thanks so very much for your answer. I really appreciate that a lot. The pictures at night look like the attached. I basically cannot see the face of any person passing by and seem to remember it was different initially (first night when I was playing around)

Best
Rasmus

[RasmusBro]

The Iris setting was a nice suggestion. I had not tried nor seen that. It did not change much in the picture unfortunately.

[PJMLAW · Accepted solution]

Your sample looks very much like mine but when my wife walks into the scene it does show her well enough for identification.  I bought a pack of three night lights at Sams that are motion acitivated and run on 4 small batteries.  They help lots to illuminate. But I did not have them on in the test with my wife as mentioned in this post. Good luck. 

[RasmusBro]

Thanks for your reply. It is good to hear that the quality is similar to what you have. Maybe that is just the best that is possible under the conditions. Thanks a lot

[MarkH123]

5.18.16-
After the last update to app/Geo-fencing..my night vision is not as bright and clear as it used to be..I have had 5 cameras since Dec 2015 so I know how good the night vision used to look like..its too dark now...Netgear please fix..

[jguerdat]

Not sure why this would happen - doesn't look different to me.  Check your settings to ensure night vision is on.  Also, use live view and click on the "sun" icon.  Adjust brightness and be sure to save it.  Is there a difference?

[MarkH123]

Yes my night vision is on and Yes I have adjusted brightness setting and save it..those things are not the issue
FYI: I have had the 5 cam set since last year Dec 2015 and my settings havent change since then..Night vision used to be brighter and clearer...only thing that has changed is updates ....

[MarkH123]

This is the way my night vision used to look like

[MarkH123]

Here's an example of what my night vision looks now. (Top pic)

and the way my night vision used to look like.(bottom pic)

[marcoinpb]

Is it possible that the light coming from the window to the left of the door is enhancing the image of your earlier, better image?

[jguerdat]

Agreed.  I would say a few things here:

- you changed the position somewhat so that could be something by itself (how much IR lighting bounces off walls, etc. changing exposure) as well as light from the window, the garage light that's now visible, etc.  I'd tilt the camera down somewhat to get rid of the garage light and maybe exclude other light sources that are changing the exposure.  It's like taking a picture of someone indoors with a brightly lit window behind them - an automatic exposure camera isn't going to figure that out by itself.

[jeffharris]

I am experiencing same issue with very dark images.  Worked fine up until recently.  Adding some low level lights in the area after changing settings didn't resolve, but this one definitely needs to be corrected as it takes away one of the primary advantages of the Arlo sysem Night Vision.

[jguerdat]

Issues like this frequently require opening a case since hardware issues can't be solved in these forums.