Does the Arlo Camera have night vision capabilties?

[ArloNewbie]

Can Arlo take a quality video in the dark? Do I need an external IR lamp to make it work?

[ArloTeam · Accepted solution]

Hello ArloNewbie,

Absolutely! The Arlo cameras have both day and night capabilities. The Arlo camera has infrared LEDs integrated within the camera to capture a video with up to 720p resolution (black & white) even when it's dark. The Arlo camera can automatically sense when the area/room does not have sufficient lighting to produce a quality picture and convert to night vision mode. 

Thank you for your question.

Arlo Team

[Jvalal]

Hello,

How can I manually change the camera from Night Vision to Color.  Sometimes the camera doesn't choose the right mode.  Automating this is nice for most users, but power users will still want access to override. 

[TomMac]

At this point you can't.

The switch over from color to blk/white with IR is set based on the visable light.

There may be an option in the future... try and put in a request for change to do so

[ibuyufo]

Being able to turn off or on the lights for night vision would save battery life.  I can think of a couple of cases where the lights would not be needed.

[Jvalal]

TomMac - Who would I put in a request with?

[TomMac]

<Who would I put in a request with?>

Send it to an Arlo/netgear member... or just post to Community Feedback

if you click on the user name, it will take you to the user page and there you can click on 'send private messg message to user'

[JamesA]

Thanks TomMac,

Another way to initiate a feature request for Arlo is to either kudo an existing idea or enter a new idea under the Arlo Idea Exchange found here: Arlo Idea Exchange. The top ideas will be presented to the Product and Development team for consideration.

[jdoe]

I completely agree, in fact I came to the forums specifically looking for this feature. My use case is I live in an Apartment and am not allowed to mount stuff outside. I have the Arlo looking through a window (I get that this means the motion detection won't work, but otherwise the video looks great). It works in the day time, the problem is at night, the infrared reflects off of the window and washes out the image (even though there is a good amount of light outside). 

[hokeysmoke]

I kind of have the opposite problem.  There is a bright light directly in view of the camera that does not illuminate the area as well as the IR LEDs could, and it "tricks" the camera into thinking that the area is brightly lit.  I would like to be able to use IR instead of visible light for these recordings.

[jeff]

Yes, I wish we can manually adjust the IR settings. I actually have the opposite problem in that at night, when there are no lights on, the IR does not give off enough light to be visible in the front iron gate entrance. I can barely see the gate but if someone would walk through the gate, I don't think the camera will pick up the person's face.

[TomMac]

Re IR led reflection;

The only way I know at this timeto prevent this, is to physically cover the IR leds so reflection from the glass does not wash out the camera...

netgear may allow contol of the ir's later ( unknown, just a guess)

This problem would need an outside IR source to solve

[TomMac]

PS Re picking up a person face;

There are basicly 2 types of cameras (imo) 1) ID cameras and 2) activity cameras

1) covers small area, gives good detail to allow a facial picture for ID ... Cons; if the subject doesn't enter the field of view ( cause small size ) there will be no picture

2) covers large area so you will know WHAT, WHEN, maybe how... Cons; usu not enough of a good picture to ID the person unless known to you as covers large area

So outdoor cameras mostly are used as 'activity' cams and indoor or doorway cams will be more likely be 'ID' cams as you can funnel the subject into the small area for a good picture up close.

Choose what you want to do with the cameras and position as needed. A combo of both ( or move as needed ) will prob be the best.

[csommer]

I just set up my 2 cam system tonight.  Love it so far.  When I see the cameras, one is in color and one is in black and white.  Is there a way to change this and if so, how? 

Thanks,

Cindy 

[4vrnvr]

Hi Cindy, it means one camera is in darkness and automatically went into night mode, infrared which allows the camera to see in the dark. When the camera is in this mode it is black and white.

Greg

[MikeGivan]

If Arlo cameras have night vision, why are all three of my outside cameras BLACK.

I can hardly make out any features. Without night vision the system is basically

only good to use as door stops.   VERY DISAPPOINTING!

[Jvalal]

think it's limited to 10feet. read the specs.

[TomMac]

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MikeGivan wrote:

If Arlo cameras have night vision, why are all three of my outside cameras BLACK.

I can hardly make out any features. Without night vision the system is basically

only good to use as door stops.   VERY DISAPPOINTING!

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The cams do have IR illuminators built in... If all is black in a dark area, then something is wrong.

The IRs turn on automatically in low level light conditions and the camera switches over to b/w view. Range should be about 8-10m max in the center, fading off a bit on sides

The easiest thing to do is get one of the cameras and put it in a dark room, if the view is black then try and reset it by a 3 sec opening of the battery door then reclosing... then test in dark room again.  If still NG, then contact Netgear.

[jguerdat]

As well, light falls off at the square of the distance.  So, if illumination is good at 10 feet, it will only be 1/4 of the illumination at 20 feet.  If you're trying to see longer distances, you'll need additional lighting.

[TomMac]

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Jvalal wrote:

think it's limited to 10feet. read the specs.

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I have tested it out to the fringes of illumination...usefull light is less than max,,,, it falls off in the center at just about 10m or 30 ft. ( less on side angles )

The small tree stump in center about 1m high is at 32 ft from the camera

BTW; from spec page:

Night vision

850 nm LEDs: illuminates up to 25 feet IR cut-off filter

Edit; PS.. I have used external IR flood lights ( the ones that were sold with vuezone ) and the coverage area was increased about 4x-6x... worked very well.

[rhabdo]

I have the cameras at max specs and i am not able to see anything at night further than 4 metres. Simply terrible.

[jguerdat]

Have you ever noticed all the people with cell phones taking pictures with their flashes of things going on a ways away and how the pictures are horrible?  Light falls off as the square of the distance so to light up something twice as far away takes 4x the light.  The IR illuminators can only be just so bright so illumination IS limited.  If you want to see further, you need external lighting, whether standard lights or with high-powered IR (850nm) illumination. Do a search on Amazon or Google for "ir illuminators" and you'll see a wide range of options.  The more output, the longer the distance but don't forget about that "light falls off as the square of a distance" thang...

[rhabdo]

I must have dreamt that bit where arlo motion detection and video capture up to 8 metres at night was possible. dreams are strange. so is fraud.

[TomMac]

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rhabdo wrote:
I must have dreamt that bit where arlo motion detection and video capture up to 8 metres at night was possible. dreams are strange. so is fraud.

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From specs...

Night vision

850 nm LEDs: illuminates up to 25 feet IR cut-off filter

So you didn't dream it, BUT ( there's always a but ) that is up to 25 ft in the direct center but not good illumination, On the sides from center of FOV, the illumination is less.

In tests, illumination is really about 15 ft overall.

 see pic, center 3ft stump is about 28 ft.

[hokeysmoke]

Just as with "visible" lighting, IR lighting performace will be dependent on the IR reflectivity of the subject.  Many materials are highly IR reflective such as leaves and many fabrics.  Stumps, though, are generally not very IR reflective.  Do a search or IR photography to see some examples.