Surveillance cameras have become an integral part of our lives today. Blink cameras are popular for people looking for a high-quality yet affordable home surveillance solution. Despite their small size, they come equipped with motion detectors and Night Vision, which makes them excellent for 24/7 monitoring. The Night Vision feature allows Blink cameras to capture clear images and videos in low-light or dark conditions.
If your Blink camera night recordings are too dark to see, you need to understand how to work around the Blink camera IR intensity so that your cameras can capture footage with good clarity.
The IR sensor also might be blocked, especially if you use a non-Blink brand mount. To help you optimize your Blink camera’s performance, this post will cover more about IR intensity on Blink cameras.
What Is Blink Camera IR Intensity?
Blink cameras have a Night Vision feature that allows them to record videos at night or when the visible light is low. This feature utilizes IR (infrared) illumination to provide visibility in the absence of visible light.
Infrared light is a type of electromagnetic radiation invisible to the human eye but can be detected by devices like your Blink cameras.
How Does IR Intesity works on Blink Camera?
When your Blink camera detects the environment is dark enough, it automatically activates the in-built infrared LEDs. This illuminates the monitored area, allowing your cameras to capture clear black-and-white images and footage. By default, Blink optimizes the IR intensity to ensure sufficient illumination when the camera is actively recording in dark conditions.
The IR intensity refers to the strength of the infrared light coming from your camera. You can adjust the IR intensity from your Blink Home Monitor app.
Blink offers three intensity settings — Low, Medium, and High — to allow Blink camera users to control brightness as needed to improve the quality of footage captured. A low IR intensity setting means low brightness. Consequently, the objects captured might be too dark to see. On the other hand, a high IR intensity setting means more brightness, which can lead to washed-out images.
How To Adjust IR Intensity on Blink Camera
Blink camera default settings are usually auto, and the IR density and other Night Vision settings are usually optimized to illuminate sufficiently for most conditions.
Whatever your reasons, you can adjust your camera’s IR intensity to suit your needs.
Here are steps to adjust Blink camera IR settings:
- Launch your Blink Home Monitor app and select the camera whose IR intensity you want to adjust.
- Click on the gear (Settings) icon, then select “Video Settings.”
- Scroll down to find “Night Vision Settings” and click on it to open
- Select Low, Medium, or High to adjust the IR intensity.
5 Things to Consider before Adjust your IR IR Intensity on Blink Camera
When adjusting your Blink camera’s IR intensity, several factors must be considered, including distance, availability of reflective objects, view angle, and environmental factors.
For instance, high IR intensity is needed to capture relatively far-away objects. The downside is objects too close to the camera might be over-exposed or washed out. Reflective objects like an open swimming pool and a car’s windshield can lead to washed-out images.
For the best results, position your Blink camera away from reflective objects and adjust brightness and exposure settings to suit your situation. Make sure there are no obstructions that might block the infrared waves. You can also invest in bright floodlights to increase ambient light levels, which can lead to better imaging at night.
Note: IR intensity settings can potentially affect your camera’s battery life. While the Blink camera batteries can last up to two years, high IR intensity will use more power, draining the battery relatively faster than low IR intensity. If your camera records long clips too frequently, its battery will not last as long.
Conclusion
Blink cameras come with Night Vision, allowing them to record clear footage at night and in low-light conditions. The use of IR illumination helps enhance performance, allowing Blink users to keep an eye on their property and businesses at night. If your Blink has been recording underexposed or overexposed videos, you can now adjust the IR intensity to suit your property’s specific needs. Adjusting the IR intensity and removing any reflective materials in the area being monitored can greatly boost the clarity of images and footage captured at night.
