Winter CCTV – A CCTV Camera is not just for summer!
CCTV Installation and Image capture in Winter is the most challenging time of the year.
This is when CCTV Cameras are really put to the test. With freezing temperatures, bright low sunlight causing glare, shorter daylight hours and heavy rain, snow and ice – this is often the time when people find out if they really got the right camera for the job!
A CCTV Camera is not just for summer!
It’s important to think of the job the camera has to do throughout the year!
It’s all very well capturing people’s faces or licence plates in the summer but when it’s dark at 4pm and you have no external lighting or Infra Red/White Illumination, you suddenly have a camera that is not fit for the environment it is in.
What is the camera being used for?
Are you going to be capturing car license plates or just general surveillance?
How far away are the objects going to appear that need capturing?
What time of the day are you expecting this camera to perform in? Is it day time monitoring (e.g. capturing license plates coming into a private car park which is locked after hours) or night time monitoring?
CCTV Lenses & External Illumination
It’s an obvious one but the lens is far too often overlooked when it comes to camera setup.
Even if the focal range of the lens is correct, what good is it if the camera’s LUX level (how dark it can produce an image till – 0 Lux = pitch dark) is not low enough to cope with the lower light conditions you get when the clocks go back?
Also in day time when the sun is low and bright, the reaction of the camera and lens is important. If the auto iris is unable to adjust efficiently enough, you can get a whited out or sun glared image.
If you find you have an existing install with poor night time performance you could consider adding external illumination in the form of motion sensor lights or the more stealthly (and often cheaper and simpler option) of infra red/white illuminators.
IR Pass Through / True Day Night
Infra Red/White Illuminators are a good solution but your camera must have IR Pass Through / True Day/Night ICR filter. This means the camera can ‘pick up’ the IR Light and use it to improve its night time image.
ALSO, if you fit an infra red/white illuminator, you must make sure your CCTV Lens is IR Corrective. Otherwise you may find the images at night appear out of focus (known as ‘Focus Shift’).
Infra Red / White Illuminators
With Infra Red/White Illuminators the light emitted is not visible by the human eye. Meaning the trespasser is unaware they can be seen. This is good but at the same time, a light coming on might surprise someone enough and put them off!
Infra Red Illuminators will work with a day/night camera (one that changes from colour to monochrome) and are designed to work in black and white, whereas Infra White Illuminators work in colour!
All In One Cameras
Another option is to choose an all in one camera. This is a camera that comes fully built and includes, camera lens, infra red illuminators all in a weatherproof casing. So you can effectively save time (and often money) by using this kind of camera.
The all in one day/night cameras come with a variety of night time ranges (usually from 10m ~ 100m) and a range of lenses to suit so you can often find the exact model you need.
