The performance of dome security cameras at night can be drastically enhanced through the right utilization of IR (infrared) lighting. Many dome cameras don’t have the night surveillance due to low light. Use of infrared lamp lighting is a healthy step towards surveillance in night times but this cannot apply to any dome camera. Some dome cameras with PTZ (pan/tilt/zoom) have powerful IR lamps mounted on the sides to eliminate round and light up the areas where camera is focused on.

How can you increase performance of dome cameras?

Performance can be increased by considering some factors that may useful in making domes more reliable in night times:

Whenever you going to buy dome camera one thing should remember that the dome camera should have at least tinted dome covers. The tinted dome covers reduce light lift-up by overcrowding some available light.

Use always combined cameras (lens combinations) may not be as sensitive as models exclusively deliberated for performance in low light.

Don't buy the dome security camera that based on CCDs with integral lenses because CCDs is not sensitive low light performer. So if you want to use dome camera with CCDs than its better to implement in day time. If you want to increase the dome camera with CCDs with integral lenses in night time you may use infrared light lamp system integrated with dome camera specially deliberated for low light.

Domes cameras further divided into two major categories: fixed dome camera and fully functional dome camera.

Fixed dome camera

Fixed dome cameras normally used in outdoor surveillance for some targeted areas or focused on. Fixed dome camera usually short range surveillance camera that often hooligan resistant. As the dome camera unit is fixed therefore it can be captured or figured those surfaces desired by users. The fixed dome camera is involved in low light issues which are similar to all other dome camera system without IR lighting lamp. Therefore, fixed dome camera require additional lighting i.e. IR (infrared) lighting lamp typically mounted on domes.

IR illuminator is another astonishing tool that used in night time surveillance in dome cameras. If you want to increase the performance of the dome camera in low light you may increase the IR illumination level. The IR illumination in domes may save lot of yearly cost and to prevent routine repaired of lighting. Dummy fixed domes are also available at market and online stores.

To get complete exposure of the sight, the IR illumination must be coordinated to the field of sight of the camera. Narrow beam IR illumination can be used to match narrow field of camera sight. The wide beam IR illumination can be used for a wide view of field defined by the users. If the camera field view does not match with IR beam the results in awful system performance.

Fully Functional Domes

The challenge with fully functional dome cameras lies in the inability to mount Infra-Red illuminators on the moving part of the dome. To get better surveillance, let's check it out IR illumination exertion on to the dome cameras.

Wide area IR illumination coverage

The full 360° IR illumination coverage can ensure that wherever the camera stirs there should be sufficient IR illumination that enables camera to view the complete and clear scene. Unfortunately, the full 360° IR illumination coverage is not possible. This would be required a location that approximately about 45° with IR lamps. 270 degree IR illumination coverage can be obtained by mounting domes on the corner of a building. 180° IR illumination coverage can be obtained by placing the domes on walls. This can be done only to have moveable dome cameras.

Targeted IR illumination or specified areas coverage

To get specific target IR illumination coverage the IR illuminators can be positioned deliberately to illuminate targeted areas and susceptible areas such as gates, doors, garage, and pathways. This method can be helpful to see some specified areas rather than a whole view. For this IR illuminators should be mounted on and around the camera rod to illuminate the specified targets. This can increase the effectiveness of the dome camera monitoring system.

You can also implement this method for indoor monitoring and surveillance. It may be called in other words “local area IR illumination”. The angle of the camera and IR illumination should be matched. This will increase the performance of the dome cameras in low light or night time surveillance.

A PIR detector is used to activate the IR lamp. This can be used in determining the discrete applications that save the energy and bulb life in day time. The PIR detector is automatically activated in low light when the visible light is going off. This will reduce the running cost of the IR system.

Infra-Red Vs Video Motion Detection (VMD)

Fast domes are often incorporated with computer software that may support Video Motion Detection (VMD). The Digital Video Recorders can be supportive in making domes become faster and faster. Normally, VMD can be worked as actively analyzing pixels varying in the video picture. Infrared illumination can spectacularly boost the efficiency of VMD system and create smart video analysis systems.