In today’s security surveillance industry, infrared cameras, also known as night‑vision infrared cameras, are widely deployed. Boasting outstanding advantages such as long night‑vision range, high concealment and stable performance, they dominate the probe‑type surveillance camera market. What points should be noted during the operation of infrared cameras? This article gives a brief introduction.

Precautions for Using Infrared Cameras

1. Matching a wide‑angle infrared lamp with a narrow‑angle lens will result in light waste. Furthermore, a larger emission angle of the infrared lamp does not guarantee better image quality.
2. Fog and frost form when saturated water vapor in the air condenses upon cooling; frost or fog will develop depending on how cold the environment is. When explosion‑proof infrared cameras are in operation — especially outdoor units — fog or frost may build up on the protective housing window glass due to seasonal shifts, day‑night temperature differences, rain, snow and other weather conditions. This prevents the camera from capturing clear objects and directly degrades surveillance performance.
3. Visible light and infrared light have different wavelengths, so their imaging focal planes do not coincide. This may lead to sharp images under visible‑light conditions in the daytime yet blurry images under infrared light at night, or vice versa: clear night‑time infrared images but blurry daytime visible‑light images.
4. All black‑and‑white cameras are sensitive to infrared light. Under visible‑light conditions, infrared rays act as stray light for colour cameras, reducing resolution and colour reproduction. The filter fitted on colour cameras functions to block infrared rays from participating in image formation.

That concludes our overview of precautions for infrared camera use. Where possible, avoid mounting infrared lamps together with the camera. If lighting within the monitored area sits exactly at the threshold for infrared lamp activation and the camera’s colour‑to‑black‑and‑white switchover, the camera will toggle repeatedly between colour and black‑and‑white modes. Increasing the camera’s switchover delay can stop frequent mode switching, yet it sacrifices response speed. This approach is therefore unsuitable for sites requiring high real‑time surveillance performance.