Understand he cameras lux rating and what it means?

The amount of light is defined by lux (lumens per square meter) one lux is the amount of light cast by one candle at one meters space. here are some examples of natural light sources expressed in lux.

Lux on CCTV Camera

• daylight 10,000 lux
• cloudy 100 lux
• twilight 10 lux
• dusk 1 lux
• full moon .1 lux
• quarter moon .o1 lux
• complete dark o lux

Some high quality cameras can have a good picture down to .1 lux anything below that they will require infra-red led’s to see in the dark these are called night vision or ir cameras. In the camera specificatons they will list the amount of led’s which people tend to use to compare low light performance. The type of led is more important than the quantity of led’s some leds produce 10 times more light than other led’s.

Others are made so the naked eye can’t see the light being emitted from them making these better for covert use.comparing the amount of feet the camera illuminates and how wide the light spreads is the only true way to compare ir cameras.

One mistake people make is comparing a non ir cameras lux rating to a ir cameras lux rating. In low light an ir cameras led’s turn on and the camera can see as much as the led ir’s illuminate.

A cheap cmos camera a vague image is seen out to about 10 feet. This gives the camera a o lux rating because it can see in complete darkness but only out to about 3 meters. A non ir cameras rating is based on what it can see everywhere not just what the ir’s light up as on a ir camera. the two rating can not be compared. in actuality the a cheap cmos cameras lux rating is around 10 lux without the ir’s on. this means that a ccd camera with a .1 lux rating on a night with a full moon will see hunderds of feet away while the ir camera will only see what its ir’s illuminate which is only about meters away. Only when it becomes complete pitch black does the ir camera see more because the ccd camera can’t see in complete darkness but if you think about it nor can a criminal either.

The cheapest way to solve the low light problem is by installing a motion sensor light. not only does it light up the area but also scares away intruders. it also needs to be said that these high output ir camras put a lot of strain on the camera power supplies . which were designed to power cameras not to light up parking lots. that being said we have two great high power ccd night vision cameras that we do sell with 200 to 380 ft ilumination.