Jack Gin, Chief Executive and President of manufacturer Extreme CCTV, argues that security dealers are still being fed the myth that CCTV cameras can actually see through the dark.
By definition, a CCTV camera exists to see the light and process information on the light. The myth extends to most so-called ‘zero lux cameras’ that are delivered with false advertising or with a tiny footnote that infrared lighting is required for them to actually work at zero lux. If there is no light, there can be no picture. That is a fact. As a professional engineer specializing in video surveillance, I can emphasize the technical reasons for using infrared-supported CCTV that goes beyond the obvious. But let’s just stick to the obvious. A low-light scene without infrared will usually net you a picture that is of low-signal and high-noise. Your depth of field will decrease and you may get loss of focus. The picture noise or ‘snow’ may trigger false video activity alarms. Any area lighting in the scene will cause shadows and those dark areas will actually get darker since the camera will adjust to the relatively bright lights. So the dark areas can actually get darker if poor ambient lighting is present in a night scene. Well, guess where the criminals prefer to park themselves’ In England, where terrorists have been a problem for decades, night-time pictures that are of high-signal and low-noise are an expectation. The necessity for quality surveillance is understood. CCTV cameras are expected to pull pictures out of the dark with the help of infrared illuminators. There are more than 250,000 powerful outdoor infrared illuminators installed throughout this country that is no larger in area than the State of Oregon. Infrared illuminators are a standard security technology in England for pro-active policing against the criminals and terrorists of the night.
