What is IR Intensity and How Does It Affect Blink Camera?

If you don’t know what is IR intensity and how it affects the Blink camera’s performance, you are at the right blog post. A Blink camera with infrared capabilities can further enhance your home security. But how? For a better understanding, I invite you to check out this detailed informative guide and learn about the IR light in detail. Let’s get started!

Quick Answer

To answer quickly, IR intensity helps Blink Cameras see in the dark. There are the following things you need to keep in mind regarding the IR intensity:

Adjusting IR Intensity;

Motion detection;
Enabling features.

The above-mentioned things will help you make the best use of your Blink Camera. But, that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Continue reading to learn about optimal IR intensity settings, working of the Blink cameras at night, and some useful tips to improve the camera performance. Let’s dive deeper into the details!

What Is IR Intensity On Blink Cameras?

Blink cameras are equipped with IR LED (Light Emitting Diodes). The IR intensity is referred to as an invisible light source that helps the camera see in the dark by emitting light rays that don’t fall in the visible light spectrum (850 nm -940 nm).

How Does IR Intensity Work on Blink Cameras?

IR intensity on a Blink camera lets it adjust the brightness of its infrared light. This helps the camera adapt to different lighting and distances, ensuring clear night vision, avoiding overexposure, and saving battery power.

When night vision is activated, the IR LEDs illuminate the monitored area with infrared lights which are reflected into the device. After that, it creates a black-and-white image also known as a grayscale image/video.

The Blink features 3 IR settings which are the following:

Low;
Medium;

High.

Pro tip: Always customize your settings as per the dynamics of your property during the night.

Night Vision Settings: Do Blink Cameras Have Excellent Capability in Low Light?

The Blink indoor and outdoor cameras come equipped with IR night vision that enables the device to detect and capture footage during low light conditions. Without this high-tech feature, it is nearly impossible to record anything in the dark.

The IR emitter lights up any area or dark room allowing you to record a higher video quality that clearly shows any moving object or intruders.

Important Note: Keep in mind that the recordings/images are in black and white but any animal, person, or moving object can be detected within or around your property.

IR Intensity on Blink Cameras: Does it Affect the Motion Detectors?

Blink security cameras do not depend on lighting for effective motion detection and event recording. Even in low-light conditions, IR makes it possible to detect motion without any hassle.

It does not matter if the IR night vision is “on” or “off”, your Blink camera will quickly detect any movement around your property.

How To Activate the IR Intensity Feature in Security Cameras?

Now that we have learned about IR tech, let’s learn how to enable this handy feature!

Control Options for Better Night Vision Settings

The controls for the IR are very straightforward and you can notice the three different settings you can choose from. They are as follows:

Off: By enabling this option, the IR LED is disabled and footage recorded at night is dark.

On: The images captured are black and white as the IR LED is always on.
Auto: The IR LED will adjust according to the environment getting dark and it will automatically turn on.

Adjusting the Blink Camera’s IR Intensity

To make sure your camera’s IR intensity and night vision on Blink cameras work properly, wait for it to get dark (at night). Then, follow the easy steps I’ve put together below to adjust the IR brightness.

Open the live view of your camera.
If you are using the motion detection feature too then stand a little close to the camera.
Now you need to go into the “camera settings icon” and choose the best intensity setting.

If your image is way too bright and you are unable to understand the details then you need to lower the setting.
If you appear dark on the live feed then you need to set the intensity to a bit higher setting.

What is IR Intensity and How Does it Work? Check Right Now!

For a better understanding, check out this helpful video.

6 Handy Tips for Optimal IR Intensity on Blink Cameras

In this section, I am going to share some quick tips that will help you set the optimal IR intensity for your Blink cameras. Let’s check them out:

Temperature Alerts: Setting this will help you get notified if the Blink camera faces harsh hot or cold conditions.
Enable Activity Zones: Turning this feature on will help you set motion trigger zones so that you can get quick alerts if any activity is detected.

Motion Sensitivity: You can set this feature for specific locations making them more secure. A higher level will notify even if the slightest movement is detected in the night vision.
Clip Length: By default, the clip length is 5 seconds for the night vision/IR recording but you can set it to 60 seconds depending on your need.
Video Settings/Quality: A high video setting Blink camera users can capture exceptional image quality with clarity and sharpness.

Status LED: The Blink camera will light its LED while recording. But, if you have installed it to conceal it then you should turn this option off.

For further insights, check out this interesting video.

FAQs

How do I change the IR intensity on my Blink camera?

To adjust IR intensity, go to the camera settings on the app and choose the desired intensity you want to set for your device.

What are the different IR intensity settings on a Blink camera?

The different IR intensity settings on a Blink camera are divided into three given options namely low, medium, and high.

What are the limitations of IR intensity?

Some limitations of the IR intensity are that it cannot capture colored images and compared to other camera technologies they have a lower resolution.

What is the best IR intensity setting for my Blink camera?

The best IR intensity setting on a Blink camera depends on the darkness. Generally, the medium setting produces the best results.

Can I use IR intensity during the day?

You should not use IR intensity during the day. If it is turned on at high ambient light levels then the image can appear whitewashed. So, I recommend to set it to default or lower the setting if this happens.

Does IR intensity affect battery life?

Yes, the IR intensity affects the camera’s battery life if you are using it at the highest settings as to emit brighter infrared light, more power will be consumed.

Conclusion

Summing up, IR intensity can help to enhance the security of your property. It plays an important role in enabling your camera to capture images in the dark with clarity. There are three different IR control settings that blink cameras offer (low, medium, and high). This way you can adjust it according to various light conditions.

For the best result, it is recommended to use the auto settings. Furthermore, you can set the video quality to high and enable the trigger zone feature that will provide you with quick alerts for motion detection.