C100 poor contrast in night/ir mode
This thread has been locked for further replies. You can start a new thread to share your ideas or ask questions.
I have a Tapo C100 v4. Low light/night/ir performance is pretty good, except the fact that the contrast is quite low (Looks extremely washed out). In day/color mode, it looks just fine (slightly lower contrast and saturation but acceptable).
The contrast is so low that we can hardly tell any detail on screen unless we get close. Is this an expected behavior or do I have a bad unit?
C100v4 firmware 1.3.0 (note the contrast. Actual scene is pitch dark)
C100v2 firmware 1.1.15 (for comparison)
A setting to tune the contrast would be nice, even just a simple 1 to 5 slider. Sole purpose of this camera is to make sure the stove is off :D. Hard to do so if the fire and the stove is the same luminance on screen.
Oh and just to add, in both HQ and LQ/substream mode, the writing (date, clock, and text) is much more legible in the other model (v2) too. Thicker outline helps especially in poor contrast situation.
P.s. the camera is connected to a Vigi NVR1016H v1, recording full time with motion detection enabled to mark playback. The ir light seems to work too.
Thank you for your post. Cameras of the same model but with different hardware versions may have slight differences in image processing and parameter adjustment. As a home product, Tapo does not support the adjustment of such image parameters at the moment. But we would record your feedback to the team for evaluation.
If you have such needs, we recommend that you can consider the VIGI camera, as it supports image parameters adjustment (e.g. Contrast).
@Wayne-TP Thank you for your reply.
Yes, i do in fact have a few vigi cameras kicking around. And they're fine. But they aren't portable. There are small models, sure. But nothing I can just plop on a shelf somewhere for temporary/close up surveillance and not looking goofy. Setting a c400hp on a desk is one way of saying "I don't trust you" 😆.
It's just that the c100v4's contrast is waaaay off anything I've ever installed. Not a single black pixel can be found, even if the object is black/dark. It looks like a cam with the lens fogged up or the ir is somewhat glaring (is that a word?) the lens. Last time I saw this was on a 6 year old analog camera, and thats was because it's broken.
And I wonder if an update can fix this. There is a split second between the camera in night and day mode that the picture is just perfect. I assume this has something to do with the ir cut filter or the ir light itself, and the camera not calibrated for it.
External lighting, non ir, nightmode
P.s. sorry for the rant. It's 4am here.