According to the FBI, in 2017 there were close to 7.7 million property crimes here in the United States. As a home and/or business owner, you are understandably concerned with this statistic. You might also follow your local community news on a social media site like Nextdoor or a Facebook group, and you may be troubled by your neighbors’ reports of suspicious activity around their front doors like “package pirates” taking delivered boxes and other crimes.
Reading about these incidents, combined with the national stats on property crime, may have inspired you to add some type of security camera system to the exterior of your home. As it turns out, now is an ideal time to purchase a state-of-the-art security camera system; thanks to some new technology involving color night vision, it is literally and figuratively changing the face of home and business security.
How does color night vision work?
If you have ever seen traditional night vision footage, it is typically quite grainy and hard to make out. Even TV shows that feature night vision technology show greenish images of people, trees and buildings. As Lorex Technology notes, their security cameras use infrared LED lights around the lens to shine invisible infrared light on whatever is in front of the camera. The sensors in the cameras can “see” the infrared light that is reflected on the scenery, which creates an image, even when it is pitch black outside. With many traditional home security cameras, when night falls the footage will automatically switch from color to black and white. State-of-the-art security cameras from companies like Lorex feature Color Night Vision (CNV) technology, which means they feature super powerful image sensors that are incredibly sensitive to light; the sensors can absorb light, even in fairly dark conditions, and allow the cameras to record full color video.
Benefits of color night vision
If you are thinking “wow, color footage at night could be a real game changer in the world of security,” you would be correct. If the worst happens and a criminal is lurking around your home or business in the middle of the night, CNV technology may make all the difference in capturing the bad guy or gal by giving you invaluable proof of the color of clothing or a getaway car. When speaking with a police officer, instead of showing traditional footage that shows merely patterns of clothing that look like they are in shades of gray and shots of vehicles that might be white or an indistinguishable dark color, CNV will help allow police officers to be on the lookout for a criminal in a blue hoodie with a red baseball cap, dark blue jeans and who is driving a green Honda Civic. This type of detail might make all the difference between the criminal getting away with his property crime and being captured and put in jail by the police. Also, if you are concerned that a vehicle is casing your neighborhood, having a color video of the car will provide more useful information to your local authorities; you might also be able to make out the license plate or at least the colors of the plate a bit better, along with any distinguishing features like bumper stickers, fancy tire rims and more.
CNV cameras can filter out digital “noise”
Another interesting feature of the CNV cameras is that they use something called Digital Noise Reduction (DNR) technology to filter out image “noise.” In this case, the term “noise” does not refer to actual sound, but it has to do with the interference in the video that will cause the footage to look grainy instead of clear. This is often caused by low lighting at night; in order to capture footage in the dark, the camera needs artificial light to help it “see” better. The downside is that this type of light can cause a grainy looking footage. You may have seen this yourself if you watch TV shows like LivePD — when they use night vision to find and apprehend a wanted criminal, the video of the officers is usually not as clear due to this “noise.” Thanks to DNR technology, this digital noise will be reduced, which leads to a less grainy picture.
CNV offers invaluable peace of mind
When regular night vision was introduced, home and business owners were undoubtedly relieved to have a type of technology to help them see in the dark. But now, thanks to color night vision, this technology has been elevated to the next level, resulting in footage that can help put bad guys where they belong — away from your property and in jail.
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