Light/brightness is measured in lumens. A lumen is the measure of the perceived power of light.
Many people have heard of night vision cameras (yes they are cool) but they are not infrared and they work actually in two ways similar but different – both are able to see at lower lumen (light) levels than normal cameras. Differences – night vision have the ability to capture ambient light or and infrared see into the infrared (heat) spectrum. Some infrared cameras are black and white others are color. The color night vision switch to black and white at low light levels.
Ok, that was still a little too high brow – let’s make it even simpler
- Night Vision – typically green
- Infrared differences between black and white the whiter something is the greater the heat signature.
The infrared are actually thermal infrared. The infrared cameras typically have LED emitters either enclosed in the camera body or separate. Also they typically come with a power adaptor to supply the IR LEDs. Like other security cameras they can be IP (network), Coax (CCTV) or Wi-Fi (network) based.
Trivia:
- Did you know the LED emitters allow infrared cameras to see in no light?
- Did you know in extremely low light the LEDs allow you to see an image as if you were in full daylight?
