700 line mini camera picture advice (1 Viewer)

Hi,

I wasn't too sure where to post this, hope it's ok here.

We have a HandyKam mini 700 line camera trained on a niger feeder in the garden, with the camera housed in one of HK's wooden camera housings - the feeder is approx. 18cm from the lens.

All our feeders are hung on hanging basket brackets, about eight feet up, which are attached to the front of a long shed. The camera housing is also attached to the front of the shed, with the camera looking out across the garden and the feeder suspended in front of it.

The system works fine but on a brightish day the feeder and subsequently the birds on it, are so dark on the TV screen as to be almost indistinguishable. You can see the garden beyond the feeder in the background on the TV and this is a bit brighter.

On a dull day the feeder is much easier to see on the screen, you can even see the individual seeds in the feeder.

The camera is not pointing up at the sky, as I mention above, it's about eight feet up pointing horizontally across the garden.

I assume the camera is finding the light too bright and compensating accordingly which makes the image it's focused on so dark ? Could the housing actually be causing the problem, given that it's solid wood and dark inside ? The camera is not right back inside, it's about an inch from the open end.

I was wondering about inserting some clear plastic panels into the housing sides and top to allow more light in, might that work ?

Failing that, is our only option to somehow get the housing and camera out onto a long bracket and pointing back towards the shed so the camera is pointing towards a darker background - would this help ?

Many thanks for any advice.

Nick

My guess is that your diagnosis is partly right, though I would be surprised if adding transparent panels to the housing would have any effect. The problem is more likely to be that the background (your garden) is brighter than the feeder, effectively backlighting the birds causing a stop or two underexposure.

The solution of relocating the camera housing sounds fine, but I would tend to mount it on a seperate pole in the ground, rather than use a long bracket that would probably be fragile and lack rigidity.
The cable could then be strung from the top of the pole into the shed in the way many birdbox cameras are in peoples gardens, remember that the camera can be mounted anywhere on the pole, but the pole needs to be tall enough to raise the cable above head height if possible.

If all else fails, you could always contact Handycam support?

Their website gives you an e-mail link, phone number, fax number and postal address for questions, so it looks as though they are not averse to helping customers.

Many thanks for your reply.

I mailed Handykam weeks ago but based on my dealings with company towards the end of last year, whilst they have some interesting products available, they are utterly useless at communication and it takes weeks of chasing to get a response.

The more I've thought about relocating the camera and housing, the more I realise it's gonna be a major faff. Mounting it on a post or pole is not really feasible due to the location of a block pave path.

If I could get a dark coloured board mounted behind the feeder to give a darker background, might that help ?

In theory, yes, providing it covered all/most of the angle of view of the camera. I am assuming that the IR sensor at the base plays no part in daylight exposure.

Before you get too committed to a solution, get someone to hold a suitably big dark object behind the feeders to check it gets the desired results. My 'nestbox' camera is different to yours so I cannot be certain it works the same way if put in a shelter.

An alternative is to use a reflector of some description (white end to the shed?) which may help a bit. Alternatively an external (security?) lamp may be the answer as long as it is not so powerful it doesn't fry the birds?

Its quite difficult thinking of solutions without being there, but it sounds like a period of experimentation is the only real answer.

That makes sense, will try that out before making any permanent changes.

I'll also try once more to get a response from Handykam.

Thanks for your input