Buy Night Vision Doorbell Cameras? Get 2020’s Most Complete Guide Here
Smart doorbell cameras with night vision enable you to see everything clearly in complete darkness.
You can view and record night vision videos for identifying any detail you need, such as people’s faces, logos on clothes, special marks on boxes or cars, etc.
In this post, we will share the most complete guide on night vision doorbells, and best picks, as well as top FAQs to fix any night vision video doorbell issues.
Table of Contents
#1. Night Vision Video Doorbell Types
#2. How Night Vision Doorbells Work
#3. B&W VS Color Night Vision Doorbells
#4. Factors Affecting Night Vision Doorbells
#5. Best Night Vision Doorbell Recommendations
#6. How to Troubleshoot Night Vision Doorbell Issues
#1. Introducing Night Vision Video Doorbell Types
Smart night vision doorbells include 2 types in the market now: infrared black & white and color night vision doorbell types.
B&W infrared night vision doorbells deliver plain videos without any color. You can still tell the face of a person, or the shape of a project, but you can’t see the colors.
For some infrared B&W doorbells, you can force them into color night vision mode (not the truly full color night vision) to see the colorful images, but it may lead to blurry videos.
Video doorbell cameras with full color night vision, on the other hand, display vivid and colorful images at night so that you can just see everything just like day time.
You can tell what color of the T-shirt your visitor put on, how an object exactly looks like when in deep night with the color night vision.
Full color night vision video doorbell have become the trend in the market. We will follow the trend and update the technology here.
#2. How a Night Vision Video Doorbell Camera Works
The image sensor of the wired and WiFi night vision doorbell cameras are surrounded by IR or color LEDs used to provide more lighting when in low-light conditions.
The IR-cut filter inside the video doorbell can detect the daylight and block the lighting when in daytime.
In the darkness, the IR-cut filter lets more lighting inside, including the light from the LEDs, and helps the video doorbell camera deliver much more stunning images at night.
The doorbell camera will absorb all the possible lighting in the ambient environment for clearer night vision images.
#3. Infrared B&W VS Full Color Night Vision Video Doorbells
We compare the black & white and color night vision doorbells in the blow aspects:
Image quality: Most of the time, B&W IR night vision doorbells would provide much more crystal-clear images than doorbells with color night vision.
The color night vision doorbells would require much more lighting to deliver the colorful images.
However, with the developed imaging sensor, some video doorbells can produce 24/7 color images both day and night while remaining the image quality.
Check the image below for the image quality comparison of B&W and color night vision doorbell.
Reality: Full color night vision doorbell cameras definitely bring more true-to-life and vivid images than the B&W type, since you can tell the colors of a person’s clothes, hats.
Infrared night vision doorbells can only enable you to tell the overall situation without details.
Application scenarios: For your front door with a spotlight, full color night vision doorbells are the best choice for you to recognize all the details of an object.
For extremely low-light conditions (0 lux), infrared night vision doorbells are the way to go, since you can still get clear images in such a challenging lighting situation.
Pricing: Color night vision doorbells tend to be more expensive than IR doorbells.
Doorbell cameras with color night vision would use much more advanced image sensors and the other parts of them would be re-designed or re-invented to make them shoot color images at night.
Black & white night vision doorbells use the conventional IR sensors that are much more affordable.
Thus, if you have a limited budget, go for IR night vision doorbells.
#4. Top 4 Factors That Affect the Clarity of Night Vision Doorbells
Check out the below factors that determine how far and how clearly your night vision smart doorbell can see in the darkness.
1. Imaging Sensor
The imaging sensor inside the video doorbell is one of the most important parts that determine the image quality in both daytime and nighttime.
The image sensor collects and coveys the ambient invisible lighting into the visible images so that you can see what the video doorbell sees on your smartphone or tablet instantly.
In general, the larger the imaging sensor, the greater the surface area and the more lighting the video doorbell will capture.
Thus, the night vision video doorbell with larger imaging size will generate clearer videos.
2. Focal Length
The focal length, measured in mm, determines your night vision doorbell’s field of view.
In short, the smaller focal length is, the wider areas the video doorbell can cover but with less details.
The bigger focal length is, the further your smart doorbell can see but with narrower viewing angle.
If you want to cover wider areas, go for a video doorbell with smaller focal length.
If you want to see further details, pick one with bigger focal length.
3. Resolution
A video doorbell resolution is measured by pixels.
For example, a 1080p resolution video doorbell comes with 1920 X 1080p pixels to produce clearly Full HD images.
If two video doorbell cameras have the same lens, same image sensors and same image processing algorithms, higher resolution video doorbells would deliver clearer images.
In other words, if other determining factors are the same, 1440p video doorbells are clearer than 1080p doorbells.
4. The Ambient Lighting
The installation scenario matters for the night vision doorbell clarity.
With brighter lighting around the installation position, the video doorbells provide much more vivid images than in darker locations.
You can put up a spotlight near your video doorbell to provide enough lighting for capturing clear images at night.
Should any burglary happen, your night vision doorbell can still record the videos clearly for later investigation.
#5. Best Night Vision Video Doorbell Camera Recommendations
If you want to get an IR or color night vision doorbell that helps you keep tabs on your front door, consider the below top picks.
Our Doorbell Expert’s testing lab has reviewed them deeply to ensure they can deliver crystal images in low-light conditions.
1. Ring 1080p Video Doorbell Pro with Color Night Vision Review
Does Ring doorbell have night vision?
Yes, Ring Video Doorbell Pro has a color night vision feature that enables you to see through the doorbell camera in low-light conditions.
After enabling the color night vision feature, this smart doorbell will use whatever the ambient lighting to create a “false color night vision” images when you view the live stream on your mobile phone.
The wired video doorbell requires the existing doorbell wiring to get non-stop power supply.
You can simply replace your current doorbell with this smart doorbell. A transformer is necessary to provide the right voltage and wattage for this Ring Video Doorbell Pro.
By setting up the motion detection zones to focus on the important areas, you will receive the app pushes only when motion events happened in the customized areas.
The two-way audio enables you to talk to the visitors via your smartphone. When a delivery man delivers your packages, you can talk to the delivery man and let him place the packages in an ideal position to prevent package theft.
Watch the video to learn the smart features of this color night vision doorbell camera.
2. eufy Video Doorbell with Infrared Night Vision Review
eufy WiFi Video Doorbell provides 2K videos at both day and night. You can see black & white images in low-light conditions.
It comes with a local eMMC storage card for recording motion-triggered videos.
When there is any unusual happened, the important events will be recorded to the local storage card for your later playback.
You can record and configure up to 3 instant responses. When you receive motion detection alerts, you can select one of the responses to interact and give instructions to the visitors.
You can still interact with the visitors even when you are having a meeting.
By linking this night vision doorbell to an Alexa or Google Assistant device, you can control the video doorbell via your voice without opening your smartphone app.
Check out the video for more details.
3. Ring 720p Smart Night Vision Video Doorbell Review
Anyone with a hardwired 720p first-gen doorbell has functional night vision?
If you want a 720p HD infrared night vision doorbell, Ring Video Doorbell, the ancestor of all ring doorbell series is your No.1 pick.
Ring Video Doorbell comes with the infrared night vision to protect your home even in the darkness.
You can still recognize a human’s face or an object with the 720p HD resolution at night.
With the rechargeable built-in battery, you can simply get this battery operated doorbell work by installing it to the wall, pair it with your home router via your smartphone.
After that, you can access the doorbell camera for live stream or talk to the visitors with the two-way audio.
Connect this smart doorbell to an Alexa device, you can get alerted when someone presses the doorbell button or when there are motion events.
You can even talk to the visitors through the compatible Echo device by simply saying “Alexa, talk to the front door”.
Get more details on this wireless video doorbell with night vision in black & white.
#6. Frequently Asked Questions on Night Vision Doorbell Cameras
Check out the quick answers to your possible questions about the night vision video doorbells.
If you have any other questions or insights, please leave them in the comment below. We will add your questions and ideas in the list here.
1. Ring Video Doorbell 2, 3, 3 Plus, Pro & Elite Night Vision Not Working
Night vision not working on Ring doorbell, how to fix it?
Ring doorbell night vision stopped working.
Solution 1: Reboot your Ring video doorbell to the factory settings and try again.
Solution 2: If you have a wired Ring doorbell, like the Video Doorbell Pro, make sure the Pro Power Kit installed at your chime kit.
Check the device health of the Doorbell Pro to ensure the power is sufficient.
After that, try power cycling the doorbell by hitting the breaker. You can also remove the wires and reconnect them.
2. How to Turn on/off the Night Vision on Ring Doorbells
Can we have the ability to turn off the night vision?
Well, the night vision cannot be disabled for the Ring video doorbells. The infrared night vision will automatically turn on when the ambient lighting is too dark.
If you use a wired Ring doorbell, including Video Doorbell Pro and Elite, you can turn on/off the color night vision with the below steps.
Ring Hardwired Video Doorbell Night Vision Settings
Step 1. Launch your Ring App.
Step 2. Tap the 3 dots in the upper right corner on the screen to open the menu.
Step 3. Click Device Settings -> Video Settings -> Color Night Vision.
Step 4. Tap the Enable/Disable color night vision to turn on/off the color night vision on Ring hardwired doorbells.
3. Ring Doorbell Night Vision Always On
Ring video doorbell stuck in night vision.
Ring Doorbell Pro IR stays on during daytime.
Ring Doorbell Pro night vision LEDs on all the time.
Solution 1. Upgrade your Ring Doorbell firmware to the latest version.
Solution 2. Restore your Ring Doorbell.
Solution 3. Do the power cycle for your Ring Doorbell.
4. Ring Doorbell Night Vision Too Bright
You can reduce the glare on Ring Doorbell with the below solution.
Take Ring Video Doorbell 2 as an example. It has 4 IR LEDs that beam “fan out”.
You get the image glare when the “fan” hits the bricks and reflects back across the bricks.
To fix the Ring doorbell IR reflection issue, you can simply cover the doorbell to disrupt that “fan” slightly.
Take a black electrical tap and place it on the upper side of the doorbell (shown as the image below).
Note: This solution is provided by a Reddit OP.
5. Video Doorbell Night Vision Image Quality Is Poor
Ring doorbell night vision is poor.
Ring doorbell night vision too dark.
Night vision video quality can be affected by the bandwidth, the IR reflection off a surface near your doorbell camera, such as a shelf, window or wall.
The possible symptoms would include:
- A large light or dark circle in the video or image
- A part of the video/image is bright white or washed out.
You can try the below solutions to fix the video doorbell night vision issues.
Solution 1. Use a soft cloth to clean your video doorbell’s camera lens. Dust, fingerprints or dirt would cause poor image quality.
Solution 2. Adjust your video doorbell’s position so that nearby surfaces or subjects are out of way.
Solution 3. Move nearby objects that may cause IR LED reflection.
Solution 4. Check your network status. Poor network connection would lead to poor image quality.
The above solutions can fix Ring, Nest, ADT, SimpliSafe, August, EECOO, Arlo, Vivint, Mi, Hikvision, M3, Night Owl, Promate video doorbell camera not working.
