{"id":3915,"date":"2014-10-21T09:01:05","date_gmt":"2014-10-21T09:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/?p=3915"},"modified":"2014-10-21T09:01:05","modified_gmt":"2014-10-21T09:01:05","slug":"adding-ir-lights-to-wildlife-camera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/?p=3915","title":{"rendered":"Adding IR Lights to wildlife camera"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The wildlife camera that I use is fine as far as it goes but it does have its limitations (although it is good value for the money spent on it). One aspect I wanted to improve is the range the IR (Infra Red) night-time illumination. To do this I purchased a couple of cheap IR &#8216;floodlights&#8217; from an ebay store and sealed lead-acid batteries to power them. Then I did some testing to see what improvements they made.<\/p>\n<p>This test shows a garden feature I wanted to illuminate better. In this image, there is a diffused lamp on the left and a lamp on the right (not diffused). This shows quite harsh light emanating from the lamp:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103895.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3919 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103895-600x450.jpg\" alt=\"raw ir lamp is harsh\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103895-600x450.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103895-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103895.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/a>But, by adding a diffuser, the light is a lot softer and spreads out a little more:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103896.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3918 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103896-600x450.jpg\" alt=\"diffused ir lamp \" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103896-600x450.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103896-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103896.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/a>This has provides better illumination of the subject &#8211; In this case a garden feature that earlier in the summer was a waypoint for the rats. None were seen this night!<\/p>\n<p>My next test was a bonfire in the making &#8211; I wanted to see if anything was using it:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103900.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3920 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103900-600x450.jpg\" alt=\"raw lamp on the left\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103900-600x450.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103900-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103900.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/a>This shows the lighting from a &#8216;raw&#8217; lamp on the left &#8211; harsh light. Adding a diffuser gives:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103901.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3921 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103901-600x450.jpg\" alt=\"diffused lamp on the left\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103901-600x450.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103901-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103901.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/a>A lot softer. Now to add a lamp on the right:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103902.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3922 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103902-600x450.jpg\" alt=\"raw lamp on right\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103902-600x450.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103902-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103902.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/a>Undiffused it is harsh, but adding the diffuser I get:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103903.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3923 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103903-600x450.jpg\" alt=\"diffused lamp on the right\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103903-600x450.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103903-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103903.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/a>Nicely illuminating the subject without going overboard.\u00a0 Again, nothing was seen this night.<\/p>\n<p>This is what the setup looks like in daylight:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/s14_0621.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3924 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/s14_0621-600x450.jpg\" alt=\"bonfire setup\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/s14_0621-600x450.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/s14_0621-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/s14_0621.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/a>To give an idea of scale, the camera is about 22ft from the bonfire, the lamp on the left about 13 ft, an the lamp on the right about 15ft from the bonfire. The lamps are mounted on cheap &#8216;car boot sale&#8217; tripods. They are covered with plastic bags to keep the weather out as a temporary measure.<\/p>\n<p>This next set has both lamps to one side to illuminate a greater distance. This first image shows the lighting provided just by the camera:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103905.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3926 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103905-600x450.jpg\" alt=\"camera illumination\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103905-600x450.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103905-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103905.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/a>Not a great range. Adding 1 lamp without diffusion gives:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103906.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3927 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103906-600x450.jpg\" alt=\"1 lamp without diffusion\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103906-600x450.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103906-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103906.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/a>Again very harsh lighting. But with both lamps at different distances with diffusion gives:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103910.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3928 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103910-600x450.jpg\" alt=\"2 lamps \" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103910-600x450.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103910-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103910.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/a> A large improvement to both the range and contrast of the image. This is the scene in daylight:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103911.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3925 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103911-600x450.jpg\" alt=\"daylight view\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103911-600x450.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103911-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/w14_103911.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/a>The setup is this:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/s14_0625.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3930 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/s14_0625-600x450.jpg\" alt=\"setup\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/s14_0625-600x450.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/s14_0625-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/s14_0625.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/a>The approximate distances from the camera are: to 1st lamp 16ft, to second lamp a further 12ft, to the fence a further 26ft. You can see that each device is powered by a battery (A sealed lead-acid) in a container on the ground. Each lamp is housed in a plastic box (a food container):<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/s14_0629.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3931 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/s14_0629-600x450.jpg\" alt=\"lamp and diffuser in food container)\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/s14_0629-600x450.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/s14_0629-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/s14_0629.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/a>In this view you can see the sheet of translucent plastic that I use as a diffuser. This is what the package looks like on a tripod:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/s14_0630.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3929 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/s14_0630.jpg\" alt=\"lamp in tripod\" width=\"450\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/s14_0630.jpg 450w, https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/s14_0630-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 85vw, 450px\" \/><\/a>I am quite satisfied for now with the results &#8211; not perfect lighting but a reasonably cheap and effective enhancement to the camera&#8217;s own lighting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The wildlife camera that I use is fine as far as it goes but it does have its limitations (although it is good value for the money spent on it). One aspect I wanted to improve is the range the IR (Infra Red) night-time illumination. To do this I purchased a couple of cheap IR &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/?p=3915\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Adding IR Lights to wildlife camera&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64,78,69,81],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lighting","category-night","category-photo-diy","category-wildlife-camera"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3915"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3915\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3933,"href":"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3915\/revisions\/3933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}