Welcome to the
"Technical Section"
of
Doktor Jons
Guide to Closed Circuit TV (CCTV)

Making light of a dark place ...
the inside track on Infra Red.

Feeling in the dark over how to get the best out of CCTV during the night?; well, hopefully Doktor Jon will be able to throw a little light on the situation (okay, no more puns .... for now anyway). I was about to say that the effective use of Infra Red is something of a black art, but then I did promise, absolutely no more puns.

Basics first, what is Infra Red?. The next time you see a rainbow, the colour bands will provide a clear display of the different frequencies of light; so at one end of the visible spectrum there is violet (just after ultra violet), followed by Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red, and then .... and then, well that’s it; you can't actually see the next light band which is of course .... Infra Red.

In fact, zoologists would tell you if you took the trouble to ask them, that very few creatures are known to be able to see under IR, and fortunately for us CCTV types, human beings are not one of them. So if you illuminate an area with light sourced from the near Infra Red frequencies, it still looks pitch black to us. Not a problem for Infra Red (IR) sensitive Closed Circuit Television cameras though. To find out more on this subject, just get clicking:-

Cameras suitable for Infra Red - Not all cameras are IR sensitive - so how do you know which to choose? Doktor Jon tells all.
Types of IR illuminator - 'Well hot' bulbs or seriously cool diodes; the range of illuminators is constantly growing.

Lenses with Infra Red - You just get the picture nice and sharp, the sun goes down, the IR lamp comes on, and ..... yuk!
Is IR an ideal option? - In a word, not always; o.k. that’s 2 words, but Infra Red whilst extremely useful, isn’t always the best option.

How to use Infra Red effectively - If you want to know why Doktor Jon thinks perhaps 90% of IR lamps are used incorrectly, ....
Power supplies for Infra Red - If you think providing ‘juice’ for the lights is the whole story, you may be in for a surprise.

Ten ‘must know’ things about Infra Red - Where do we begin? So much to tell, and so little time .....

Ideal applications for Infra Red - Some simple suggestions for using Infra Red to best effect (Under Development).

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