Ring is a fantastic security system that can make your life a little safer; however, you may find that while it takes clear footage during the day, your Ring Camera is blurry at night.
Since many criminals come out after dark, you want your security camera to provide you the best possible picture after sunset.
Luckily, you can fix many Ring Camera issues once you know the cause.
If your Ring Camera is blurry at night, start by checking the batteries and consider adding infrared floodlights to boost the image. Check your wireless connection and remove reflective objects that may be distorting your image. Last, check your camera’s positioning and daytime footage for issues.
If you want clear night footage from your Ring Camera, keep reading!
In this article, you will learn some of the issues that make your Ring camera foggy at night — and some quick and easy ways to fix them! You will also learn things like:
- Best places to mount your Ring Camera.
- Getting clear Ring Camera footage in humid areas.
- What is an Infrared-cut filter, and how does my Ring Camera use it?
Issues With the Infrared LEDs Can Cause Blurry Images
By day your Ring Camera captures visible light through its lens and focuses it on a sensor, which reproduces a digital copy of the image.
There is much less visible light at night, so when it gets dark, your Ring Camera relies on infrared light.
If your Ring Camera gets fuzzy at night, it may not be getting enough infrared light to produce a clear picture. Check the battery to see if they have sufficient charge to power the IR LEDs. If they do, you may need to supplement your camera’s infrared light.
Add Infrared Floodlights
The Tendelux 80ft IR Illuminator will light up your Ring Camera’s footage at night.
Experiment with your IR floodlight’s angle as if it is shining directly on a trespasser’s face; the video image may be overexposed and come out white-washed.
When placed correctly, they will result in much clearer and sharper night footage.
Your camera can get too little infrared light, but it can also get too much. If the LEDs are reflected from a nearby surface, the picture may become foggy and indistinct. If your Ring Camera is foggy at night:
- Check if it is installed in a light-colored area or near any reflective surfaces.
- Make sure there is no vegetation in the near field of view, as leaves are highly reflective.
- Check if your camera is installed in a tight corner.
Offset Your Ring Camera With Wall Mount Brackets
If you cannot move the reflective surfaces away from your Ring Camera, move it away from the mounting surfaces. The Wasserstein Adjustable Security Mount will work to ensure your Ring Camera is in the best possible place to provide clear night images.
If you want to get your mounting gear directly from the source, Ring offers several installation mounts designed for Ring security equipment.
The official Ring Community will also put you in touch with Ring Camera owners and Ring employees who can answer questions you have about mounting or other concerns.
How Infrared Seepage Makes Ring Cameras Fuzzy at Night
Your problem may also lie with the rubber gasket around your Ring Camera’s lens.
This gasket keeps the IR LED’s infrared light from seeping through to the lens. If it is cracked or worn, infrared seepage may cause foggy footage at night.
Check Your Area With Another Ring Camera
If you have a second device, swap it out for your fuzzy Ring Camera.
If the second camera produces fuzzy night footage, chances are the problem lies with infrared pollution from walls, plants, or other reflectors.
If the second Ring Camera’s footage is clear, your first camera may have a problem with its gasket. Contact Ring for repair or replacement.
You can use a Ring indoor camera for this test.
You don’t need to leave it out for long, so long as you can place it temporarily on or very close to the spot of your first Ring Camera’s mount. If you can get clear night images with that camera, you have pinpointed the problem to the first camera.
Moisture May Make Your Ring Camera Foggy at Night
As the sun sets, the temperature drops, and cool air holds less water vapor than warm air.
When the temperature reaches the dew point, drops of water condense on available surfaces.
If you see droplets on your window, they may also be forming on your Ring Camera’s lens shield.
Check your Ring Camera’s surrounding area for dryer vents, heat exhaust, air conditioning units, or other sources of moisture.
If you find any moisture sources nearby, move your Ring Camera to a drier location.
The air may be warm enough to absorb the extra water by day but too cool to take it up at night.
Use Water Repellent Spray
If you live in a moist, humid climate, spraying your lens cover with a water repellent like Rain-X Plastic Treatment may stop evening fog from clouding your Ring Camera.
Rain-X adheres to your lens cover like a thin coating of oil. Because oil and water don’t mix, water rolls off instead of fogging the surface.
Put Desiccant Packets in Mounting
Silica gel desiccant packets suck moisture from the air and trap it in tiny, interconnecting pores.
Once it is caught in the desiccant pack, that water can no longer fog your camera lens or seep into your Ring Camera’s delicate electronics.
These Dry & Dry Premium Silica Gel Packets will help protect your lens and camera against condensation.
Replace them every six months or so. (If you are thrifty, you can put the old pack in a warm oven and leave it at 225 degrees for a couple of hours to dry out before reuse).
Dirty Lenses Can Make Ring Cameras Fuzzy at Night
Your Ring Camera has to work harder at night.
Fingerprints and smudges which may be invisible in broad daylight can still cause fogginess and issues with infrared cameras.
The infrared light reflects off dust and debris, resulting in a foggy image with bright spots and poor contrast.
Clean Your Ring Camera’s Lens
Clean your Ring Camera’s lens area with a soft microfiber cloth to remove anything which might send your sensor a fuzzy image at night.
Eyeglass cleaners like Zeiss Pre-Moistened Eyeglass Wipes are especially good at removing oils and debris without leaving scratches.
Defective Night Vision Will Distort Nighttime Footage
Camera sensors can detect infrared light, which is outside our range of vision.
This can result in some very strange colors in the images they reproduce.
Since plants reflect more infrared than green light, daylight footage would feature pink trees at the edge of your pink lawn.
To correct this, your Ring Camera uses an infrared-cut filter that only allows visible light to pass through and reflects infrared light.
What you see on your footage looks more like what you see in daily life.
When night falls, your Ring opens the infrared-cut filter.
Doing this allows your sensor to pick up the infrared light. (If your Ring has Color Night Vision, this also explains why those nighttime colors have such odd hues). But if that filter does not open, you will get dark and foggy footage.
Reset Your Ring Camera
To see if your Ring Camera is working:
- Bring it inside and test it in a room with bright light.
- Take it into a dark room and see if it adjusts to night vision.
- If it does not, hold the setup button for twenty seconds to reset your Ring Camera.
- After it restarts, reconnect the camera to Wi-Fi and see if the problem persists.
Ring camera blurry at night: Final Thoughts
Knowing the most common causes for blurry camera footage should help you to clear up your Ring Camera’s night footage.
Keep your lens clean, supplement your infrared light as needed, make sure your Ring Camera is working correctly, and fix or replace defective cameras. Do this, and your Ring Camera will keep watch over your house by day and by night.
Are You Still Struggling With Your device?
If you’re still struggling trying to get going your smart device, contact me at nelson.barbosa@myautomatedpalace.com and we can discuss how can we fix it!
