Backlight Compensation Technology in Security Cameras

Vũ Khôi

Author at Wotech Electronics Blog

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In many situations, in areas affected by light — sunlight, electric lighting, vehicle headlights — when a camera is installed looking from inside out toward the light, the resulting image is just a black silhouette with no way to make out people or objects. This is exactly the backlighting phenomenon in surveillance camera installation.

What Causes Backlighting

A camera's sensor only receives the light and colors it is set up for, so when a camera is placed in the dark and observes an area that is brighter, glare occurs. That's why, when installing a camera, we usually have to be careful to avoid pointing it directly at a light source.

In addition, a lack of experience in installing surveillance cameras, or the use of cheap security cameras without built-in backlight compensation, are also common causes.

What Is Backlight Compensation Technology?

Backlight compensation technology on cameras redistributes light to produce a reasonably usable frame that lets the viewer clearly see the object even against the light.

What Is WDR Technology?

WDR (Wide Dynamic Range) combats backlighting by balancing light. WDR technology can sense the light in each region to harmonize the frame as much as possible. WDR technology also allows you to adjust contrast according to the environment. This technology comes in two forms: DWDR (digital backlight compensation) and True-WDR (true backlight compensation).

What Is DWDR Technology?

DWDR (Digital Wide Dynamic Range) processes the frame after it has been captured, using digital techniques to readjust that image. This light balancing depends heavily on image-processing capability, so the quality of the processed image only reaches an acceptable level. This technology differs from True-WDR.

What Is True-WDR Technology?

True-WDR is a light-balancing feature based on direct sensing on the camera's chipset and processor. This technology harnesses hardware power to balance light better, producing images that are more beautiful and clearer than DWDR.

What Is BLC Technology?

BLC (Backlight Compensation) – "light compensation." In backlighting conditions, the objects you need to see inside are overwhelmed by the light outside and become darkened. BLC boosts the light inside so the objects of interest brighten up (the outside image brightens along with them).

What Is HLC Technology?

HLC (High Light Compensation) – "glare suppression." When you need to observe environments with strong external light, HLC reduces the intensity of that overly strong light, making it possible to see the outside image (the interior scene darkens accordingly).

Some Ways to Fix Backlighting on Cameras

To minimize backlighting when installing surveillance cameras, we should keep the following points in mind:

• Camera placement and viewing angle adjustment: when installing a camera, if conditions allow, position the device so it does not face directly into the light. If installation in such areas is unavoidable, adjust the camera's angle appropriately.

• Choose a quality camera brand with built-in backlight compensation.

• Enable the backlight compensation feature on the security camera.

Those are KBVISION's insights on backlight compensation technology in security cameras. Today, all KBVISION cameras come equipped with backlight compensation technology, bringing convenience to users and delivering the most beautiful images, improving the camera's monitoring and surveillance capability.

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