How to turn off night vision on the nest cam

Craig Lloyd
Craig Lloyd
Writer

Craig Lloyd is a smarthome expert with nearly ten years of professional writing experience. His work has been published by iFixit, Lifehacker, Digital Trends, Slashgear, and GottaBeMobile. Read more.

Lots of burglars come out at night, which means night vision can be a great feature for your security camera. But if it’s not really something you’ll need, you can easily turn it off on the Nest Cam.

There are very few reasons to turn off night vision, but say you have your Nest Cam placed by a window pointed outside. The infrared light emitted from the camera would create a massive reflection on the glass, which would negate any usefulness provided by the night vision. At that point, you might consider turning off night vision completely, especially if your driveway or street is well-lit at night anyway.

Start off by opening up the Nest app on your phone and tapping on your Nest Cam’s live view.

Tap on the settings gear icon in the top-right corner of the screen.

Select “Night Vision” from the list.

By default, it will be set to “Auto”, which means the Nest Cam will automatically switch back and forth between night vision mode and day mode based on the time of day. However, you can also choose to have night vision always on or turn it off completely.

To turn off the night vision capabilities completely, tap and drag on the white dot and move it to to left under “Off”.

After that, your Nest Cam will always remain in day mode and will never turn on night vision mode unless you go back into the settings and switch it back manually.

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Craig Lloyd
Craig Lloyd is a smarthome expert with nearly ten years of professional writing experience. His work has been published by iFixit, Lifehacker, Digital Trends, Slashgear, and GottaBeMobile.
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Just come to the camera setting menu via the free Reolink software, go to Advanced Settings > Infrared LED, and then you can enable or disable it freely. If your security camera with LED lights doesn’t offer this option, you may simply hide the IR illuminator glow by using some black tape.

Similarly, can you see an IR illuminator? It is a tool designed to emit infrared light. Think of it as a flashlight that produces light that the human eye cannot see. A night vision device can pick up on this light and make it visible to humans. This is when an IR illuminator is really helpful.

Also to know, how do I turn off night vision on my security camera?

1. Lots of burglars come out at night, which means night vision can be a great feature for your security camera.
2. Tap on the settings gear icon in the top-right corner of the screen.
3. Select “Night Vision” from the list.

Do all night vision cameras light up?

Night vision goggles are possible because it’s never truly pitch black outside—it’s just very, very dark. In fact, it’s very difficult to block out all light unless you’re actively trying to do so. Night–vision goggles can take the little light coming from the moon or street lights and amplify it.

Night Vision video quality can be affected by internet speed and other issues. But, most Night Vision specific issues are caused by your camera’s infrared light that reflects off a surface near your camera, like a shelf, window, window screen, or wall. Symptoms include:

• A large light or dark ring in the video
• A part of the video is bright white or washed out (typically on the side of the video)

Below are some solutions to try. Check your camera’s view in the app after each one:

• Clean the lens with a soft cloth that’s made for cleaning optics. Dust, thumbprints and dirt can cause poor image quality.
• Turn your camera so that any nearby surfaces or objects (like a wall) are out of view. If you have a Google Nest Doorbell, install the wedge to angle the camera away from nearby objects.
• Use the app to zoom and enhance, and crop out surfaces or objects that may be the cause of the glare.
• If a bright white shape along the edge appears while everything else is too dark, there might be a surface that’s too close in your camera’s view (like a wall). Angle your camera so the surface stays out of view.
• Move nearby objects that may reflect the infrared light.
• If you have a Nest Doorbell and you’ve already installed the wedge, use the app to zoom and enhance to crop out any glare or reflections.

If your camera can’t stay connected, visit the Troubleshoot when your Nest Camera or doorbell is offline article.

Your Google Nest Hub Max comes with a built-in Nest Cam. You can use the Nest Cam to check in on your home when you’re away with the live view functionality and alerts when activity is detected. If you have an active Nest Aware trial or subscription, you also get continuous video recording, intelligent alerts, and other advanced features.

Note: The Nest Cam built into your Nest Hub Max does not support Night Vision.

Set up Nest Hub Max’s Nest Cam

Before you enable the Nest Cam, make sure your Nest Hub Max is set up.

1. Open the Google Home app .
2. Select the Nest Hub Max for which you’d like to set up the Nest Cam.
3. At the bottom, tap Set up Nest Cam. Note: If you have a Nest account or Nest devices set up in your home, you’ll be given the option during this setup process of migrating your Nest Account to your Google Account so that your Nest Hub Max can work with other Nest devices.
4. Follow the on-screen directions and when prompted, use your mobile device’s camera to scan the QR Code displayed on your Nest Hub Max.

Note: In the Home app, you’ll have access to the live view and Talk & Listen functionality. If you’d like to access the full set of Nest Cam features such as activity notifications, Nest Aware features, etc., you can do so when you download the Nest app and sign in with your Google Account.

Using the built-in Nest Cam

Like other Nest Cam devices, the Nest Cam built into your Nest Hub Max allows you and members of your household to get a live view of what’s happening at home. It also includes notifications and continuous recording, if enabled in the Nest app. If you’d like to turn the Nest Cam functionality on or off, you can do so from the device settings menu or from the live view page.

Turn Home monitoring on or off

Turn the camera on or off from Device Settings

1. Make sure your mobile device or tablet is connected to the same Wi-Fi or linked to the same account as your Google Nest display.
2. Open the Google Home app .
3. Tap your Nest Hub Max Settings Nest Cam.
4. Turn Home monitoring features on or off.
5. Optional: To play audio in your live stream and recorded video, turn Home monitoring audio on or off. Note: This setting doesn’t affect any other features of the microphone. You can still use voice commands with your Nest Hub Max device if this option is turned off.

Turn the camera off from Live View

1. Open the Google Home app .
2. Tap Camera Menu Turn off Camera.

Turn the camera on from Live View

1. Open the Google Home app .
2. Tap Camera Turn on camera.

Connect the Nest Cam to the Nest app to access additional features

When you set up your Nest Cam, you can access these additional Nest Cam features from the Nest app:

1. Make sure you have the Nest app installed on your mobile device. You can download it from the Google Play Store (Android) or the App Store (iOS).
2. From your mobile device, open the Nest app and select the Nest Hub Max thumbnail from your device list.
   1. Alternatively, if you already have the Home app open: From Home , tap your Nest Hub Max Settings For more features, set up your Nest Cam in the Nest app .

   The Nest Cam built into the Nest Hub Max is now also set up in the Nest app. To access the Nest Cam features or change its settings, follow the steps below:

   1. Open the Nest app .
   2. Tap your Nest Cam’s preview thumbnail Settings .

   Nest Cam Recording Behavior

   The lights on your Nest Hub Max tell you what the Nest Cam is doing. When the Nest Cam is enabled, a solid green light will be displayed on your device. This means that your Nest Hub Max is ready to stream images or video to help you monitor your home remotely from the Nest app. When you or a family member is watching the live view, the light will blink green.

   Solid Green	Nest Cam is turned on and is currently monitoring.
   Blinking Green	A member of your household is currently viewing Nest Cam’s stream.

   Note:

   • If you’re a Nest Aware subscriber and have set up the built-in Nest Cam in the Nest app, your device will continuously record video for you to review in the Nest app.
   • If you don’t have Nest Aware but have set up the built-in Nest Cam in the Nest app, your Nest Hub Max will send the last 3 hours of activity snapshots for you to review in the Nest app whenever an event is detected in front of the camera.

   You can disable the Nest Cam functionality anytime from either the Nest app or the Home app.

   To understand how your data is handled when you use the built-in Nest Cam on your Nest Hub Max, visit the Privacy Help Center FAQs page for Google’s connected home devices and services.

   Getting a clear outdoor view at night with a home security camera isn’t always easy. That’s especially magnified when using your home security camera through a window. We’re going to examine ways to improve outdoor night vision on a home security camera.

   There are a number of different ways to get this done. Different approaches work better for outdoor cameras versus models that are located indoors but are seeing the outdoors behind a window. We’ll look at both scenarios.

   Night Time Camera Settings

   Many higher end cameras include night vision capabilities using infrared lights. Using night vision on an outdoor camera will help to see objects within the effective night vision range. A small outdoor security camera such as the Nest Cam Outdoor can only pack so many infrared lights into that small frame. The typical range for on-board night vision is 25-35 feet. Not much but if within the range, it helps immensely.

   An indoor camera viewing the outdoor action through a window can’t use night vision because the infrared lights are reflected off the glass. This is a challenge because you will only see as well as the available lighting allows. In other words, what you see with your bare eye is what you get.

   Another setting to pay attention to is the indicator light. Most home security cameras allow this light to be deactivated. It’s useful when setting up the camera to establisg power and connectivity but after it’s all set up, deactivate it. This is especially important for indoor cameras as it will reflect off the window.

   Let There be Light

   Sure, go ahead and turn on the porch light when you want to use the camera. That’s simple enough, until you need to see the action after it happens, as in event history.

   There are a few ways to provide outdoor light for a predetermined period of time when it gets dark.

   Try a photosensor. A photosensor detects light. Typically tied into security lights, a photosensor will turn on the light when it’s dark, turn it off when the sun comes up.

   The Philips Energy Saver Compact Fluorescent Dusk-to-Dawn 14-Watt Twister Light Bulb is a great way to do this. This is the bulb in the photo that accompanies this article. The bulb actually integrates the photosensor into the base of the bulb. The one in the photo has been in use for almost three years. These bulbs last a long time and the cost to use is minimal.

   The advantage of this type of bulb is size. There are photosensor bases that can be purchased and screwed into the socket of an outdoor fixture. The issue is the added height of the photosensor base plus the bulb can often be too tall to fit within a compact fixture. The Philips Energy Saver bulb height is about the same as a traditional light bulb.

   A high tech way to control outdoor lighting is by using WeMo Light Switch. A WeMo switch connects to your home router. You can turn the switch on or off from anywhere that your phone can get connectivity. Schedules can be established based upon time of day or an event such as sundown. You can also manually turn anything on or off using the WeMo app on a smartphone. The app works on Android and iOS phones.

   A more detailed article on using WeMo for night vision can be found here.

   Let There be Infrared Light

   We already discussed the limitations on on-board infrared lights traditionally integrated into a home security camera. They typically allow you to see 25-35 feet away.

   But what if you need to see further than the limited distance already provided when you don’t want to light up the neighborhood?

   That’s where larger infrared lighting accessories come in. Consider the Univivi IR Illuminator 90 Degree Wide Angle 8-Leds IR Infrared Light. This light is a good external source for use outside the home. This one comes with an AC cable which for whatever reason isn’t always included. Hook it up to a WeMo controlled switch or outlet for greater control over the accessory.

   I'd love for just a sliding lux scale at which it activates, with the lowest setting turning it off entirely.

   I like that we can turn off (drop) the IR cut filter from the lens with the "color night mode" since most cameras do so much better at low lux levels these days, and CMOS sensors do much better without an IR cut filter than older CCD sensors. This means for the most part, the IR cut filter isn't necessary to still get detail from purely IR light anymore, like you needed with CCD cameras. So it's logical for them to allow turning off the IR cut filter. But it is illogical not to allow the user set the lux level at which the IR comes on.

   Trying to fit all usage cases means companies often overdo something, with Ring's lux trigger for night vision being too high in many cases, because if it's not, the next person who has nowhere near the light you do might not be able to see jack-all with the setting that works best for you.

   But it should be pretty basic to allow for the user to configure the lux level at which it activates the IR LEDs and the IR cut filter (obviously Ring would dumb it down and not actually use lux, like they do with the motion adjustment scale), after all that's exactly what they're doing in code, it's just that it's currently whatever they set it to and tough luck.

   So yes, I would love to be able to not only disable the IR, but adjust the lux level at which it activates automatically.

   You can set the digital zoom to not include the wall, which will then base the exposure off of what is visible.

   An autoexposure point selection would be really useful — the digital zoom only works if the bright point is on the edges. Whenever I park my car in the driveway it makes the nighttime video useless.

   Info: Enhance isn’t available on Nest Hello Doorbell.

   Edit: Mrcool360 is indeed correct, it is available on the Hello Doorbell. In fact, works a treat!

   Turning it camera-left slightly might help. It's the infrared LED of the camera lighting up the wall.

   If I turn it left it's going to pick up the wall on the left and it's going to miss the door to the right that I need to monitor.

   I haven't tried this myself yet, but I saw someone once suggest putting a little slice of electrical tape over the infrared LEDs. You know how you can see the ring of lights at night? If you cut a small strip and block out a bit of the LEDs on that side, it should reduce the glare. Not an elegant solution, but it may work.

   I did exactly that and it worked like a charm.

   Add an IR illuminator away from the cam to ligjtnup the dark areas

   Yeah this is what I did with mine. Doesn't look as good on the wall but does the job

   LIFX + smart bulbs have an infrared setting. If you have a light socket somewhere out away from the wall it will illuminate the other areas.

   Try to tape up the ir illuminators on that side of the camera.

   Paint the wall back.

   Ha! Or knock it down.

   Mount the camera on a 4-6” L bracket.

   · 1y

   I had this issue with a bush,I had to cut it down and all was better,. You might need to move the camera

   Turn off night vision you might be amazed how it looks in color.

   Can you blackout some of the infrared lights and see if it helps?

   What color paint is on the reflective wall? Can you paint it black or put something black and/or non-reflective on top?

   Rotate camera 90°

   It’s not complicated. Change the angle of view (or relocate) so objects are not too close to the camera view but better yet, leave a light on in the area all night. Make sure the light is pointing in the same direction as the camera. The light will allow the camera to record in colour and that will produce much better images of subjects.

   CCTV Camera World’s professional quality security cameras offer a plethora of options that can be set within the camera. Many cameras on the market offer settings to control brightness and contrast, WDR, and image flip, but very few offer the ability to control the day and night settings of the camera. All security cameras with infrared LEDs have a photosensor commonly found in the front of the camera that allows the camera to switch to black & white mode for night when there is darkness, and color mode for day where adequate light is sensed by the photo sensor. For most surveillance cameras with night vision this process is automatic and cannot be controlled.

   Auto Day & Night switching without user control or customization is true for all cameras that run over coax cabling as there is no web server to login to the camera and configure it. IP cameras offer an advantage over coax based surveillance cameras such as HDCVI cameras in this regard where settings can be customized to suit peculiar camera locations.

   Our network cameras allow a plethora of settings that can be customized by logging in to the camera over the network using its IP address. If you don’t know how to log in to the camera, here’s a helpful guide on how to connect a IP security camera to your computer.

   As the video below demonstrates, once your are logged in to the web server of the camera you can control the infrared LEDs of the camera so that they are turned on or off all the time using manual control. You can also set black & white or color modes of the camera to be one or the other constantly. Where our security cameras shine is the ability to set custom day & night profiles in the camera as explained in the video below. We also have a written guide about this here.

   If you're like me, you've tried to point your Nest Cam or Dropcam out a window and use it to record around your house. That didn't work well at night so I decided to try and make it better. Here's what the finished project produced. Also, because the Nest Cam and previous Dropcam are so similar (almost identical for the related parts), this would work for either of those two products. But because I worked on a Nest Cam, I refer to the Nest Cam exclusively.

   The Assumptions

   1 – The Nest Cam isn't built for outside use. There are some temperature limits and although there are a few companies that build enclosures for them to be used outside, they have some pretty poor reviews and I wasn't willing to risk it. Plus, it's just easier to put the camera against a window.

   2 – Night Vision mode in the Nest Cam uses two tools which you cannot 'un-bundle':

   It turns on 8 IR LEDs in the camera

   It turns off an IR filter that Nest Cam uses during the day to help keep colors accurate. Turning that IR filter off makes the camera more sensitive to light (and specifically IR light) at night.

   The Problem

   Windows reflect the light of the Nest Cam's IR LEDs so pointing your Nest Cam out of a window at night and allowing the camera to go into 'Night Vision' mode gave me poor results. But I couldn't turn off 'Night Vision' mode (to turn off the internal IR LEDs and prevent the reflection) and manually turn off the IR filter.

   My Solution

   I disabled the Nest Cam's own internal IR LEDs by covering them with black electrical tape and added my own source of IR light. This way when the camera goes into 'Night Vision' mode the IR filter is removed and my separate IR lights kick in. That takes away the Nest Cam reflection, but adds a ton of IR light that brightens up the yard in the Nest Cam image.

   Here's an album of what I did. I basically just took the camera apart and taped over the LEDs. I tried taping the outside of the camera first, but that just didn't work well. It was easy to tape the casing and miss the lens, but there are some sensors and lights that are hard to tape around.

   Before & After

   Here's what my backyard looked like the first time I pointed the camera out the window.

   I got a suggestion to put the camera closer to the window (thanks, /u/grink). When I first put it up it was about an inch and a half away from the actual glass, so here's the view of my yard with the camera right up against the window. Yes, I know it's my front yard now – I moved my camera – but you get the idea. Better for sure, but I still had too much reflection.

   Notes

   Here's the array I bought. Nothing special about it apart from it being cheap and pretty large. I may add another one. If you're looking at it from outside at night, the lights have a very faint red hue, but IR isn't visible to us, so it doesn't look like it's lighting up my yard or anything. No visible light coming out of it.

   When I took apart the Nest Cam, there was a small white wire that you can see in the tear down pics that got yanked out of it's connection. I think it was the WiFi antenna. Just be careful when you take off the front casing. I was able to find where it connected (it wasn't soldered on or anything, just a small snap-like plug) and reconnected it when I was putting it back together, but it's delicate.

   You should also know that Dropcams (Nest) are completely insecure.

   Someone created an account using my wife's email address. I don't know why they did this, perhaps they were just stupid and didn't know what their own email address was. They were able to "confirm" this email (how, I don't know) although Dropcam denies this was possible. They then went on to set up their camera. Since they were using my wife's email address, I was able to easily log in and watch them both live and in the DVR mode. Again, Dropcam said this was impossible and even claimed they didn't have an account with my wife's email address. I showed them me logging in and watching this person, and they said they'd look into it and told me simply to delete the account. They have always completely denied that what I was experiencing was possible.

   I was able to watch this woman and her husband try for HOURS to get their Dropcam working. They could not log in, because I changed the password to the account, since I had complete control of the email address. Since they could not log in, they didn't think the camera was working. But, every time they plugged it it, in started recording in DVR mode, which I could see.

   After a couple of weeks, the camera just said it was disconnected and that was that. But again, all my inquiries to Dropcam tech support as to HOW someone could activate an account when they do no have access to my wife's email were met with "that can't happen" and "that didn't happen."