How far from camera lens center to place IR lighting

[ctgoldwing]

Unfortunately I wasn't fast enough to bury some pvc conduit before the ground froze I did end up laying some pvc on the ground to get me to a tree in the woods and from there elevated my 12v wire & cat5 cable to a tree close to my target. A temporary solution but at least I have a camera up now to capture the critters. I have been able to get some of the local deer wandering through but haven't snagged the bear or bobcat in the neighborhood:
Small herd of forest rats

My night time shots really need more lighting which I anticipated. I have a couple of Tendelux BI18 IR lights that I would like to mount a foot or two above my camera on the tree. I am planning on putting them on a piece of galvanized strut running parallel to the ground but I don't know how far away from the camera I need to be to eliminate the equivalent of red-eye (white-eye).

I was planning on 3' either side of the camera centerline but I can go as much as 10' (strut is 20' long). What have your experiences been?

 

[jack7]

My experience:
Regarding wildlife white eyes, the main thing is to have camera IR off. I have two Tendelux BI8 units about 3ft apart with an old IP4M-1026 in middle. Also an IP2M-858 PTZ about 10ft from the side of one light. All are mounted to the same surface. The two lights are panned outwards somewhat. I don't remember seeing white eyes in a long time. The PTZ sensor is more low light sensitive with better images. I've seen some wildlife looking at the red leds but I don't think it's ever made a difference. They used to it. I also use the PTZ for bird feeders, etc. during the day.
Looking at your video, I would think the BI18s would provide good illumination at your 3ft distances, but probably not back to that road. Moving them farther away may not help illumination but it may keep more bugs away from flying in front of the camera if they fly between the two IR lights that can attract them. Another thing to consider is that the farther the IR illuminators are from the camera, bigger black shadows from objects will be created that may cover something you want to see. Hope you have a thick 12V wire running out there .

Deer



Raccoons

 

[tigerwillow1]

I'm not addressing the eye reflections directly. I am in general agreement with the previous post. I catch a lot of deer images, and sometimes their eyes are lit up, but it's seldom enough that I don't have an issue with it. I see the camera-illuminator distance as another one of the many tradeoffs. When the IR is right at the lens, there's aren't any shadows (+ point). On the other hand, rain and snow reflect right back into the camera and can easily rended it useless (- point). The further the IR source is from the lens, the more it reduces the rain+snow blindness, at the expense of creating bigger and bigger shadows. The shadowed areas can be totally black, so you won't see anything there. Every IR light I've tried has a center hotspot, some more than others (the camera built in IR is the worst). Taking all of this into account, I think the best coverage is using 2 illuminators with their hotspots dispersed. More than 2 would be even better. I haven't gone there. I'd suggest you initially make a setup where you can move the camera and lights around to see what works the best. In a couple of cases I've left the wire lying on the ground for the better part of a year before deciding where to mount things permanently.

 

[ctgoldwing]

Thanks for the replies Jack7 and tigerwillow1! I hadn't given any thought about shadow issues. . . I will now
I may even put a third illuminator directly above the lens 3 or so feet to try & eliminate some shadow.

Rain & snow have been an issue with false triggering using the internal IR source in the camera. That is something that will definitely be turned off.

Thanks again!