Back to article:

13 Low-Light Video Surveillance Tips to Enlighten Your Solutions

Resolution May Not Impact Results Like You Think

A high megapixel camera does not always equate to a better low-light image. It might be counterintuitive, but consider the number crunching, SnapAV’s Petrao explains.

“As you get higher resolution, and higher megapixels, essentially what ends up happening is each pixel becomes a smaller percentage of that sensor,” he notes. “Think of the sensor as a CMOS chip that sits on a board in the camera. That chip tends to be a certain size, may-be 1½ inches. If you double the resolution in that fixed size, you’re basically making the sensor for each pixel smaller.”

Petrao says that as the sensor for each pixel goes smaller, there’s a need to increase the amount of sensitivity of that sensor to maintain the same level of quality. “It’s an area game,” he says.

Get Our Newsletters