Troubleshooting Lens Flashing On Analog Cameras

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Affected Roles: Administrator, Installer

Complexity: Low to Medium

Last Edit: July 30, 2024

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Lens Flashing

In the event that a camera’s video begins to flash or flicker, experience lens flaring, or if power-cycling the camera (power off, then back on) does not fix the issue, camera settings can be changed to resolve this problem.

This issue will typically occur as a result of heavily contrasted environmental lighting, changes in environmental lighting, or as a result of camera settings.

This guide will outline how to change the camera lens settings using the camera’s built-in OSD menu.

Note: If you are unable to communicate UTC (Up The Coax) information with the camera from a connected DVR, you must have an available display and physical access to the camera for this process.

Supported/Affected Devices

Star-Light Series (2.1 MP)
Star-Light Plus Series (5 MP)

Changing Lens Exposure

If a camera experiences lens flashing/flickering, it is typically because of an issue with the camera’s Light Sensor struggling to read the environmental lighting. As a result, the camera settings and IR Module will rapidly shift between Day Mode and Night Mode, creating a flashing effect.

By default, the camera will automatically change between Day/Night Mode settings as environmental light dims, which is determined by the CDS settings within the camera.

Note: For this guide, we will be using the DWC-B6263WTIR (bullet) and DWC-V6263WTIR (vandal dome) as our sample models. Images and menu layout depicted in this guide may vary from your camera model.

To Change the Lens Exposure Setting:

If you are communicating with the camera through UTC, open the camera’s OSD (On-Screen Display) menu and proceed to step four (4). You will use the directional controls from the DVR to navigate the camera’s OSD menu.

If you are not using UTC communication with the camera, you will need physical access to the camera and a display to use the integrated joystick of the camera. Continue reading for further instruction.

Open the camera.

For a bullet-style camera, open the camera by unscrewing and removing the front case cover from the camera.

For a vandal-dome-style camera, open the camera by removing the four cover screws with the provided wrench, then remove the dome cover from the camera.

Locate the OSD Joystick inside of the camera case.

Push the joystick inward, like a button, to prompt the camera’s OSD menu.

Note: If you are using the camera’s integrated OSD joystick, continue to use the joystick for the remainder of this process.

Navigate to Exposure tab. Use the joystick to select Lens, then push the joystick left/right to change the Lens setting to Manual.

Navigate to the Exit tab or select Exit Jump, then push the joystick inward.

Select Save & Exit to apply the setting changes.

The camera’s display should be stabilized and remain in either Day Mode (color) or Night Mode (black/white).

Adjusting Day/Night Threshold Settings

The variables that determines the changes of the Manual Lens Exposure between Day Mode (color) and Night Mode (black/white) are controlled by the threshold settings (CDS) in the camera’s Day/Night menu.

To Change The Day/Night Threshold Settings:

Prompt the camera’s OSD menu.

Steps 1 – 3 in the previous section (To Change the Lens Exposure Setting) explains how to prompt the OSD menu.

Using the camera joystick or UTC controls, navigate to the Day/Night menu.

Using the camera joystick or UTC controls, adjust the CDS Threshold and CDS Margin to your preferred settings.

CDS Threshold – the level of environmental light that determines when the camera switches between Day Mode (Color) and Night Mode (black/white). The lower the value, the less light is required before the camera changes to Night Mode (black/white).
CDS Margin – the value added to the CDS Threshold that determines when the camera switches between Day/Night modes. If the CDS Margin is set too low, the camera will repeatedly cycle between Day Mode (color) to Night Mode (black/white).

Note: If you are using a camera model without IR LEDs, you will adjust the AGC Threshold and AGC Margin settings instead.

Once your are finished with adjusting the CDS settings, navigate to the Exit tab or select Exit Jump, then push the joystick inward.