Buying Guides · updated 2026-10-30

Camera Day/Night Settings: Fix Flicker and Late Switching

Why Day/Night Settings Matter in Late Autumn

At the end of October the evenings in northern Europe close in quickly. The clocks have just gone back, dusk now falls during the afternoon and most of your cameras' recording time is spent in low light. This is when day/night switching problems show up. A camera might flick between colour and black and white every few seconds, stay in colour long after it gets dark, or turn its spotlight on and off all evening.

These faults are rarely caused by broken hardware. Usually the settings don't suit the camera's surroundings. This guide explains how day/night switching works, what goes wrong and how to set it up for long, dark evenings.

How Day/Night Switching Works

Most security cameras have two operating states.

• Day mode: an infrared-cut (IR-cut) filter sits in front of the sensor. It blocks infrared light so that colours look natural.
• Night mode: the filter moves aside, the infrared LEDs switch on and the image changes to black and white. That soft click you hear at dusk is the filter moving.

The camera decides when to switch using a light sensor, the image brightness, or both. Cameras with white-light spotlights or colour night vision add a third option. They can stay in colour after dark by using a spotlight or a very light-sensitive sensor, and some switch between infrared and white light depending on whether motion is detected.

The camera's choice depends on the light it measures. Anything that changes that light at the wrong moment can confuse it, such as reflections, streetlights, headlights or the camera's own LEDs.

Common Symptoms and Their Causes

• Constant flicker between colour and black and white: infrared light from the camera bounces off something close by, such as a soffit, wall, gutter or window. The camera "sees" daylight and switches back to day mode. It then gets dark again, and the loop repeats.
• Switches to night mode too late: the sensitivity is set too low, or a streetlight or security lamp keeps the scene just bright enough to stay in day mode. The result is a dark, grainy colour image.
• Stuck in black and white during the day: the light sensor is covered by snow, dirt, a cobweb or a badly fitted sunshield. Or someone has set night mode manually and forgotten about it.
• Clicking sound at dusk and dawn: the scene sits right at the switching threshold, so the filter moves back and forth. This is common on overcast days.
• Spotlight going on and off all evening: motion-triggered lighting set too sensitive, or passing cars and swaying branches setting it off.

Choosing the Right Mode: Auto, Scheduled or Fixed

Camera menus usually offer three approaches. The names differ between Reolink, Hikvision, Dahua, EZVIZ and Imou, but the ideas are the same.

Auto

The camera switches based on measured light. This is the best choice for most outdoor cameras because it adapts to cloud, snow and the rapidly changing day length. If your camera offers a sensitivity or threshold setting, use it to fine-tune when the switch happens. If it offers a delay or switch time setting, a few seconds or more stops brief changes in light, such as headlights, from triggering a switch.

Scheduled

The camera changes mode at fixed times. This works well where artificial lighting fools the sensor, such as a car park lit by floodlights. In Estonia and the rest of the Baltics and Nordics, however, sunset moves by several minutes every few days. A schedule set in October will be wrong by December and badly wrong by spring. If you use one, review it every month.

Fixed day or night

Fixed modes force the camera to stay in one state. Forced night mode can suit an indoor storeroom that is always dark. Avoid fixed modes outdoors unless you have a specific reason.

Fixing the Flicker Loop

Infrared reflection causes most day/night flicker. Work through these steps in order.

1. Look at the night image. A bright white area near the edge of the picture shows where infrared light is bouncing back, often from eaves, a wall or a downpipe.
2. Change the angle. Tilting the camera slightly down or away from the nearby surface often solves the problem straight away. Leave a small gap between the lens and walls or roof overhangs.
3. Check the sunshield and housing. A sunshield pushed too far forward, or a dome bubble that is dirty or scratched, can reflect infrared light straight back into the lens.
4. Lower the infrared intensity. Many cameras let you reduce infrared power or enable smart IR, which prevents nearby objects from being overexposed.
5. Increase the switching delay or adjust the threshold so that brief changes in brightness are ignored.
6. Use an external light as a last resort. If streetlights or a neighbour's lamp keep pushing the camera back and forth, consider a schedule or a separate infrared illuminator.

Indoor cameras that look through a window have a similar problem, because infrared reflects off the glass. Switch off infrared for those cameras and rely on outside lighting.

Spotlight and Colour Night Vision Settings

Spotlight cameras can record in colour at night. That makes it easier to identify clothing, vehicles and faces. To get the most from them, choose how the light behaves.

• Always on at night: gives the most consistent colour image, but it lights up your garden all evening, attracts insects and may annoy the neighbours.
• Motion-triggered: the camera records in infrared and turns the spotlight on when it detects a person or vehicle. This is a good balance for most homes. Combine it with person and vehicle detection so that cats and branches don't set it off.
• Off, infrared only: the most discreet option. Use it for views across a neighbour's property or a road.

Lower the spotlight brightness if faces look blown out at short range. Make sure any lighting schedules follow the correct time, which leads to the next point.

Check the Clock After the Time Change

Daylight saving time ended on the last Sunday of October. Schedules for spotlights, sirens, recording and day/night mode all depend on the camera's clock. If that clock is wrong, everything runs an hour early or late. Wrong timestamps are also a real problem when you export footage for the police or an insurer.

• Open the time settings on your NVR or in the camera app. Check that the time zone is correct (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Finland use EET/EEST) and that daylight saving is switched on.
• Enable NTP time synchronisation if the system has internet access. On a system with an NVR, let the NVR sync the time to its cameras so that every camera shows the same time.
• For cameras with no internet, such as a cottage system that records only to microSD, set the time by hand on your next visit. Then check how far it drifts over the following weeks.
• Compare the on-screen timestamp with your phone. A quick check twice a year saves confusion later.

Seasonal Checklist for Dark Months

• Clean the lens, dome and light sensor. Road dust, spider webs and salt spray all affect switching.
• After the first snowfall, check whether snow on the camera or the ground changes how the scene looks at dusk.
• Check your evening footage, not just the live view. Make sure the switch to night mode happens when you expect it to.
• Review your motion detection settings. Long nights mean more infrared footage and more insect activity near the infrared LEDs.
• Make sure the storage keeps enough days of footage. Night recordings with noise or a spotlight can take up more space.

Conclusion

Most day/night problems come from reflections, external lights, poorly chosen thresholds or a clock that is an hour out. The usual fix is to use auto mode with a sensible delay, angle the camera away from nearby surfaces, use motion-triggered spotlights and check the time after each clock change. Spend half an hour on these settings now and your cameras will produce clear, reliable footage through the long winter nights.