ColorVu Full-Colour Night Vision
Hikvision ColorVu cameras deliver vivid, full-colour video footage in near-total darkness without infrared. Clothing, vehicle colour, and facial features remain visible on footage captured at night.
Key highlights
- Full colour footage down to 0.0005 lux
- No black-and-white IR switching
- Clothing and vehicle colour visible at night
- Available in dome, bullet, turret, and PTZ
- Pairs with AcuSense AI detection
What colour changes about night footage
Traditional infrared CCTV cameras produce black and white footage in low light. Infrared night vision has served CCTV well for decades, but it discards the single most useful attribute for identification: colour. The clothing a person is wearing, the colour of a vehicle, the branding on a bag. All of that is gone in IR footage. Hikvision ColorVu cameras use a combination of large-aperture lenses and a supplemental white-light illuminator to produce full-colour footage in near-total darkness.
ColorVu: always-colour, regardless of light
ColorVu cameras maintain full-colour footage down to 0.0005 lux, the equivalent of a heavily overcast night with no artificial lighting. The white-light illuminator activates automatically when ambient light drops below a threshold, flooding the camera field of view with visible light without producing the harsh glare of a spotlight.
ColorVu camera types
ColorVu fixed dome and bullet cameras
Standard indoor and outdoor form factors with the ColorVu sensor and illuminator built in. Direct replacements for IR cameras in new installations and upgrades. Available in 2MP, 4MP, and 8MP resolution, with varifocal lens options for coverage flexibility.
ColorVu turret cameras
Low-profile turret housing ideal for indoor environments, offices, reception areas, and retail spaces where the camera should be visible but unobtrusive. The illuminator is embedded in the housing and activates without the camera needing to switch to a separate night mode.
ColorVu PTZ cameras
Pan, tilt, and zoom cameras with full ColorVu night-vision capability. Covers large areas in colour, day and night. Operators can zoom to identify faces or vehicle number plates in full colour even in dark environments. Used for car parks, loading bays, and large open spaces.
Where ColorVu makes the most difference
The locations where you most need clear identification are often the locations with the worst lighting. Car parks are lit for safety but rarely to a level that produces useful IR footage. Building entrances are bright during the day and dark at night. Loading bays have patchy lighting. These are exactly the environments where ColorVu outperforms traditional IR cameras.
Car parks and external areas
Vehicle colour and clothing colour are available in footage, making identification after incidents significantly faster. Insurance claims and police reports benefit from coloured footage that IR cannot provide.
Building entrances and lobbies
Face identification in colour works significantly better than in greyscale. Security staff reviewing footage after an incident can make identifications that would be marginal in IR footage.
Retail and warehouse environments
Colour footage aids stock loss investigations. The colour of merchandise, bags, and clothing visible in ColorVu footage provides evidence quality that IR images cannot match.
Upgrading from IR to colour night vision
ColorVu cameras install into the same cabling infrastructure as standard IP cameras. An upgrade from IR to ColorVu is a camera replacement, not a full system reinstall. Sentire can assess your existing IP CCTV installation and identify which cameras would deliver the greatest improvement from a ColorVu upgrade. See our IP CCTV installation service for full details.
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Get it done right
Let Sentire handle your ColorVu Full-Colour Night Vision.
Our engineers are based in Nairobi and support businesses across Kenya. No lengthy contracts. Just reliable, expert IT delivered as a service.