Hi KIAs! My Ring Doorbell is mounted in a vestibule, 8 ' back from the porch step Anything ...

[G+_Todd Barnard]

Hi KIAs! My Ring Doorbell is mounted in a vestibule, 8' back from the porch step. Anything beyond that is so overexposed you can not make it out. I installed it in the winter and blamed this condition on the snow, but a solid week of rain and overcast conditions did not make a difference.

 

I played with putting my sunglasses in front of the lens, and I briefly get a better image, but it changes the brightness to take it back again.

 

I contacted Ring this morning and they tell me I need to move it, but doing so will defeat the purpose I bought it for. I found a forum post that talked of connecting via UART and using setbrightness and setcontrast commands, but Ring tells me that this was deprecated in a firmware update.

 

They said I could over the lens with window tint to keep the Auto contrast from blowing out...but it didnt help and blurred the image.

 

They also said I could sell it on Ebay.

 

Anyone else having this issue or have a solution, or has anyone tried to connect to it and poke around with the latest firmware?

[G+_Brian Moses]

Maybe painting the siding with off white flat exterior paint.

[G+_Akira Yamanita]

The only real fixes for those situations without changing how the camera operates are to either narrow the field (remove the dark areas) or bring up the brightness in the dark areas. Basically, you want to narrow the contrast between the bright and dark areas by modifying or removing one as much as possible. Does turning on the lamp help at all? Adding more lighting would definitely help, but might not be practical.

 

If there is some way to change it to spot metering, that could help too, although you may end up with the opposite issue.?

[G+_Todd Barnard]

There is no metering at all...according to Ring, there used to be and it was hidden, but they claim its gone in the new firmware.  They also say there is no intention to bring it back in the future.

 

The Ring has IR for night time and that works great. the lamp in daylight makes no difference.

 

The siding is a semi gloss, and light colored.

 

Padre mentioned a while back, that he was trying to capture the feed from his.  I don't know if that was an older firmware, or if Ring was feeding me a line.

 

In one part of our talk, they said the fixed brightness function had been eliminated from the lastest firmware. Later on I asked if brightness control might be part of a future firmware, and they said it was lacking in that camera...firmware would not fix it.

 

I'm currently looking for my "special" driver tip so I can remove it from where it is and play with it.  We were having sub-zero temps when I installed it and I was just happy to get it going.  I really hoped the snow was my issue.

 

Thanks guys, any further info is appreciated!!

[G+_Mike B]

Ask the photography forums. There has to be a lens filter that will do this for you. Would a polarizer work?

[G+_Akira Yamanita]

Mike B There are center ND (neutral density) filters, but I'm not sure if you could find one that would work with a Ring doorbell. That said, it may be possible to fashion one that would be sufficient. However, the effect at night might be undesirable.

 

Todd Barnard You could try to limit the daylight that reaches the camera by adding a screen door (probably wouldn't reduce the light by enough) or a tinted glass door. Not exactly budget options.

 

Mirrors might work if you can get the angle right to reflect the outside area from the camera's perspective. The brightness in the mirrors would much more closely match the outside than the walls. A test with some aluminum foil might be worthwhile.

 

You could also attempt to limit the field of vision of the camera. Since you have to enter a hallway, the restricted vision may not matter much.

[G+_Todd Barnard]

My sunglasses are polarized...20 secs into the video you can see that looks OK, briefly, then reverts.  Ring suggested tint film, taped so no light gets past it.  I had a scrap of a medium tint, so I doubled it up and taped the edges down with black tape,  but the Ring once again readjusted.

 

Redirecting sunlight might help...I'll try that when I have sometime as that would not change its night vision at all.

 

Thanks Akira and others...I'd still like to hear from anyone that has poked around the firmware!

 

Padre? Padre? Bueller?

 

Take care guys!

[G+_Todd Barnard]

The doorbell is mounted flat on the wall, aiming it would require removing it and shimming the bracket. Right now I cant find the proprietary bit I need to do that.

It was subzero the day I installed it.  I ordered it in December after having a package show up, already open, 2 days after the courier said it had arrived.

I recall putting it and the instructions in an envelop and labeling it, but not sure where I filed it since then.

 

A slider in the app would be nice....

[G+_Todd Barnard]

Update: Akira, today was overcast, I tried reflecting light back towards the doorbell with a handheld mirror...no difference. This might work better on a brighter day, but no love today!

 

Wayne, I pointed the doorbell progressively leftward until only a sliver of the area beyond the porch was in view..it was always blown-out past my railing.

 

I posted a review on Amazon (that was denied twice before I got them to admit it met their guidelines) and today, I got a message from Ring via Amazon saying 'We are working on a brightness adjustment feature to improve your Ring videos" and asked me to email him directly.

 

I'll keep you posted, thanks again for all the input.

[G+_Todd Barnard]

Further update, I removed the Ring from its brkt and made a vid of me holding it in various places from my door to the porch step. I sent this to Ring along with a vidcap where I marked distances and time stamps.

The wall to the right is about 4 ft long, then opens to another part of the porch. The wall to the left is 10 feet and terminates at the the porch step. Any more than 3 feet back from the porch step and the yard and street start to blow out.

 

The rep who contacted me re my Amazon reviewed replied:

 

"I apologize about the exposure but I'd like to explain this more in detail to you. So the way Ring camera is set up, it focuses on the foreground and not the background. This is done because we want to be able to see who is walking up to the camera. Since your roof cover/awning covers 25% of the video screen the doorbell automatically adjust for what is in the foreground. The video exposure cannot be modified differently to adjust for this at this time but we are working on a brightness adjustment feature for future to enhance your Ring experience."

 

I offered to try and beta software or firmware they might come up with, but until then I guess I'm SOL.

 

I'll update again if I here anything!

 

Later KIAs!

[G+_Jason Miles (SmoothBass]

I'm having the same issue. I'm going to have to try something to address this.

[G+_Todd Barnard]

Jason Miles Hi Jason, call the 800 and tell them what is happening.

 

They were able to log in to my Ring and make adjustments that made improvements. They promised at the time that this feature would be added to the app, but no sign of it yet.

 

BTW, if the person you talk to says it can't be done, the keep calling back and complaining until you find a tech that can.

 

I don't know if I have the name of the guy who helped me, but if I find it, I'll post it here.