Nest Cam display features:

This article describes what you can see using the Nest Cam and accessing its data from a tablet, smartphone, or computer.

We include a description of the Nest Cam's night-vision capability and we explain how to use the Nest Cam display zoom feature to permit closer examination of the camera's video display either in live mode or when viewing a recording stored using the Nest Aware service.

Page top photo: the Nest Cam's display is shown on both a Mac laptop screen and on an Android cellphone (below right).

This article series describes the Nest Cam installation procedure and includes advice on settings that can get you out of trouble if your camera installation does not go smoothly. To get the very best performance from your Nest Cam (or Dropcam) we give advice on camera location, use of lighting, and securing the cameras and their wiring.

Nest Cam Displays: What Can You See

[Click to enlarge any image]

Above: the home page for one of our Nest Cam and Nest learning thermostat installations.

This installation is testing five Nest Cam cameras and three Nest learning thermostats.

With the building occupants away, at night, in cold weather, the Nest Cam images include a mix of scenes lit by lights left on in the building or where there are no external lighting sources, the scene is lit by the Nest Cam's own IR lighting. Clicking on any of the little round Nest Cam images will open a full page window showing what the camera is seeing right now.

That page can also give access to a history of what the camera has seen.

Using a different installation for some examples, below we show the entrance to a small space whose entry and interior are to be monitored.

Looking through the open door of the entry shown above, we can see a Nest Cam installed on an opposing wall near the ceiling.

This camera can be seen by someone looking through the glass entry door, though only at night will it's activity light make the camera obvious.

Nest Cam Infra Red Lighting Feature

Below: we see the night-time view afforded by this camera. With no artificial lighting this space is illuminated by the Nest Cam's own IR light source.

Watch out: see that bright white diagonal area in the lower right of our photo above?

That's the Nest Cam's IR light reflecting upwards towards the camera lens from the top of a curtain located below the camera. When locating and aiming the camera you should avoid placing any large objects where they will intrude into the camera's view.

Otherwise in darkness when the IR light is operating the scene may be dominated by reflected infra-red light from the near object while other areas of the scene may remain in darkness.

A near object in the Nest Cam's field of view may not bother you under daylight conditions or when room lighting is on. But in darkness a near object may be so bright that when the camera adjusts to that bright area the rest of the field of view may be too dark.

In this garage the only light is provided by the Nest Cam's IR light source.

My white arrow points to a small bright white object in the upper viewing area. This is the tip of a 1x4" common pine board shelf bracket that had originally intruded about 1/3 of the way down into the top third of the viewing area.

When we used the Nest Cam to view this garage in daylight or with lights on, the pine board was not particularly bothersome as it was lit to about the same level as the rest of the space.

But when we looked at this garage again in darkness, so much IR light was reflected off of that pine shelf bracket that most of the rest of this garage was in darkness as the camera adjusted to the very bright reflected IR-light source.

We simply aimed the camera down until most of the board was out of view and the reflected IR lighting was minimal. The result is that the entire viewing area is now well lit by infra red.

Nest Cam Zoom Feature

We can use the Nest Cam's zoom feature if we need a closer-look at something. Below is a Nest Cam view of the ground floor of another building. This is a night time view through a long space in which two artificial lights have been turned on at either end of this space, either manually or by timer.

That's why you see color in this image compared with the black-and white Nest Cam view shown above.

Below we illustrate the zoom feature by focusing first on the center of this space. Anyone entering this space will certainly be in plain view.

Below, with the camera recording at 720p we've zoomed in as far as possible to take a look at that table and bookshelf at the far end of this space. Under the same lighting conditions if we set the camera to 1080p you'd expect this image to be a bit sharper.

These images were recorded with the Nest Cam set to its medium resolution of 720p. Sharper images will be rendered at the higher camera resolution. Below we illustrate this same space with all artificial lights turned off.

All of the lit items you can see in this photo were illuminated by the Nest Cam's own infra red light source. As you can see the far end of this room is dark. If we had located our camera in the center of this long space instead of at one end, more of the space would have been illuminated.

Remarkably, this 36-foot long space was still well-lit by the Nest-cam's own light source, perhaps better than it was illuminated by the incandescent lights that we had turned on at either end of the area.

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Continue reading at NEST CAM VIEW ADJUSTMENT or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

Or see these

Recommended Articles

• BUILDING SAFETY HAZARDS GUIDE
• LIGHTING, EXTERIOR GUIDE - home
• NEST CAM INSTALLATION & USE - home
  • NEST CAM INSTALLATION REQUIREMENTS
  • NEST CAM INSTALLATION SEQUENCE
  • NEST CAM: WHAT's IN THE BOX?
  • NEST CAM INSTALLATION TECHNICAL TIPS
  • NEST CAM DISPLAYS - WHAT CAN YOU SEE?
  • NEST CAM VIEW ADJUSTMENT
  • NEST CAM LIGHTING RECOMMENDATIONS
  • NEST CAM RELIABILITY & NEST AWARE DATA LOSS
  • NEST CAM DETERRENT EFFECTS
• NEST LEARNING THERMOSTATS
• SECURITY / MOTION SENSOR LIGHT INSTALL
• SECURITY SYSTEMS cameras, monitors for home security, intrusion, elder-safety, freeze or water damage monitoring

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