How to Deal with a Scratched Canary Camera Lens
A clear, unobstructed lens is crucial for your Canary camera to capture sharp, high-quality video. A scratch, smudge, or dirt on the lens can lead to blurry footage, unwanted glare, and a general reduction in image clarity, compromising your security. This guide will walk you through the safe and proper ways to clean your lens and what to do if you discover a permanent scratch.
### Why a Clean Lens Matters
The small lens on your Canary camera is a precision optical component. Even a minor scratch can refract light in unpredictable ways, causing significant image distortion. This might manifest as:
- Blurriness: A soft or out-of-focus area on the image.
- Light Flares: Bright light sources creating starbursts or streaks across the video.
- Reduced Contrast: A hazy or washed-out appearance in the footage.
Before assuming the worst, it's essential to properly clean the lens, as what appears to be a scratch could just be a stubborn piece of debris or a smudge.
Step 1: Safely Cleaning Your Canary Lens
Always follow this procedure to avoid causing scratches while trying to clean them.
### What You Will Need:
- A can of compressed air: This is for removing larger particles without touching the lens.
- A high-quality microfibre cloth: Use the type of cloth designed for cleaning eyeglasses or camera lenses. Do not use a t-shirt, paper towel, or general-purpose cleaning rag, as these can be abrasive and cause fine scratches.
### The Cleaning Process:
- Power Down (Optional but Recommended): For safety and to avoid generating unwanted motion alerts, it's a good idea to unplug your Canary Pro or turn off your Canary Flex before cleaning.
- Blow Away Debris: Hold the can of compressed air upright and a few inches away from the lens. Use short bursts to blow away any loose dust, grit, or dirt. This step is crucial to prevent you from dragging a hard particle across the lens with your cloth, which is a primary cause of scratches.
- Wipe Gently: Take your clean, dry microfibre cloth. Using very light pressure, wipe the lens in a gentle, circular motion. Start from the centre of the lens and spiral your way outwards. This pushes any remaining particles to the edge rather than grinding them into the centre.
- Inspect the Lens: Hold the camera under a light and look at the lens from different angles. If you still see smudges, breathe gently on the lens to create a small amount of condensation and repeat the wiping process. Never use cleaning fluids.
Step 2: Assessing a Potential Scratch
After a thorough cleaning, if you can still see a mark on the lens, it is likely a permanent scratch. Now, you need to determine if it's impacting the camera's performance.
- Power the Camera Back On: Plug your Canary back in and wait for it to come online.
- View the Live Feed: Open the Canary app and watch the live stream from the camera.
- Look for Imperfections: Carefully examine the video image for any of the issues mentioned earlier (blurriness, flaring, foggy spots). Pay close attention to see if the imperfection on the video corresponds to the location of the scratch on the lens.
- Check in Different Lighting: View the feed during both the day and night (with night vision active). A scratch might be more noticeable when bright lights shine into the lens or when the infrared LEDs for night vision are on.
Step 3: What to Do About a Permanent Scratch
If you've confirmed a scratch is present and it is negatively affecting your video quality, your options are unfortunately limited.
- Minor Scratches: If the scratch is very fine and only visible in certain rare lighting conditions, you may choose to live with it.
- Significant Scratches: A camera lens is not a user-repairable part. Attempting to buff or polish the scratch with abrasive compounds will damage the lens's protective coatings and almost certainly make the image quality much worse.
If the scratch is severe, the only viable solution is to seek a replacement. We recommend reaching out to Canary's official customer support. Explain the situation and the troubleshooting steps you've taken. They can provide you with information on any warranty options or replacement programs that may be available to you.