Why Is My Lorex Camera Blurry (Try These Easy Fixes!)

We understand the frustration when the Lorex camera blurry live feed washes off details, and prevents you from spotting important events.

This is unacceptable from a high-end brand such as Lorex; hence, in this quick guide, we’ll walk you through the solutions to get back that clarity.

The issue is often related to dust or debris on the lens, installation issues, or bad lighting.

Don’t worry–at ZontSound, we’ve got your back, so let’s get this fixed!

How to Fix When Lorex Camera Is Blurry – Proven Solutions!

Note: Have you tried rebooting the camera multiple times via the app or NVR interface?

1. Use the Lorex “Auto-Focus” Function

Wrongly configured focus settings can have an impact on the clarity of the camera footage and make it hard to identify the captured video details.

Well, you can adjust these settings through the compatible system NVR and reset any applied recording filters that alter the camera’s FOV.

Here’s how to use “Auto-Focus” on Lorex:

• Right-click the camera live view on your NVR interface to open the menu.
• Now, click AutoFocus from the options to adjust the camera automatically. 
• Use the on-screen sliders to set the zoom and focus manually if required.

Note: The zoom and focus settings only apply during the time of recording. 

2. Clean the Camera Lens & Surface

Physical obstructions, such as smudges or debris, can blur the video feed of your Lorex camera and affect motion detection, especially in low light.

You need to clean the lens manually to verify that the Lorex camera has a clear view and eliminate the blurriness.

Follow these steps to clean the lens and surface of the camera:

• First, power off the camera or disconnect it from the NVR.
• Wipe the lens gently with a microfiber cloth to remove dust.
• Clean the camera surface with a dry cloth and power it on.

After the cleaning, wait until the camera lens surface fully dries, then access the Lorex live feed via the NVR monitor or the mobile application.

Proceed by reconfiguring the rotatable stand of the Lorex camera so it faces away from walls or other solid obstructions.

3. Increase the Outdoor/Ambient Lighting

Low-light conditions can degrade the video quality of the Lorex camera.

This could reduce the footage quality, especially at night when the camera uses the IR sensor actively.

Hence, we recommend adding more outdoor or ambient lighting to improve the visibility of the camera.

You can use remote-controlled flood lights around the camera capture area and activate them manually (or automatically) at night, to ensure the footage does not degrade in any way.

Note: You could also use “smart” app-controlled outdoor lights and set them to activate at night.

4. Check for Physical Installation Issues

Potential issues with the physical installation, like insufficient A/C supply, problematic cables, or NVR/DVR problems, could be the reason why the Lorex camera is blurry.

So, inspecting each of these components individually ensures the Lorex camera and installation will work as intended.

4.1 Power Supply Inspection:

Test a different power outlet to ensure a sufficient power supply, use individual adapters instead of a shared “octopus” power supply, and keep the adapter indoors, since it’s not for outdoor use.

Here at ZontSound also recommend unplugging most of the camera to determine if the quality will improve.

Overloading the octopus adapter or ports could degrade the quality significantly. 

4.2 Cable Connections Inspection:

Inspect all of the setup cables for any type of damage. Refer to the manufacturer-recommended cable lengths for BNC or Ethernet (PoE), and swap cables or DVR ports to identify the issue.

4.3 Hardware/DVR Inspection:

Test cameras directly on the DVR to rule out display issues and swap the camera inputs on the DVR to check the functionality of each camera and port.

Also, contact Lorex support if the DVR shows video processing problems like wavy lines across outputs.

5. Increase the Camera Shutter Speed Over IP

Note: This solution is only applicable to PoE Lorex cameras that connect over Ethernet!

A solution that’s only available for Lorex IP cameras is to increase the shutter speed value, as a low setting could intensify the motion blur.

This setting is not accessible from the NVR menu, and you would need to individually sign in to each camera GUI over IP to configure the option.

Here’s how to adjust the Lorex camera shutter speed easily:

• Find your doorbell IP address in the Reolink App at Device Settings → Network.
• Type down the IP in the search field of a browser on your locally connected PC.
• Sign in using the camera admin credentials (default is often admin/password).
• Go to the Camera Settings → Shutter Speed tab and set the shutter to 1/100s.
• Save the changes and test the live video feed of the Lorex camera for changes.

Use the provided live feed controls to rotate the camera several times and determine if there is a change in the response time and quality. 

6. Adjust the Lorex Display Resolution Value

The issue could also be resolution-related, especially if the aspect ratio of the live feed does not match the size of your connected monitor.

Well, the NVR or DVR of your monitoring system has built-in display functions that allow you to rescale the Lorex cam live feed to match the monitor.

Follow these steps to adjust the Lorex display resolution:

• Click the Main Menu icon on the taskbar, then go to Settings → Display.
• In the VGA/HDMI drop-down menu, select your monitor or TV resolution.
• Click Support Overscan for automatic adjustment if the video is cropped.
• Click Save to apply the settings, then click OK to confirm to check the feed.

Verify that the display shows the full camera feed without cropping.

If the fault persists, check your monitor’s native resolution and ensure the DVR is connected properly via VGA or HDMI.

7. Reset the Lorex Camera Zoom Preference

One of the reasons why your Lorex camera is foggy would be an improper zoom setting on varifocal zoom cameras.

This leads to blurry or unclear footage, especially whenever you are trying to focus on distant objects. 

Varifocal zoom cameras only capture what is in focus at the time of the NVR recording, meaning optical zoom must be configured beforehand.

So, use your Lorex app or NVR/DVR interface to adjust the camera zoom and focus manually and test the capture quality of the camera live feed.

8. Deactivate the Lorex “Auto Night Vision”

The night vision might cause overexposure and reflections in the camera lens.

This affects the Lorex camera video quality, and disabling the Auto Night Vision via the Lorex mobile application can resolve the problem. 

Follow these steps to disable the Lorex night vision:

• Open the Lorex App on your phone.
• Tap your device from the homepage.
• Press above the camera’s thumbnail.
• Tap Settings to access the options.
• Disable Auto Night Vision in the tab.

Now, check if the feed still appears blurry in complete darkness, if it is night outside. If it is day, the improvements should take effect immediately and resolve the blurriness. 

Note: The effects will only be visible if it is not nighttime outside.

9. Reset the Camera to Default Settings

So, if nothing else worked and you still don’t know why the Lorex camera is blurry, it’s time for a factory reset.

The procedure erases all data and content from the configuration of your Lorex camera, which may resolve underlying software issues, degrading the camera’s live feed quality.

Follow these steps to factory reset the Lorex camera in less than 30 seconds:

• Ensure the camera is connected to the NVR with an Ethernet cable.
• Press and hold the Reset button on the back or base of the camera.
• While holding the Lorex Reset button, reconnect the Ethernet cable.
• Release the button and wait until the camera finalizes the OS reset.

Once the reset is finished, use the Lorex mobile application to reconfigure all settings that were previously assigned to the camera and test the live feed.

ZontSound advises against restoring the system NVR or DVR to factory defaults, as this results in a complete wipe of all recordings.