A method is executed at a camera operating in a night mode in which an IR filter is not interposed between a lens assembly and sensor arrays of the camera. In the night mode, the camera receives ambient light that is not filtered by the IR filter. For each image tile, the camera determines whether the ambient light received at the tile is due to an IR light source or a light source other than an IR light source and generates a respective mode change signal accordingly. A mode change parameter is then determined as a function of a total number of the mode change signals for image tiles of the camera. Based on the mode change parameter, the camera determines whether to continue the operation of the camera in the night mode or switch the operation of the camera from the night mode to a day mode.