iansmith

I need an inexpensive video camera with an interchangeable lens and a large (1/3" or better) sensor. So a CCTV unit with a C mount seems to be the way to go. Most cameras I am looking at have lots of features designed to help out when using it as a security camera, which is no suprise. I am not using this as a security camera, but to film video, so most sites focus on stuff I don't need. I was happy to find this forum. So I am looking for... Picture quality is a high priority. Manual controll of the electronic iris is also very important. Selectable NTSC / PAL output. Standard C mount for lenses. I found this one which looks like it does what I want, although I can't tell if you have manual control over the shutter speed. Is there something cheaper or better I am missing? Samsung CCTV SDC-435 Zoom Security BOX Camera, $150 Thanks!

I found one, will have to wait until monday to call them about it. The biggest problem I have found with CCTV quality is bad noise even in bright light, which is what I will be filming. Hopefully this one will do well, thanks!

Thanks, I'll look through them. Worst case if I can at least find something to lock the shutter speed, even if I can't pick what setting it locks it at I can adjust the lighting to fit it.

Ahh, it's like the world is conspiring against you sometimes. The reason I want a CCTV box camera is I need to use a specific lens with it, so a normal camcorder or digital camera will not work. (Unless it's got a big sensor and is cheap so I can rip it apart without any guilt) Zoom CCTV cameras have integrated lenses, which will not work for me.. but they seem to be the ones with the manual controls I need. It's a conspiracy all right!

Sadly the camera I mentioned is not on sale anywhere anymore. On screen menus for locking down the shutter speed and exposure settings are fine.. I don't need to play with them during filming. I looked at IP cameras but they all suffer from serious FPS slowdown. They tend to only manage 5 to 8 FPS on the higher resolutions. Do you have any suggestions for particular models, or web sites I can look at that have the features I am looking for? You are right is all I can find are cheap CCTV sites that carry mostly web camera style setups.

Still looking, but I need to order something soon now. The main thing I need is a box camera with manual exposure settings. The picture will be going from very bright to very dark and I do not want the shutter speed, gain or anything else to change when this happens. And I need PAL support. Switchable to NTSC would be a plus but not a priority. Most places that sell these systems seem to have generic boxes that have no information at all on them.