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sequoia

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Everything posted by sequoia

  1. Yes, that is the exact issue. A rain-friendly setting doesn't work without rain, and vice versa. I'm kicking around the Optex and a receiver. $500 was a little more than I wanted to spend on a PIR but it might be worth it over time.
  2. I have a Vertex DVR from rugged-cctv.com. They specialize with a few industries including car washes. It's the 2nd DVR I have purchased from them and they are now obsoleting this model in favor of something new. It can accept separate inputs and/or audio per each channel. Records 480fps total with 1G storage. Does a pretty good job for me, with a few complaints here and there of course, and records a good quality image.
  3. sequoia

    Hiding an outdoor cam in plain sight

    I have very close connections with local law enforcement and lack of action is something I am not concerned with. From my expected location, daytime should work pretty well-- good angle of approaching visitors coming down the driveway, cul-de-sac framed well in the background (but not too far away.) But night time is a whole other gig. At my business location, I use two Bosch LTC0630 1/2" box cameras for license plate capture-- one at the entrance, one at the exit. After changing shutter speeds to 1/500, as was suggested here, I now capture nearly 100% of the plates-- either on the way IN, or on the way OUT. But, the tightness of the zoom, and the narrow field of entry/exit simply will not be doable on the cul-de-sac. It's far too deep, and too wide, to get plates. fyi I have a dedicated siamese cable, in conduit, in the general area. And a CAT 5 cable in there as well.
  4. sequoia

    Hiding an outdoor cam in plain sight

    I live on a cul-de-sac in an area of low density homes (typical 1-2 acre parcels.) Although it is a very nice area, we have a crime problem like all areas do-- mostly vehicle smash-and-grab burglaries. The camera will be facing away from the home and toward the cul-de-sac. It will look at both my driveway entrance (closer) and cul-de-sac (immediately behind the driveway.) I presently have a bosch wdr dome camera mounted in the top of the eave, and this camera gives me a general idea of "who" and "what cars" are coming through the cul-de-sac-- but it is far enough away so that I don't have much detail. I figured that by putting a box camera in a flower bed I would be much closer to the vehicles and get better images. From experience elsewhere, I have learned that most vehicles have *something* uniquely identifying to them-- whether it is a bumper sticker, body damage, or whatever. I'd like to be close enough to identify such unique items, but I do not want to try to capture license plates as that would be very difficult in my situation. I mostly want to ID specific vehicles so I can match them up to incidents of nearby crime. (i.e. a xxx vehicle pulled through our street 5 minutes before a smash-and-grab on a nearby street. Plus get a good facial shot of anyone walking up our driveway. I can probably shoot the cam right down the driveway at the cul-de-sac so the facial shot should be the easy part. No problem on the jacking-- I always find interesting reading here, on topic or off topic!
  5. sequoia

    Hiding an outdoor cam in plain sight

    I don't think the image will be tight enough for license plates but if I could see occupants in cars that would be a bonus. I've used some bosch ltc 0630 WDR box cams and based on my experience with them I think I will choose that for this application. Sounds like either the bird house, or the custom built and painted housing is the way to go ...
  6. I have bosch cams watching the parking lot areas of a car wash. The wash is lit with metal halide lamps. I've noticed that the lighting at night is strong enough so that the bosch cams dont switch to b/w mode. They stay in color mode as the lighting is good. My other cams, watching other areas, and from an earlier purchase and not bosch brand, switch to b/w quickly as the sun sets. I want to identify, by face, people who vandalize the wash, try to break in, or dump trash and hazardous waste. Here is my question: Given the same amount of light, will I get better resolution by adjusting the settings and forcing my bosch cams into b/w mode to capture details of night-time visitors? Or should I stick with the defaults and lets the bosch cams remain in color 24/hrs/day?
  7. sequoia

    Should I FORCE my cams into b/w mode?

    Well I *tried* to force the bosch cam into b/w mode but it would not do it. It is a WDR camera. Using bilinx, I tried going to the max extremes on sensitivity and it still would never switch to b/w mode. I could make it 100% b/w but then I would lose daytime color ????
  8. I have chronically been unable to get a clean, crisp focus on my cameras. I have several camera type but have standardized on Bosch WDR LTC 0630 models. Usually with 5-50mm bosch lens. I just today tried taking a camera down, placing it on a table, and hooking it up to a 20" TV/monitor directly without going through a DVR. I even got some reading glasses out to try to pin the focus down exactly. At the same distance (table vs. actual install), I tried the best I could to focus it perfectly but it is still not crisp as I have seen in some other photos posted here. It's a good picture, no arguing that, but just not perfectly focused. This is not my first stab at this-- it seems I have trouble focusing all of my cameras, so maybe I need some special tricks on how to get a better focus. Do you have any suggestions? (ps I have good vision.)
  9. sequoia

    Need help re: how to focus a camera

    The 2nd photo was taken over a network. Quality, in my opinion, is the same as when connected to a monitor directly. When focusing, I set the camera to max sharpness (15 out of 15) but it makes the picture pretty grainy. After focusing, I reduced the sharpness to 10. I looked at the cam last night at the b/w night picture is still a little too grainy for me. The camera is mounted on a side wall inside an enclosure. I'm setting up a work bench right beside the camera and am doing the focus outdoors in the identical conditions the camera is in during use. I will pick up a 3.8-12mm lens today and see what kind of picture quality that generates in this situation.
  10. sequoia

    Need help re: how to focus a camera

    Yes I have adopted those focus techniques. I am focusing outside. Maybe the answer is the lens itself. I have bought 7.5-50mm lenses as they seemed more versatile, with a wider operating range, than 2.8-12mm lenses. But, if I'm focusing at the equivalent of 10mm and wanting a crisp picture it sounds like a 2.8-12mm lens would be far superior than what I have with the lens that goes up to 50mm. Everything I have done on the other cameras, up to now, has been at max or nearly max zoom. So maybe I need to adjust a couple of lenses when I'm not even getting close to the 50mm limit?
  11. sequoia

    Need help re: how to focus a camera

    Yes, after fiddling with the backfocus I removed it from backfocus mode and the iris resets over the next couple of seconds. I also dialed down the sharpness a little. I just unboxed one of my 1/2" Bosch cams, fitted a 1/2" lens, and got similar results. Maybe my expectations are too high, or maybe I need a tube TV to use for focusing. All I know if that when I pull back from max zoom I can no longer get a crisp focus???
  12. sequoia

    Need help re: how to focus a camera

    Thank you for the assistance. I discovered that this camera had a computar lens on it (5-50mm.) Not sure if that was an issue, I changed it to the Bosch lens described above. No help. When I did this I confirmed that there is no adapter in place-- the lens screws directly to the camera body. I set sharpness to max, went to max zoom and focus to infinity. I set the cam to backfocus mode which opened the iris, and did the backfocus. My, oh my what a crisp clear picture I got doing that. Then, I locked the backfocus in place, and pulled back the zoom and refocused. Disappointment. Enclosed is the image and I simply cannot get something here that doesn't look blurry. It's a bit embarassing to not be able to accomplish such a simple thing? http://s807.photobucket.com/albums/yy360/californiabagman/CCTV/
  13. sequoia

    Need help re: how to focus a camera

    Apologies for not being more clear. The camera is: Bosch LTC0498 camera with LTC3674 Varifocal Lens IR corrected.
  14. sequoia

    Need help re: how to focus a camera

    Thanks for the reply. Here's a couple of answers and hopefully a sample pic. In the sample pic I was trying to focus on the wrought iron fence. To assist with that, I put the white colored pot right in front of the gate/walkway and used it to focus on. 1. I was using an LCD TV. Maybe I will try a tube model next? 2. The lens is screwed tight to the camera. There was a silver camera ring supplied with the camera and the lens will fit with or without using it. Can't remember if it is installed on the cam or not-- not sure if this is critical. 3. This particular camera is the Bosch equivalent that is 1/3 ccd with a 1/3 lens. 4) Enclosed is a sample image from my DVR but the camera image looks the same even when connected without running through the DVR. 5) I cannot seem to get any focal points to appear sharp. When I move the focus ring ahead or behind the focal point it blurs in either direction but focuses down in-between, but I just cant get the image to be crisp no matter how carefully I fiddle with it? When you focus, do you use any particular thing to focus on, like a sign with lettering, or use any special lighting or other tricks? I have one cam that I want to capture license plates after dark, and I am intending to re-visit that cam after dark and focus it then. http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy360/californiabagman/Sample2.jpg
  15. Is there a DVR that has native compatibility with a DROID X phone? I currently use a video server to view static images, but I would like to view video without having to do a desktop interface connection to a PC.
  16. sequoia

    DVR compatible with Droid X phone

    I've typically spent about $3k for each DVR I've purchased in the past.
  17. I've ordered a Bosch LTC 0630 WDR 1/2" CCD cam to put in place of my older cam that fails miserably at capturing license plates-- especially at night. The older cam is not day/night although the ambient lighting is pretty good. (Very well lit parking lot.) I would like to add an IR illuminator to shine at the departing license plates but am unsure of whether to use the 850NM or the 940nm models. My target license plates are about 50' away, and only in a very tight area so I don't need a beam with a wide spread. (The exit is via a single lane only so the focus can be very tight.) Since the illuminator will need to be mounted at ground level, where someone could reach it, having it be completely or almost completely invisible would be desirable. I've heard that the slightly visible units work much better with the camera (850nm), but I don't have any practical experience with either. And, I am assuming that the camera must be forced into night B/W mode for the illuminator to have any effect?
  18. Thanks. One more question-- is the life of the IR illuminator an issue? Should I plan to let it run all night, dusk to dawn, or only light up upon motion detection?
  19. I've standardized on Bosch cameras, as the WDR cameras have worked pretty well for me. What does not work well right now is an older, non-bosch, non-WDR cam with 50mm lens for license plate capture. It is blurry/fuzzy and washed out at night. It's not a day/night cam but illumination in the general area is pretty is good. (A car wash well lit at night.) I want to install a Bosch WDR day/night cam as a replacement for my older license plate cam, maybe a LTC0498 1/3" CCD with varifocal lens. But, for more money, I could get a Bosch LTC 0630 w/IR correction lens. The LTC 0630 has a 1/2" CCD, and the IR correction lens sounds good. Without the benefit of practical experience between the two, how much improvement should I expect with a 1/2" CCD compared to a 1/3" CCD when it comes to picture quality, and how much benefit would I get from night time images with a IR corrected lens compared to a standard varifocal lens. Would this only make a difference if I add an IR illuminator as well? I need close to the 50mm adjustment for enough zoom to read the license plates on the moving vehicles.
  20. I've been looking at Bosch box cameras, which will accept 1/3 or 1/2 inch ccd lenses. Picture clarity and night performance are important to me. Will the 1/2" provide better performance, specifically at night? Is there any way to quantify how much better it would be?
  21. My VDN 495 dome is working well; I now want the same performance in a box camera. I'm a newbie at this, but it looks like Bosch camera are sold separately for the camera and lens. Is a LTC 0498 camera with a LTC3283/50 lens a suitable combination to emulate the performance of the dome? Thanks ...
  22. On the front of my building, I originally installed a Speco intensifier HT-INTB8 camera. Great daytime picture, very sharp, but nighttime was too blurry if any motion occurred. It is installed under an eave. Based on a recommendation, I changed this camera today to a Bosch VDN495. It has the "gooseneck" type mount and the dome is away from the wall with the dome facing down. In the new position, sunlight hits the clear plexiglass of the dome and puts solar "flares" in the picture. Also, on the top and right of the picture (during daytime) th epicture has a blue hue to it. Short of re-installing everything again to a new location, is there anything that will eliminate the solar "flares" while not reducing nighttime performance?
  23. I am interested in using bilinx but I don't fully understand it. If I like the camera I am going to add more of the same type, so using bilinx would be very helpful. At first try, the nighttime images are ... GREAT! I presume that by using the bilinx software I can tweak camera settings. Also, I presume that you can't adjust the focus remotely? My cameras are connected to a dvr. Would I need to unplug the camera from the DVR and connect it to a PC running bilinx? Thanks ....
  24. I want to monitor my ranch and only have a slow DSL line there with a dynamic IP. Is there anyone that makes an inexpensive camera that includes a web server and supports dynamic dns? I don't need PTZ, just a basic camera that I can access on-demand. Thanks!
  25. Thank you for responding. The axis unit looks like exactly what I need-- thanks.
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