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Anyone know of a less expensive alternative but similar dome to the Arecont dome housing? I have a 3115DN that I am looking to mount in a dome style housing to help blend in better on a residence.

Hey guys, I have a Arecont AV3115 DN camera without a lens. I am looking for a source to purchase a 1/2'' Mount IR Corrected Lens. While I realize that this is the place to spend some money on a nice piece of glass, I am looking at a lower end budget. Ideally, I would like to stick to under $100 for the lens. Anyone have a source? I have been poking about eBay, and it seems most on there have a DC iris, which this camera does not support.

Thanks man. I will keep my eyes on that one. Right now I have been watching a MPL8-16 on there as well.

You can run it via the net to a remote site, however you need to make sure you have enough of a pipe to the web if you plan on recording remotely as well. I am sure some more knowledgable folk will chime in as well. -Eric

Hey everyone. First of all, thanks to all of the expert knowledge here. I discovered this forum about a week ago, and have been trying to cram as much information as I wish I had a year ago into my head Location is a small home in central Florida. Goal of the system is primarily for exterior monitoring/recording of home. There has been an increase in minor vandalism such as egging, irrigation system damage, trash/debris being thrown, and landscapes being damaged. Ideally I would like to be able to capture vehicles and persons that are in the area of the home during both daytime and nighttime hours. As far as ambient light at night, the neighborhood has streetlights, and my porch lights stay on all night. I understand that for my budget, I am not going to go with a facial recognition or license plate caliber system. Currently I have been running Low End Panasonic IP Cameras, which I know will win the fisher price award on here. I have a BL-C1A in both the kitchen and living room, and are perfectly happy with them. I am not really looking for anything of quality inside. For the exterior, I have a BL-C10A that is aimed out the front window. I am looking to upgrade this camera due to wanting better picture quality. For recording, I have a dedicated PC running Blue Iris which I have been happy with, however have been looking into other solutions based on this forum. Main concern once again is the front of the structure. I am currently debating camera locations, and I feel I may need to end up with multiple. Other homes of the same model have a single dome camera under the front porch, on the left side of the structure. This seems to work relatively well, I included a shot of what I can currently see from the window. I am proposing putting a camera above the porch as others have done, as well as install another camera under the eve on the right hand side of the residence. I need to get up under the eve and look, as when the tree is in full bloom, I imagine this will be partially blocked. Here are some images of the area: Front of property. Front of property, showing the sidewalk area, taken from the street. As you can see there are three trees that can cause some issues. Current view I normally leave the front camera on. Rear Garage. Proposed camera location under eve on left side of garage, aimed over the driveway towards fence. Rear Garage/Backyard. Proposed camera location under furthermost eve on right side of roofline, above porch area. Camera aimed over backyard/fence towards driveway. Another shot of the rear area, showing side yard as well. Rear Garage showing opposite side yard. For gear, I have been looking into a ACTi TCM-1231 or GeoVision MFD110 for under the eves. I also have been looking at used Axis Gear as well. I am open to recommendations, however this should give an idea on price range. All will be run back to the structured wiring panel with Cat6, and will be connected to a POE switch. Next door, our neighbor had a local installer put in an Axis 216FD above the porch, and elsewhere in the neighborhood a different installer put in an Axis M3204 in the same location. I find it interesting that both of these are mounted outside, however are indoor cameras. Experts correct me if I am wrong! Thoughts would be appreciated. I am looking to acquire the gear within one month. -Eric

Nimrod thanks for all the responses! I was afraid that Blue Iris may choke, I guess time will tell. I know from digging around on here there may be some other options either free or inexpensive that would work for only few cameras. I understand CAT6 is overkill...however I have a bunch of it left over from networking the rest of the house. To my knowledge, the neighbors are not using anything other than the camera itself for recording. I took a look at the neighbor with the M3204 and the picture is actually really nice. I am waiting to see how it looks during the night... I took a better peak at it, and it is not mounted in any other dome or any other protection from the elements. I understand it is under a porch, however that is still outside in my opinion. The owner said they sealed it up with silicone caulk and when they pressure wash the house they put a plastic bag over it...creative nonetheless. Thanks for the comments on the neighborhood. Most of the arrests have been on juveniles egging cars, one group actually charged with felony vandalism. There have been very few break-ins in the area, however I will admit that it seems some parenting is lacking. The community is also a target for egging and landscape damage as it is much nicer than most of the surrounding area. So some groups feel it is fun to come in and damage it...

I assume so, however I am initially going to try without an additional illuminator. There is a fair amount of light from the streetlights and porch lights. I would like a cam that can see ir.

So I will admit, that's great, however I have about six feet between the house and the road... Are people recommending that I have a PIR that monitors the road as well? This seems about a bunch of false alerts. What would people say for such a small space? I have no problem setting the cameras to record on motion detection and catch every car that goes by, the home is alarmed so I am not looking for the cameras to be the sole protection for burglary. Still would love any thoughts on a camera system.

Thanks for the response. I travel a fair amount for work and I think that many of these are done by "drive by eggings" so a motion detector put in the street would give many false alarms. For a property intrusion alarm they make sense, however I don't think that will happen in this situation. I am really looking to simply upgrade the camera system. I will check into the Optex recommendation though, hey I can always use something else to tinker with