cctvfan

Rory, The cut-out / flush part has a diameter of 3.6 inches, although the dome itself (polycarbonate part) is 4 inches. I remember you sent me a few cool links for "exotic" housings before when I was looking for compact camera housings. Nice if you could do something similar again. Thanks in advance.

I am looking at domes from EverFocus, National Electronics and Capture. As you can tell, none in the high-end. Perhaps this explains why they don't have good mounting options. Thanks!

Looking for a good env. housing with heater/fan. Will be deploying ~10 for the project so the right choice is important. My tendecy is to use cheap brands but please stop me if this sounds a dangerous idea, and you'd rather me spend on AD, Pelco, or other brands you can recommend. Some specific questions though: 1- Is hinged top an important feature for easy servicing or even installation of cameras? 2- If heater/blower electronics fails, can the circuit board be easily removed & replaced (without removing entire housing)? Some brands better than others? 3- Does mist build up in glass due to temperature diff (cold outside, warm inside)? I bet wipers do not help since the vapor builds up on the inside. Any cure (assuming this is a real issue). Thx

You two have just converted me. I must admit I love using auto-Iris too, at least for the past (i.e. indoor) projects. As mentioned, this upcoming one, being the first major outdoor for me, makes me nervous because of the fear of having to climb back up the ladder again to re-adjust the DC level. But as Cooperman said, if the pre-install work are done properly on the bench, that shoud not happen. OK I'll make sure I do the bench pre-tune deligently. BTW Rory, I'm not in the UK, but in the freezing cold part of Canada.

Thanks all for the useful tips. A follow-up question: assuming the cams support ELC / CCD iris (FYI, Sony SSCM183 B/W). For the outdoor scenarios we've been discussing, which of these lens choices would you experts prefer: a. Manual iris lens, with ELC/CCD iris on camera enabled. b. DC Auto-iris lens, disabling ELC on camera. My favorite is 'a', but I want to hear from experts. I'm concerned in 'b' I will need to adjust the DC level after installation (Q: Is it real a challenge to locate the DC level dial on the back of a camera inside the housing, while I'm clinging to a ladder, and it's getting dark? Or is it not that bad?). I know some may suggest, with proper site surveys done at day & night, the DC level should not need any more adjustment once the cam is installed. But we never know... so I'd still like to hear your vote on a or b.

Thanks. To be honest I haven't seen one with wipers either, since none of the three models found at this link has photos. http://www.spytown.com/search--by-part-number-vicon2--camera-housings--indoor---outdoor-with-wiper.html But I picture them to be like winshield wipers on cars, i.e. wiping the outside but not the inside of the glass. When I wake up in the morning during winter I always had to wipe away water vapor built up on the inside of our windows. That's why I asked that question, assuming the same will happen to housings, since the camera is "living" in a comfortably heated room like myself

Hi, I'm desparately looking for an outdoor, vandal resistant camera with 180 deg horiz AOV, i.e. fish-eye. Two constraints: A. The client doesn't like split/dual view. Otherwise GE/Interlogix has a dual-view twin cams in one housing. B. The client prefers compact housing. Otherwise, I could use CS-mounts with bulky housings. I began to look into some vandal proof mini domes, but the widest AOV I found is not even 90deg, only close. Help appreciated! -- Below are some mini domes I've considered ... American Dynamics: http://www.americandynamics.org/products/cameras_vandalResistant.aspx 1/4", 2.6mm, i.e. horiz AOV = 69.42 degrees Bosch: http://www.boschsecurity.us/ItemPage.cfm?PrdctGroup_ID=81&cntry_ID=47&lang_ID=1 1/4", 2mm, i.e. horiz AOV = 84.02 degrees GE Interlogix: Rugged Vari-View Dome 1/4", 2.9mm, i.e. horiz AOV= 63.69 degrees Multi-View Dome 1/3", 2.5mm, i.e. horiz AOV = 87.7 degrees Ultra Line 4-Inch Vari-View Dome 1/3", 2.5mm, i.e. horiz AOV = 87.7 degrees Ultra Line 5-Inch Vari-View Dome 1/3", 4mm, i.e. horiz AOV = 61.96 degrees Sigh......

Thanks all for your responses, especially to Rory with the good news about Louroe's base station, i.e. I don't need one

Rory, may be you can help me with one small confusion ... the Louroe page says the mic is "phantom powered" from a base station, which can be located at up to 1,000 ft away. Not sure what "phantom powered" means, but my concern is that I'll have to purchase both (the mic & base station)?? I found the mic at SpyTown for only $95. But it now appears I haven't included the cost of the base station

Rory, Thanks for your prompt and *custom* solution -- from one of the Louroe specs it says will works up to 15' which is EXACTLY WHAT I NEED!!! "The low impedance electret condenser microphone can pick up normal sounds approximately 15' away or within a 30' diameter circle." Now I'll have to work on the "covert part" of the requirement (but this part is much easier:-) Thanks again.

Just ran into a brand which is new to me - KT&C. The prices for its Exview series look attractive: http://www.digitalssinc.com/store/customer/home.php?cat=265 Q: Is this a brand reliable? Or not even recommendable for non-critical missions? (As a small system integrator, we cannot always afford good brand names, so any info will be appreciated).

Rory, I'm getting very close to a solution. Now struggling with the last of the 3 steps in your earlier hints: 1) Find a CS fisheye lens (Done!) I'll go for Fujinon (thanks to dusan, rory and others) 2) Find a compact camera (Done!) I'll go for GE/Kalatel as rory suggested (it's a compact Exview) http://www.geindustrial.com/products/specs/ktc_240cce_prd.pdf 3) Find a compact housing (Got stuck here!!!) This one seems tricky I know you've suggested some brands, but wouldn't all housings block the peripheral view of a fisheye? (unless the fisheye "pops out" beyond the housing shield.) If the answer is yes, should I consider a dome shield instead (now that the CS camera is a compact one, I hope I can find hemispherical domes large enough for it??). Cheers!

Hi, haven't checked back for a few days, only to realize help kept pouring in. THANKS! To summarize, we've rounded up these four fish-eyes so far (all 1/3 CS), see URL below. More are welcome, so I can add to the list. == American Dynamics ADCL360 1.4mm Wide Angle Fisheye Lens http://www.americandynamics.net/products/cameras_lenses_ADCL360.aspx == Computar TG2Z1816FCS 1.8-3.6mm varifocal auto-iris lens http://www.cbcamerica.com/cctvprod/computar/vari/01836.html == Fujinon YV2.2x1.4A-2 1.4-3.1mm fish-eye varifocal lens http://www.fujinoncctv.com/pdfs/cctv/YV2.2x1.4A-2.pdf == Pentax TS2V114E 1.6-3.4mm fish-eye varifocal auto-iris lens http://www.pentax.co.jp/ppc/productE/pro_a/new5.html

Hi, are there good security monitors that indicate the vertical resolution (or #TV lines) of the video signal currently being displayed? Even if it does not show the #lines directly, the horiz frequency (fh) it's currently locked to would be good enough. (I'm tying to get a good mon for benchmarking my cameras, so I can confirm if a cam is indeed generating 480 lines, etc.) If the above features are not for end users, are there service engineers out there who can tell me if we can get, say Sony monitors to go into "service mode" and show the above info? Cheers.

Rory, thanks for the info and the nice pictures. I'll do more product search based on the models you've suggested. BTW, there will be street lights, not complete darkness. So one with a low lux rating will be fine. Also, they will be wall-mounted -- some corner (90deg), some surface (180 fish-eye). It's the latter that was giving me the biggest headache. But I have better clues now. Thanks again!

Cooperman. Sorry for the confusion. After second thoughts, I agree with you there is no short-cut to verifying the advertised TVL of a camera (without resorting to the standard resolution test procedures). An NTSC signal is an NTSC signal, one can't expect the monitor to be able to back out the CCD resolution from the signal. Thanks!

Cooperman, thanks for your tips! Actually I am not after the *resolution* being accomplished by a camera setup. As you said, many factors come into play that could affect the ultimate "ability to resolve picture details". Test charts are certainly the proper way. Rather, I'm just trying to achieve a much less ambitious goal of performing a quick sanity check on the cameras to see if they are meeting their claim about *electrical* characterisitics, i.e. #TV lines generated (again, nothing to do with resolution). Some cameras with generic brand names (mostly imported) have poor documentation or even inadequate marking on the camera itself. I'm just trying to get some peace of mind in case, say, they mix up a 330-line unit and a 480-line at the factory (the two look identical in some cases). Cheers!

One minor correction: - fixed or PTZ? should read: - auto pan-tilt? because the zooming requirement is captured in the next question (fixed focal, varifocal or zooming?). I know it's a bit clumsy, but the intention of separating the PT from the Z requirement is that sometime we do want PT only without Z. Thanks.

For each camera location, I'd ask: - dummy camera okay? - night viewing (low-lux or zero-lux?) - discretion/appearance concerns? - covert? - resolution requirement(need to spot someone, recognize known faces, or identify unknown faces)? - weather resistant (outdoor)? - vandal resistant? - fixed or PTZ? - fixed focal, varifocal, or zooming? - fixed, manual, or auto iris? If the answer to the first question is Y for all locations, the client may show me the way out:-)

Thanks Expert! From the review and screenshots it looks like a decent product, and the price is within my expectation too. Great job to this Russian software team!