wildpete

What about an extreme ex30? It's expensive but if it worked would be worth it. I could try and get a little closer but probably only to 100'.

I was going to buy 2 cameras to start with. One needs to see an area about 150' away in total darkness about 25' wide and be able to identify an individual. The other needs to cover the area in front of the house and is lit with a flourescent security light. I was thinking of using an illuminator for the IR. Also planning on a 4 channel dedicated DVR. Will it be a problem running just 2 cameras on it as far as how it will look on the monitor? I have no prior experience setting a system up but am going to try and do it myself. Am I crazy? I figure the moneyI save on installation will go towards better equipment. My budget is around $2000. Any advice will be much appreciated. Thanks.

Thanks to everyone for the replys. Kiwi, yes I could reduce my fov width,down to half that would probably work. Would a 50mm lens work in that situation, for identification? I do know the individual but it has to be good enuogh for law enforcement to recognise. Also I could change my light source to halogen. I am thinking of using an illuminator so that I can use 950nm IR, maybe an extreme UF100. What are the issues associated with using the higher wavelenth IR? Also what is the best video compression format, JPEG or MPEG?