Viperoni

So I bought a Sony SSC-E453 colour only camera without realizing that it can't do B&W lol. It should be ok for one location that I'm covering. However, I need to cover a different area with less lighting. The total amoutn of ambient light (streetlights, fluorescent storefront sign, etc) is enough that you could see someone with the naked eye no problem. It's not terribly dark.... just not bright. So I was thinking of the Sony SSC-E473, which happens to be onsale at an online retialer for what I've researched is a pretty good price, it's B-stock through. Anyhow, here's the specs on the Sony 473: -1/3" type State-of-the-Art SuperExwave technology CCD -Very high horizontal resolution with 540 TV lines -'True' Day/night capability -Color: 0.55lux @ F1.2, 50% video or 0.3 lux F1.2, 30% video -B/W: 0.05 lux @ F1.2, 50% video or 0.04 lux @ F1.2, 30% video -ATW Pro & ATW auto white balance -Back light compensation, ON / OFF selectable -Signal to Noise Ratio: better than 50 dB I'd REALLY like to keep the camera under $150, I still have to buy a lens and enclosure on top of that. I appreciate any and all suggestions

Good choice of combo hardware... Thanks, I'm hoping it works well!

I'll send you a PM

I've just ordered a Sanyo 3384 with a Computar 2.8-12mm F1.3 day/night lens, can't wait to get it in and try it out

From my understanding, the IR filter will cut all IR so that I wouldn't be able to use IR illuminators to boost brightness... does that help low light picture quality (to have an IR filter while not using an IR illuminators)? And I assume if I were to use that camera, installing IR illuminators wouldn't help any, correct? Thanks!

Thanks! As for adding in some extra IR, are those cheap, $25 IR illuminators on ebay any good? I wouldn't need much more light, but I would need a bit. Would a camera like the M383 produce a better night picture than something like the E457 because it only does B&W, or would they have more or less the same picture quailty?

Thanks for posting the pics, that's a very noticeable difference

Guys, I ran the copper wire, and it works beautifully! Even though I have a 115ft run in the neighbouring shop using only double shielded aluminum RG6 that works fine, I guess the shop I was having trouble with the 130ft run has more interference. Or the DVR is pickier. In any case, it's working fine. Thanks a lot for your help everyone

Alrighty, so it's a long story, so I'll try to keep this simple. I'm using a Qsee 9 channel economy DVR, a QSD6209. The line I'm trying to get running is about a 130 foot line, it does run parallel to 120vac armoured cable for a total of maybe 5 feet along it's run, and I've run this line 4 TIMES, and I keep on getting a black picture. Cable A, a dual shield RG6, works fine for another 50 foot run, and in another place I used the same cable in. Cable B, a quad shield RG6, works fine for a 100 foot digital cable TV run in my home, receives HDTV fine too (HDTV over cable that is). I've determined that it's not my cable, it's not my crimping (using snap and seal BNC made for RG6, made 2 diff lines besides this stubborn one no problems at all), it's definetly not the cable (after the 4th run and verifying that other cable from the same spools is fine).... So I'm thinking I'm getting some wierd interference, because there is a BIG cell phone or antenna tower no more than 100 feet away. All shorter lines seems to work fine, but this long 130 footer doesn't wanna work at all. The cable is alumium core stuff. I'm thinking about getting a booster/amplifier of some kind. Any suggestions guys? Thanks for your time and reading

Are you sure he's using a Aluminum cored cable? If so then yep, I definitely agree swap to a copper core rg59 and you should be good to go after that I would think. Also for that short of a run, why use RG6? Thanks, Yes, I am currently using an aluminum RG6, one dual shield and another quad shield. I did just pickup a 130ft piece of copper RG59 dual shield cable, copper shield and copper center conductor. It's also a siamesed cable. I'll definetely let you guys know if it works! Thanks for your suggestions though, I appreciate it!

Is there any reason you'd recommend RG59 over RG6? The cable is not grounded at all, it just connects to the camera and to the DVR, that's it. Also, I should say that I tested the last run with "Cable B" before I ran it down the shop, while the cable was unrolled but not installed, and it worked. I made SURE not to kink it, but even "Cable A" in my first post would not have been kinked because the wire is significantly stiffer and pulled off a rotating spool. Finally, I have 3 of the cameras run with the very thin wire that they come with, it's no more than 1/3rd of the size of the RG6 stuff, and it has the 12v lead siamesed inside of it (still round shape), and it works fine. Those ones are about 60 feet. They work great, even though the wire is so thin.