Please help! best night vis outdoor camera less than $1000

[mikeygt350 0]

This probably gets asked a lot, but I really need some advice on what the best quality outdoor camera with night vision would be. I have been reading some threads and there are very knowledgeable people discusing ideas here, so I'm sure there will be different opinions, but that's OK, just need ideas.

 

Here's the situation: I have a system with DVR and four cameras that are BW and night vision with IR (bullets). They don't work to my satisfaction and I would like to replace. I purchased a NUVICO CV-Z10N zoom camera after discussing with many sales people on the phone from inet sites. They were sales people, but some seemed to know what they were talking about. Anyway, got turned on to the NUVICO and got it. My second choice was a PANASONIC WV-484 or something like that. A guy told me it would be better than NUVICO, but I didn't think it had auto focus and wanted that. Now that I have Nuvico, I'm not covinced it is the way to go. It gives a decent picture in day color and can see decent at night when the dss is turned up, but if anything moves like a person or car it ghosts across the screen and is useless. More in next post, this one stopped scrolling...

[mikeygt350 0]

continued from last post...I plan to install the camera under the eave of my house and be able to see to the street about 75 or 80 feet away and also the front yard in darkness, only light moon and street light two houses away. I was told by more than one sales person that IR only goes about 50 feet even if rated farther. I believe that, because i bvought a bullet IR that was rated 120 feet that could only see 40 and returned it. That is why i am thinking a ultra low lux (light) camera is for me. I may be asking too much and it is not availablr for under $1000, but figure someone out there has some thoughts. Is this Nuvico cv-z10n about as good a picture I am going to get at night without IR or what are better options? A PTZ would be nice and I will probably get 1 also, but wanted to try fixed first.

 

On another note, it appears the dual cable I bought needs to be bigger wire, because the VD was too much with 100ft cable and camera didn't work when powered through cable, 24vac 2a supply. any ideas on what cable to get to work?

Thanks for your help, mike

[shoreviewsecurity 0]

Hi Mike and Welcome to the Forum...

 

Night cams are a funny animal. So many things effect performance. IR effectiveness is influenced by scene reflections. For example, if you were to point an IR camera at the side of a house 75' away, the chances are good that you will "see" the side of the house well BUT if you were to point that same camera into an open field with nothing to reflect off of then the results will be different. As far as the comment of no further than 50', I disagree. I generally do not make any recommendations on IR effectiveness because I am unable to visually see the area of interest to be monitored. IR is easily "absorbed" by foliage and dark colored objects. Also, I am familiar with the low lux cams that require DSS or DNR to reduce noise but create a unusable image at night with moving objects. Let's face it, isn't that what we are looking for, moving objects?? You need to find a cam that has an IR cut filter. This filter enhances night vision. As with a CCTV purchase you want to be able to demo the cam by either logging into a DVR or actually see images or video from that cam. Be careful though, some may claim it to be the camera and usually the demo is in ideal conditions. If at all possible, you may want to consider IR illuminators to supplement your camera.

 

As I mentioned, it is very difficult to "recommend". When I am asked, I explain what I said above but will ask for images to be sent so I can see the environment. Even better is a picture actually taken from where the proposed camera will be mounted.

 

I hope this has helped????

 

Thanks

 

Mike

[VST_Man 1]

cable.........siamese with 95% copper braid & 18/2 voltage wire.........100ft. is EASY with 24vac so you may have another problem.

 

can you do IP camera's? if yes, go with a Acti ACM-7411 and a IR from SuperCircuits. if not, try a mini 10X day/night outdoor PTZ with the same IR.

 

Your biggest issue will be eliminating the blurr effect.........I used the IR from SC's and it flooded an area 20ft. wide out to 70ft. Not the 200ft. plus sales pitch but it worked for what I need it.

 

If you can, use normal lighting.motion type. Better picture at night and easier to maintain. KISS

[mikeygt350 0]

Thanks for the input. As far as the wire issue, I guess I need to check into whether other problems may exist.

As far as the camera issue, I know it is hard to "recommend" certain camera without seeing the area or knowing what exactly is needed, but there must be something out there which "sees" ultra low light images without IR and without distorting so bad. Maybe I need to spend more than $1000, is there anything for less than $2000 which is good at nightvsion for my purpose? this Nuvico can't even recognize a car going by well enogh to tell what type car it is, because it is blurred. I tried setting the dss to about mid range where it still sees good but not at max dss and it helped, but is still "ghosting" such that I'm not too satisfied with it. I'm an engineer and probably way to picky, but maybe there are some other settings I need to mess with?? The instructions book with the camera is worthless! Anyway, any ideas on settings or better yet a camera that will be surface mounted and small and get the good images for under $2000? I know...asking a lot here, sorry.

thanks,

Mike

[davidusag 0]

USAG's AVC-316 Midnight Ultra Low Light may be just what you need. We do not sell directly to end users, but, if you call us at 1-888-987-2446, we will get you in contact with one of our dealers. The Midnight should come well within your budget.

 

We offer free online demos of the Midnight. The demo is live over the Internet, and compares the Midnight directly to other major brands' low light solutions. The demo shows the Midnight significantly outperforms the competition in both color reproduction and low noise under low light conditions -- you can see the results for yourself.

 

This demo was recently certified as a fair test by Jim Gompers (please feel free to google him for his qualifications). We have a moving train in the demo to prove that no slow shutter tricks are going on, which is probably causing the blurring effect you are seeing now.

 

Hope this helps,

 

David

[mikeygt350 0]

Thanks for the input and email info David. Viewing the live video feed it definitely shows the USAG camera has better light, but the non-moving part of the picture seems to be less sharp than the picture in the lower right. It seems that way to me, but maybe it's not really that way. I may end up trying one of the usag cameras, but was wondering if anyone else out there has had experience with the camera referenced above or has other options?