camera for apartments

[blazin98 0]

Hey guys ive talked to a few installers in town but know one really seems to know what they are talking about or are trying to sell me cameras like from sams club. Im looking for a good outdoor camera to cover the parking lot of a fourplex set of apartments i own. I live right next door so the camera can be wired. i want a camera that can shoot the whole parking lot, but is clear enough you can still identify a person and has good ir(can see the end of the parking lot at night). Dont care if its an ip camera or a reg. I have read some posts on here and it seems alot of people on here like cnb??

 

My first newbie question is how do i tell how wide of an angle it will shoot? i read about the focal length, but how does this work on a camera with a vari-focal lens??

 

the parking lot is 35' from the mounting spot horizontally(will be pole mounted so will be up 8-10' and the parking lot is around 75' long by 60' wide

any help would be very much appreciated

[blazin98 0]

ok so after reading for like 2 hrs i figured out about the vari-focal. also after reading i think i want to go with an analog camera.

so are there any advantages of the dome camera over the bullet camera??

 

and i couldnt find any mona lisa cnb's with alot of ir leds especially the dome cams?

 

are the non mona lisa cnb cams(bullet) with the 30 or 60m ir pretty good??

 

I just want a camera that will pick up 120' in the dark if need be and be able to identify who it is. most of the time there is a hps light running at night but every once in a blue moon that thing might blow a bulb or just not work.

[Soundy 1]

Hey guys ive talked to a few installers in town

What town is this? There may be someone local to you on the board who can help in person...

 

i want a camera that can shoot the whole parking lot, but is clear enough you can still identify a person and has good ir(can see the end of the parking lot at night). Dont care if its an ip camera or a reg. I have read some posts on here and it seems alot of people on here like cnb??

 

The catch here is, if you're covering a 75' x 60' parking lot, you're going to need to go megapixel to get enough detail to identify anyone... probably in the 5MP or higher range. That alone will be a pricey camera.

 

Second, nothing with built-in IR will cover that whole area - you'd need to look at external illuminators. HOWEVER... IR will also be of limited usefulness in identifying anyone, as it tends to make people look like zombies with glowing eyes.

 

What does the parking lot have now for lighting?

 

My first newbie question is how do i tell how wide of an angle it will shoot?

You can use any of a number of lens calculators on the 'net. In general, a 2.8mm lens on a 1/3" sensor will give you just under a 90-degree horizontal field of view.

 

Here's a good site with some examples: http://www.ezcctv.com/cctv-lens-guide.htm

 

Here's a simple but effective online FOV calculator:

http://www.sweeting.org/mark/lenses/cctv.php

 

i read about the focal length, but how does this work on a camera with a vari-focal lens??

Plug the shortest and longest focal lengths into your calculator... your range of angles will be anywhere between those two numbers. For example, using the above calculator, a 2.8-8mm lens on a 1/3" sensor will give you a range of 81 degrees, down to about 33 degrees.

 

the parking lot is 35' from the mounting spot horizontally(will be pole mounted so will be up 8-10' and the parking lot is around 75' long by 60' wide

any help would be very much appreciated

Using the formula in the first link above, and assuming the camera is midway along the 75' side, you'd be needing about a 2mm lens to get the entire parking lot in.

[Soundy 1]

ok so after reading for like 2 hrs i figured out about the vari-focal. also after reading i think i want to go with an analog camera.

You'll need more than one if you want to identify anyone outside of just a small area of the parking lot.

 

and i couldnt find any mona lisa cnb's with alot of ir leds especially the dome cams?

Of course not. Built-in IR is usually a cheap hack to compensate for poor low-light performance, and one of the main strengths of the Mona Lisa line is their excellent low-light capabilities.

 

I just want a camera that will pick up 120' in the dark if need be and be able to identify who it is. most of the time there is a hps light running at night but every once in a blue moon that thing might blow a bulb or just not work.

 

You'll never get enough detail out of an analog camera to identify someone at that distance.

[blazin98 0]

hey thanks for the help

im in northeast arkansas.

not opposing ip cams just didnt want to spent over $350-375 for a cam.

so would the mona lisa cnb be better than the older cnb with the ir leds??

high pressure sodium light so most of the time its lit up pretty good.

the cam would be centered facing the 60' side and would be 35' away. I mean it wouldnt have to be able to zoom in and hold up in court to id someone. i just want to basically be able to tell which renter is doing what. for example, I have one renter that is babysitting multible kids in a unit which is a no-no. but im never home to be able to prove it and catch it. i need to be able to clearly see these people dropping off kids and them going into the apt. I also have alot of traffic coming in and out throughout the night and would like to see who it is or what apt. they are going to.

Yeah the 5 megapixels are awsome but out of my price range!! what would be a good bang for my buck in my price range??

[blazin98 0]

also wondering if there is a way to send the video signal from my house to my dads house like 2 miles away non-line of site??

 

dont want to do the internet thing I just want a reg. monitor at his house(no router to mess up)(he does good to check his email), but i want something reliable. this is something i want to add later but i just wanted to ask now, just in case i need a different type of camera(ip) or something.

[Soundy 1]

Rather that trying to ID everyone from the parking lot cameras, you might want to consider one wide-view camera for the parking lot, to capture activity, and another that's a tight shot on the main entry door to get the clear face shots. If the door is accessed directly from the parking lot, getting it in a corner of the parking-lot cam would help with the ID as you could correlate the two pictures.

 

Or you could have multiple cameras on the parking lot, so each will have a closer view of at least part of the lot - one in each corner, for example.

 

It's hard to give any more specific advice without some sort of diagram of the layout of everything - parking lot, mounting position(s), building entrance(s), etc.

[Soundy 1]

also wondering if there is a way to send the video signal from my house to my dads house like 2 miles away non-line of site??

 

dont want to do the internet thing I just want a reg. monitor at his house(no router to mess up)(he does good to check his email), but i want something reliable. this is something i want to add later but i just wanted to ask now, just in case i need a different type of camera(ip) or something.

There's no way to do this without using the internet, unless you're prepared to spend well into the five-digit range. IP cameras would let him view the camera directly, but that would still use an internet connection.

 

Your best bet is a DVR with internet viewing capability (either through client software or via browser); you'd only need to set up the router at your place, then at his end, you just install the client software and put an icon for it on his desktop (or if it uses the browser, put a shortcut to the web page on his desktop), and tell him, "Click here to view my cameras". Ideally, you'd want something that automatically connects and displays all cameras when it's started up...

[blazin98 0]

I dont know if this will work but im going to try to post a diagram i made in paint to show yall the layout. if it does work u can see im limited on where i can mount the cam due to the asphalt and the concrete drive going to my other sheds. if i mounted the cam on the other side of the drive i would have to use something wireless. the parking lot might actually be closer to 50' instead of the 65' i have listed. i planned on getting this cam first and then later getting another one to mount in the same location and point towards the lawn equiptment shed.

 

thanks soundy for the help

seriosly i have learned more on here in one night than i have in three weeks trying to talk to security companys. i know there are some good installers around here i just havent found them yet.

 

I definatly agree about the dvr that sounds good. that would save money and be an easy solution.

 

so what do u think about the cam location any suggestions??

 

also are only some cnb cams available in the us? I was looking at the cnb wcm-20vf, but couldnt find any dealers online that carried it??

[Soundy 1]

Hmm, okay, it makes more sense now!

 

Are those parking spaces along the side with the sodium light as well?

 

First thought here is that if you want to mainly watch for people dropping off kids they shouldn't be, you really just need to see the parking stalls, not the whole lot, so you can tighten the view up along the one side of the lot - that will improve detail a lot. If a particular unit is the concern, you could add a second camera with a tighter shot on its door, or even just zoom the one camera in tighter on that door, to catch the activity coming and going there.

 

Check out the VCM-24VF model - I don't know what the difference is between them and the 20VF, but they seem to be the version that's readily available, and the ones we use extensively. You might also look at the VBM-24VF, which is a bit cheaper, and you'll probably want a pendant mount for it to properly attach it to the pole - http://www.cnbtec.com/en/html/product/product.php?seqx_prod=486

[blazin98 0]

yeah those are three parking spaces going longways.under the light.

 

the vcm-24vf looks good so do u recommend the domes like this over like a bullet cam??

 

and i noticed the vcm-24vf didnt have any ir leds?? would it need any??

on the cnbusa site it showed a LDM-24vf available sept 2010 that has like 20 ir leds and looked like the same specs as the vcm except it only went to3.8 instead of 2.8 would this one be the same as the vcm just with ir for better low light operation???

[Soundy 1]

yeah those are three parking spaces going longways.under the light.

 

the vcm-24vf looks good so do u recommend the domes like this over like a bullet cam??

Bullet style may be easier to mount, in your case. I haven't used any of CNB's bullets though, so I can't vouch for them specifically, but if they use the Mona Lisa chip, they should be comparable to other Mona Lisa models.

 

and i noticed the vcm-24vf didnt have any ir leds?? would it need any??

 

I don't believe so. You have a fair bit of existing light here, and the Mona Lisa cameras work really well with low light. Check out some of the other threads here about them; there are lots of photos and screencaps.

 

on the cnbusa site it showed a LDM-24vf available sept 2010 that has like 20 ir leds and looked like the same specs as the vcm except it only went to3.8 instead of 2.8 would this one be the same as the vcm just with ir for better low light operation???

In this case, it would be more for better NO-light operation...

[blazin98 0]

thanks for the help

[blazin98 0]

called on a cnb cam today, they tried selling me a cantek?

dont know if this is a good brand or not???

 

there is a new mona lisa coming out this month i think im going to wait on.

[programmergeek 0]

They have some camers that scan and when moton is detected lock in and zoom. If you don't want to mount alot of cameras and you want to id someone or a car this may be a good solution but they may be out of your price rrange. Canon makes a nice ione but i think it is about 1K there are chinees knock off's that are not to bad.