Newbie - Which type of camera?

[Busaninja 0]

Hi - I would like to know which camera(s) would best serve me. I know squat about security cameras and will appreciate sound advice.

 

Sadly, a PTZ is beyond my budget. Home enviroment and the area I am wanting covered is approximately 200 ft long x 100 ft wide. The only lighting at night is low which consists of a few streetlights 50 feet or so beyond the 200ft run.

 

 

I purchased a camera off ebay and while it does okay in the day, at night I see what resembles a snow blizzard. Following are the specs:

 

SPECIFICATIONS:

Sony 1/3 Super Had CCD

 

Pickup Device: 1/3” SONY Super HAD CCD

 

Picture Elements: 510 (H) x (492 (V)

 

Sensing Area: 4.9mm x 3.7mm

 

System Of Signal: NTSC

 

Horizontal Resolution: 420 TV Lines

 

Sync. Of Signal: INT Sync.

 

White Balance: Auto tracking white balance

 

Electronic Shutter Control: Auto

 

Electronic Shutter: Auto

 

Backlight Compensation: Auto

 

Lens : 3.6mm

 

S/N Ratio: More than 48 db

 

Minimum Illumination : 0 Lux IR LED ON

 

IR Work Distance: 75-90 Feet

 

Video Output: 1.0V(P-P)75Ω

 

Power Source: DC 12V

 

Video Output Connector: BNC

 

Any and all help will be appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Mike

[kandcorp 0]

What is your budget per camera?

[CCTVcams 0]

have you already tried troubleshooting the existing camera? sometimes experimenting with the backlight and auto white balance will yield good results. try alternate turning one of them off and then the other to see if the night picture gets any better. what about adding an outdoor light?

[VST_Man 1]

check the camera at the installed location with a small monitor...does it show the snow? or, upull it down and check indoors.........at night, lights on/off, with a monitor............indooors you should get enough reflection from the IR to "se" it on the monitor.............it will light your face up pretty good! also, look at the IR luminators with the lights off.....you should be able to see a faint red glow.if not, your IR is burnt and the snowy picture is a result of no IR reflection.

 

good luck.

[kandcorp 0]

Being the existing camera is probably a bullet IR style. There are most likely going to be no adjustments or dip switches for ATW, AGC, BLC, etc. I can give you a pretty good guarentee it is not a Super HAD as well. Ran into that a few times with previous ebayer customers. God I hate ebay

[Busaninja 0]

My camera:

http://cgi.ebay.com/1-3-Sony-Super-HAD-CCD-36-IR-LED-Weatherproof-Camera_W0QQitemZ9703633808QQcategoryZ48629QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

There aren't any adjustments available to the end user and the IR glows (possibly too much).

 

I will have to get a BNC to RCA adapter before I can test it on a smaller monitor.

 

My budget is $300-$500.

 

Thanks,

Mike

[CCTVcams 0]

nice call kandcorp.

 

another thing to check with infrareds is the power supply. be sure you've got enough power going to it, but too much can be a problem as well.

 

funny, the link you sent - the dealer recommends a DC12V 1000mA power supply, but only sells the 1200mA.

[Busaninja 0]

nice call kandcorp.

 

another thing to check with infrareds is the power supply. be sure you've got enough power going to it, but too much can be a problem as well.

 

funny, the link you sent - the dealer recommends a DC12V 1000mA power supply, but only sells the 1200mA.

 

I hadn't noticed that he only sold 1200mA adapters.

 

Well, I just returned from measuring my 12v 1000mA rated power supply and it is a constant 16.21v.

 

I sincerely appreciate the help and will post my results after I get a different power supply.

 

Once again, Thank You!

[MrSquid 0]

Measure that same supply while connected to the camera. Unregulated powersupply's will read high with no load on them. It's very likely it will drop down to the 12v range with a load.

[rory 0]

Are you asking for advise on a decent camera that will work?

Those cheap Color IR bullets generally look horrible at night.

You could spend more money in time just trying to get it adjusted properly ..

 

Rory

[kandcorp 0]

$300-$500 Budget. Check this thread out you probably wont get much better than this: http://www.cctvforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=4983

 

I would look into the WV-CP484

[rory 0]

thats way above that budget Retail pricing .. he's looking more in the Sanyo or Ganz area of pricing to stay within budget .. for Day Nights Box cameras .. Domes are way out of the budget range either way ..

[kandcorp 0]

If he is saying $300-$500 per camera....That's more than enough for a WV-CP484.

[rory 0]

Suggested Retail price is $600 on that camera. Add a lens and housing ...

[Busaninja 0]

I tried a different power supply, a smaller monitor, a different cable, and bypassing my DVR card using some adapters to a 7in. LCD all to no avail.

 

I looked into the Panasonic model that was suggested and am considering purchasing one; however, I could only afford one unit whereas I probably need two camera to get the coverage I want. So if there are any other suggestions I would appreciate hearing them.

 

My budget is $300- $500 regardless of the amount of units.

 

Thanks

MIKE

[rory 0]

to stay within budget at Retail Pricing, you would probably want to look at something like the Sanyo 4594, a Decent Housing (i use the GE KTE-100's but will break your budget so an OEM housing with a good rubber seal should suffice), and a 4-8mm AI lens like a Tamron (lower cost but still decent)

 

Rory

[kg6mti 0]

Suggested Retail price is $600 on that camera. Add a lens and housing ...

 

[edit by mod - no wholesale dealer pricing please]