Sony Super Had CCD vs Sony Ex-View CCD for night vision

mariner · August 8, 2006

Which CCD sensor is better for night vision.

Edited August 9, 2006 by Guest

Gonthar · August 9, 2006

I bought an Optaplex MCBIR36 for $135.00 a few weeks ago at [edit by mod-link removed]. I bought it for my house, and it works great in low light conditions. I can't compare it to anything because its the first security camera I ever buy, but I thought it was a great price, and I couldn't believe how clear the picture in the monitor was when no lights were on in my house.

mariner · August 11, 2006

Thanks for the link and information Gonthar. I checked out the camera you mentioned and looks good. I'm interested 8 outdoor cameras capable of no light conditions. I've purchased 4 outdoor cameras that were not capable of their specs ie: night vision 50' and clear night vision picture. I'm hesitant to purchase more cameras without some review or input from people who have used them. Since all the website i've found sofar don't let you return them once they been used; trial and error is getting expensive.

Johnb143 · August 11, 2006

I'll say generally that it depends on your site lighting. I'll give a couple examples. I have a 50' long interior corridor that I had a camera with an ExView chip monitoring. With no interior lighting except the red "exit" signs at both ends, the ExView chip could still render a viewable picture, but the light coming from the signs was enough to cause video noise that my GeoVision DVR interpreted as motion. Switching to a SuperHAD chip in that location resulted in a darker picture when the lights are off, but more accurate motion sensing when the lights are on.

I have exterior cameras with ExView chips, and had one on a rear driveway which is illuminated at night with sodium "wallpack" commercial lighting. Again, the light combined with the ExView chip was causing large amounts of "video noise" = "motion". Adding some additional light close to the camera location overcame that issue.

So my opinion is that if your location is really dark at night, the ExView cameras are a good choice. If you have a decent amount of light, you can probably get away with SuperHAD.

Gonthar · August 11, 2006

Glad to be of help. Their policy on returns is you can get your money back if you return it within 15 days. I can't tell you from experience because I didn't have to return anything, but I understand what you mean about getting expensive trying cameras out just to find out they're not what you're looking for. I don't remember what else the return policy states, but I'm pretty sure its stated on the website. I checked that out before buying.

mariner · August 12, 2006

Thanks Johnb143 for the examples you provided.

If the light source was provided by IR would SuperHad produce a picture with less video noise?

rory · August 12, 2006

Generally yes, and same goes for exview.

But it also depends on the camera as not all are alike, there are many variations of Super HAD and Exview CCDs and they range from cheap to expensive, expensive being the better ones. As for the infrared that will depend on the camera, not all SuperHAD cameras are sensitive to all ranges of IR and typically the more expensive cameras will be able to use the Infrared better than a budget camera. For example where a Panasonic or GE Day Night camera may see up to 100' with an Infrared IR, a cheaper camera may only see 50' ..

You;ve also gotta be careful as many cameras, especially bullets, that are labled as Day Nights on web sites these days, are not so, they are typically Color IR cameras, means they dont have mechanical IR Cut filters and are not very sensitive to IR at all.

Also, we've got quite a few detailed threads here on SuperHad, Exview, Day Night, and Infrared, you might want to do a search on the Camera Forum with those search words.

By the way, Johnb143 was spot on.

Rory