rory 0 Posted December 5, 2006 It's been a long time since I have done a review, especially a camera review, so here is one of an Color Infrared camera I purchased for a job. I actually bought 2 of these to replace existing B/W Exview bullets, as the location was too dark at night, even for Exview. This is an indoor bar application. The camera retails for approx $150 US, $200 BAH (approx price as it is not easily found on the internet, moreso sold by installers). 1/4" COLOR OUTDOOR IR BULLET CAMERA 1/4" DSP SONY HAD CCD sensor Resolution 420 lines Min. Illumination 0.8 lux Auto electronic shutter Auto white balance Weather proof Sunshield included 24 IR LED's 6mm lens Anti-blooming - Low smear Reduced video noise Power 12 VDC/260mA --------------------------------------------------- Now they are actually decent cameras .. the quality is nice on this 9" BW Monitor, better than the ECL-596 (budget color bullet camera).. and the IR lights up good also .. at least inside my appt, though I originally had it outside and it lit up my wall which was around 25' away .. only issue is it is that 6mm 1/4" lens .. Now i cant say what the color is like as i was using the BW monitor .. I will test that another day. Okay to the nitty gritty .. its really designed to be wall mounted .. to use it ceiling mounted must remove the sunshield .. not an issue .. though it does slightly scratch the housing when you remove it .. there is no way around that .. unlike with the ECL-598HIM the material is different, so the 598 does not get any permenant scratches. So if using it wall mounted, just have to clean the glass cover and should be good to go. Most that may have to be done is also remove the glass cover and clean inside and out, and pull out the rubber ring some more to prevent that IR glare .. if it is not out enough, then there is alot of glare, but it is easy to adjust so no worries. Now ceiling mounting .. as the user manual is for a different camera there is nothing to say how to adjust it. Being it my first time using it I spun the inner ring too much (back and forth) and all the way eventually, which broke off the wires soldered for the IR. No worries, i was able to learn from this one, and by disconnecting the IR from the camera board all together, it can still be used as a color camera. Right about now a DVR with a "image flip" feature would have been nice and saved some time, but anyway ... Amazingly the Backlighting on this camera is actually very good; pointed direct at a light it will adjust and block the glare. Also low light mode is not bad even without the IR, much better than other strictly color cameras, for example the 596. In the similar lighting conditions the 596 sees nothing, however this one actually sees, though pixelised and low contrast, it is still something. Pointed direct at my LCD monitor, my CCTV Monitor, or my TV, it adjusts fast and I can see everything clear. This is unusual with such a budget camera, perhaps it has to do with the IR pickup feature, and having no IR Cut Filter. After trying to figure out ways to loosen the guts of the camera, to get at it better, i gave up on that idea as it led nowhere. Basically to adjust the camera so it can be ceiling mounted, the inner board that holds the CCD chip and lens, which is always loose BTW until the inner ring is tightened, must be turned itself. To do this just loosen the inner ring slightly (not all the way or too much, or the IR wires may come loose), and then you can adjust the camera so it will view the right way up when ceiling mounted (basically upside down). Holding the lens itself, adjust it, then when it is where required, hold it as you tighten the inner ring back. Since the lens is screwed tight it will not come out of focus. The only question is, if the inner ring was not adjusted several times back and forth like i did in an attempt to straigten the view for ceiling mount position, would I have been able to unscrew the inner ring to get at the camera guts, without the wires coming loose? As I dont want to waste another camera (though i will still use this one), i will leave that question open for now. However to focus or change the camera lens, requires removal of that inner ring, so maybe once not too many turns are made with the inner ring, it would be fine. So overall it is a decent camera for the price. Hope this helps someone else looking at this camera. Rory Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
