Is it possible to build a decent system for under $ 600 CDN

I want to build out a system for under $ 600 to start ( 4 cameras will add 4 more later )

I need it to have decent quality for night / low light

Thanks

Certainly doable with USD. I guess it depends on where you are shopping. Add all of your PST, DST, LMNOP and whatever other taxes you commies have and probably no.

I lived in Ottawa, FWIW, so take it as humor, though it probably hurts, I still have family up there, the prices are crazy given the current exchange rate.

I want to build out a system for under $ 600 to start ( 4 cameras will add 4 more later )

 

I need it to have decent quality for night / low light

 

Thanks

Depends what YOU call decent. For night/low light operation --- NO

Thanks guys

If I have to spend more I guess I will

I am a fairly technical guy, I however have little experience with surveillance systems ( qsee products )

could one of you give me some recommendations for hardware

I just want to know whats going on around my home at night ( cars on my street get ripped off for change if left unlocked )

I believe it is the kids down the road and a decent video of them would be nice

My choice would be a Dahua based 8 channel D1 DVR, about $150 without a drive. If you don't mind IR lighting, go with the Qvis Eye-34's at $70 each. If you'd rather go with a TDN non IR camera, hard to beat the CNB VBM-24VF for $120 each. You'll have to spend a whole lot more (3X+) to get something substantially better. Either camera does very well at night as well as day.

If stealthy low-light performance is what is needed, you can't beat a B&W Sony Exview-based camera at just over a hundred bucks. Their .0003 lux low-light performance will give MUCH better low-light pictures than the colour CNB XXX-24VF cameras without infrared. In my driveway with a streetlight in the background and the porch light on my CNB struggles and has very grainy pictures. My KT&C B&W bullet doesn't struggle at all and has almost no noise. It also easily reads plates with the porch light OFF and the streetlight in the background. My CNB won't read a plate at night even with the porch light ON to help light the plate. It works nicely through windowglass (no IR reflection to blind it) if you just want to put it up inside at night to really surprise the neighbourhood kids. Take it down in the morning so they can't see it in the window. Pick a decent zoom lens for a nice facial closeup where you always park your car. It ain't a 5mp IP camera if you know what I mean. I put a 5-50mm zoom on mine for versatility but it's not outdoor rated.

Searching EBay listings (include description) for "EXView .0003" should pop up a few selections. 12mm lens might be enough for a close shot 35-40 feet away. Heck, throwing it into Google will bring up a bunch of hits as well.

Yeah , people scoff at the old B/W cameras but you can't beat them for low light performance. For situations that don't require colour they are the way to go.

Focker, if your place is like mine (50-60ft from the street with a streetlight not far from the foot of the driveway), two or three 3.6mm cams with either broad IR or decent low-light capability (the CNB Mona Lisa cams will do, plus give you colour information during the day) will give you a broad picture of WHAT is going on. A good specialty camera or two zoomed in on your cars will tell you WHO is doing it. Nothing budget will give you colour at night unless you've got LOTS of light, so .0003 lux B&W with enough zoom works there quite nicely. I'm not a pro though. There's probably something in your budget with interchangeable lenses that'll give good facial recognition with IR at the length of a typical city driveway. 6mm isn't enough zoom though. I'd say it'd be hard to beat a really sensitive bright motion light to help with night-time ID as well as maybe scaring the little buggers away BEFORE you lose the contents of your car. If it were me though, I'd probably put up a hidden stealth system so I could show Mommy and Daddy that their little darlings aren't as perfect as they think they are.

If stealthy low-light performance is what is needed, you can't beat a B&W Sony Exview-based camera at just over a hundred bucks. Their .0003 lux low-light performance will give MUCH better low-light pictures than the colour CNB XXX-24VF cameras without infrared. In my driveway with a streetlight in the background and the porch light on my CNB struggles and has very grainy pictures.

Do you have any sample images/videos you can share? Also have you tweaked your CNB? I actually find the 24VF series to smear and have no noise, but at the expense of detail. I'd love to see them compared in real life.

I could but I have a Lorex dvr. Recorded video doesn't do half justice to the live view that shows what each camera is really doing. Thinking of ditching the Lorex dvr soon and getting a hybrid so I can mix and match cameras better for each job. I was too busy at work before to think of redoing my system so I decided to leave the Lorex up rather than have nothing. Things are slowing down a bit now so I can put more effort into finding something good, relatively cheap, and has some support if I need it.

Here's a pic of a car passing by my KT&C B&W EXView .0003 lux camera with a single streetlight to the left of the driveway for light plus a dim porchlight about 40 feet away one story up from the camera. The detail is lost in the recording from my Lorex DVR though. Watching the camera live is a whole different picture as far as clarity and detail goes. The plate on my grey car is very clearly readable whether or not the porchlight is lighting the front of the car. It's in shadow from the streetlight when the porchlight is off. I know I said that there wasn't a point in comparing detail between this and the CNB, but I'll try and attach a CNB pic of the same scene with my wife's black Escape as well. The lighting level difference is extremely obvious even though you''ll have to take my word for the plate detail and sharper pictures. The CNB shows a plate clearly in the day but not in the live view at night. CNB is VERY grainy and struggling at this light level. Oh, 7fps in the KT&C vid of the car passing by but 14fps in the CNB pic of my neighbour walking back from work. I robbed framerate from the 4 cameras I wasn't using on my Lorex 8ch ECO dvr after finding that it improved recorded quality a bit, so the CNB has a bit of an advantage.

edit: the car is zipping by fairly quickly and isn't blurred much at all, so the exposure is fairly quick. The camera isn't benefiting from a long exposure.