Hi all,

Got to do a quote fo 2 pubs local to me. The light levels inside the bar is a little bit dim. I'm not sure what spec of colour dome to get.
I've narrowed it down to 2 cams. Which would you pick ?

CAMERA 1

Colour SONY Super HAD HQ1 high resolution 3.7-12mm lens dome 12v-24v
High resolution colour dome camera with a SONY Super HAD CCD and a Hitachi HQ1 DSP, fitted with a 3.7 - 12mm auto iris varifocal lens.

CAMERA 2

Day / Night SONY Super HAD HQ1 high resolution 3.7-12mm lens dome 12v-24v
High resolution day / night switching dome camera with a SONY Super HAD CCD and a Hitachi HQ1 DSP. Fitted with a 3.7 - 12mm auto iris varifocal lens using a built in IR cut filter to switch between monochrome and colour.

BW typically works best in low lit bars and nightclubs, though if you only have the choice of the 2 mentioned then it would be number 2.

Color wont work at all in a low lit environment like that, in most cases. Even so the day night's BW mode may still not be low enough, and a Day Night camera is not as sensitive in low light as a BW only camera is.

See if you can post the Brand Name, and Minimum Lux Levels so we can take a look at that also.

Camera 1

Camera Type Colour
Pick Up Device 1/3 “ SONY Super HAD CCD
Picture Elements 752 x 582 pixels
Digital Signal Processor Hitachi HQ1 DSP
Horizontal Resolution 550 TV lines
Minimum Illumination 0.15 Lux DSS off
Minimum Illumination 0.005 Lux DSS on
Scanning System 2 : 1 Interlace
Scanning System Internal
Video output 1Vp-p composite video 75ohm
S/N Ratio 50dB min
Gamma 0.45
Auto Gain Control +18dB max
Audio output N/A
Lens Type 3.7-12.0mm varifocal auto iris lens
Iris Control Auto Iris DC drive
Electronic Shutter N/A
White Balance Auto tracing
Back Light Compensation On/Off switchable
Gain Control Auto
Digital slow Shutter N/A
Horizontal Mirror On/Off switchable
Power Supply DC12v - AC24v
Power Consumption 150mA max. (DC12v) / 60mA max. (AC24v)

Camera 2

Camera Type Day / Night (switching)
Pick Up Device 1/3 “ SONY Super HAD CCD
Picture Elements 752 x 582 pixels
Digital Signal
Processor Hitachi HQ1 DSP
Horizontal Resolution 550 TV lines
Minimum Illumination 0.15 Lux DSS off
Scanning System 2 : 1 Interlace
Synchronisation Internal
Video output 1Vp-p composite video 75ohm
S/N Ratio 50dB min
Gamma 0.45
Auto Gain Control +18dB max
Audio output N/A
Lens Type 3.7-12.0mm varifocal auto iris lens
Iris Control Auto Iris DC drive
Electronic Shutter N/A
White Balance Auto tracing
Back Light
Compensation On/Off switchable
Gain Control Auto
Digital slow Shutter N/A
Horizontal Mirror On/Off switchable
Power Supply DC12v - AC24v
Power Consumption 180mA max. (DC12v) / 60mA max. (AC24v)
Dimension 136(D) x 100(H) mm

That was quick !!
The customer wants colour cameras and high resolution. Its a fairly rough bar s that why I want discrete domes.

I doubt either of those will do the job, though I do not know the lighting level at the location.

Minimum Illumination on the color camera using DSS is below that of the lowest lux BW Chip, the Sony Exview - so I would ignore all specs regarding lux levels on those cameras. Also, DSS is pretty useless IMO as it slows down the video to see in lower light, and when using a DVR that will mean the video will be even slower. Its still a neat idea, but personally I am not fond of it.

Both use a much lower power consumption than any high quality camera I have seen so far, especially the day night model, those are typically over 350ma easy.

Basically specs from most manufacturers are typically incorrect and just sales pitches, even moreso from OEM products. Only way to tell is to buy one and test it out unfortunately, unless someone else has used it and is prepared to let you see their system, under the same or similar lighting conditions.

Be sure to also check out the threads in this post for more information and other views.
http://www.cctvforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=6122

BTW, the customer may want alot of things they will never be able to get. ;)

Black and white may be the way to go ! I might visit the bar at nite to see what its like then. Thanks for your quick advice

Dynamic cctv in the UK have some very good day/night domes. I have used these on a few jobs. The postage to ireland is reasonable

I set up some KT&C WDR domes in a bar/pub. The bar has good lighting during the day because of large windows allowing a lot of sunshine in.

After installing the domes, the color rarely ever kicked in. Even with the sunlight, the cameras stayed in B/W mode 90% of the time.
If I pulled the dome cover off (which is clear and not smoked) the color would kick in more often...so it is probably on the border of sensitivity for color/B&W.
I forced one of the cameras to stay in color mode to see if the customer likes that better.

To be honest, I'm not happy with color or B&W mode. I have changed about every setting on the camera and on the DVR and the images just dont impress me.

I think in the future I will automatically do Hi-res B&W cameras for any bars/pubs/nightclubs.

Many thanks for the replys everyone. I might buy a WDR dome to test it anyway to see what they are like.

you might want to try a camera with a Day & Night Capability up to 0.002Lux with DSS Function (Digital Slow Shutter). ive used cameras like that with amazing results in bars.

DSS will not be any good for a bar/club environment, the video will be too slow.

[quote:0b79303263="rory"]

DSS will not be any good for a bar/club environment, the video will be too slow.