RustyJL

 

I don't understand your 3G or wireless requirement. You want to connect the camera via 3g wirelessly, or view the camera via 3g wirelessly?

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Or you if you can connect the camera to the internet where you are at, you can configure the router to allow you remote access from anywhere on the internet and your connection on your PC to the internet can be 3G, WIFi, hard wired, doesn't matter.

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To capture a plate or face at 20M still requires a telephoto lens, maybe one with a 25 degree viewing angle.

Sorry I should have been more specific in what I am striving for. I have been typing my replies on the Iphone, makes for a tedious time. Back on the laptop now!

My idea is for mobile surveillance of various locations. I will be able to mount the camera in/on a vehicle and can probably get within 20m of the target without being detected. I want the motion activated feature to send an instant alert (like an email) when there is activity at the target location. Therefore, the camera has to be connected to the internet wirelessly via a 3G router (this one specifically, using the RJ45 connectors at the back - http://www.cnet.com.au/bigpond-elite-wireless-broadband-network-gateway-339302145.htm#image1).

The camera can record the 1080p footage directly to a laptop located in the vehicle. Along with motion activation, I would also like the ability to access the camera at will while it remains at the target location - the H264 streaming should mean that I can do this without chewing up massive amounts of bandwidth. Further, in the event that the vehicle or camera were to be damaged/stolen, I would want to set it up so that the H264 could stream continously to a server to record everything.

The Acti sounds like a better bet, although with a larger form factor, than the Brickcom for my intended application.

Brickcom does not have a built in NVR, all it has is the ability to store video via ftp or a mount point, but no way to search for it or manage it in anyway. The closest I found to Mobotix is Axis products that support Edge recording. It stores the video much in the same way Brickcom does, but they give you an app called Camera Companion that glues it all together to allow multi-camera viewing and searching for recorded events.

 

Not all cameras can pickup license plates as they are typically highly reflective and sometimes the built in IR lights will reflect off the plate and it will just look like a white box. This is the reason for specialized, high contrast B&W cameras to do LPR. The Mobotix B&W sensor is pretty high contrast and will work. To make out facial features at 75M, that would take either a lot of resolution or a telephoto lens, probably the 135mm on the Mobotix and even then I'm not sure as 75M is pretty far away. We are putting in a 135mm lens, the most telephoto that Mobotix offers to cover an area that's maybe 100' away. You may not be able to use Mobotix for this and want to consider an Avigilon, something with 16 or 29MP resolution or a decent 1080P PTZ camera like an Axis Q60 as those will easily read a plate 75m away or stick with Mobotix but get a heck of a lot closer than 75m.

 

What I do to find out what I need is get a digital camera, take pictures at various focal lengths with a test subject, verify the lens focal length in the EXIF metadata in the photo and then set a tool like photoshop to crop to the exact resolution of the surveillance camera, for example, 2048x 1536 for the Mobotix 3MP sensor. Then you can see if you have enough resolution. For example, I have a 4:3 camera, has a 2X lens magnification factor or my DSLR which has a 1.5 lens magnification factor, so 43mm would be a 65mm lens. So I take the picture say at 32mm to simulate a Mobotix 65mm lens. I then use the Photoshop crop tool set at 2048 pixel width and 1536 pixel height. What's left is pretty close to what I'll see with Mobotix 3MP with the 65mm lens. You can also experiment at different resolutions like 5MP and see if that gets you there.

 

A camera that I recently did a review on my blog on, the ACTi KCM-5611 may do what you want in terms of getting in close for a lower price. It has an 18X zoom, WDR, 1080P resolution and you can set patrols like a PTZ but no PT, just Z. It can FTP video, but again, no NVR solution in the camera, but they do provide a decent PC based NVR solution for free.

 

Lastly, consider the lighting you need. To cover 75mm, you need a serious IR light or a series of lights at key spots you want to cover. Nothing I know of with a built in illuminator will cover anything close to 75m.

Ok thanks for clarifying that. Please excuse my ignorance, but how do you watch the recording made by the Brickcom? Does it have to be connected to a PC and then use the included NVR software to review the footage?

That Acti actually looks better for what i have in mind. Only drawbacks at this stage are the larger size, no local storage and it is not wireless or 3g. Would you be able to plug it directly into a 3g router to control it remotely and also stream footage?

Also the figure of 75m would be a long distance shot in my intended application. Being able to recognise faces out to say 20m during daytime is pretty much all i need most of the time and the ability to read number plates at night at a similar distance. All of this will need to be able to be done remotely via wireless connection.

Thanks for your input and time, i really appreciate it " title="Applause" />

Mobotix doesn't yet make an M14, they make a D14 or an M12. Mobotix has properties that makes it unique, the built in NVR software, no moving parts, dedicated day and night sensors. I have yet to work with any color camera that does as well at night as the Mobotix B&W night sensor. The image quality from Mobotix is great, best I've ever used both day and night. They do offer h.264 on their newer cameras, but it's probably best to stick with their compression that has better image quality on stop motion single frames. If their cameras fit the bill and their cost is justified, and many times it is as you don't need a central NVR, then this is the way to go.

 

Brickcom makes a great camera but with it's own set of unique features. For example, varifocal lens, something that Mobotix does not offer as well as WiFi and 4G wireless connectivity. If you need features that Mobotix does not provide, then Brickcom cameras are well made, have very good image quality and they provide free NVR software.

 

I have reviews on the cameras you are looking at on my blog.

Thanks mate. Can you tell me how well the Brickcom is able to pick up number plates of vehicles at night? Also, given that we know who the majority people are that we are watching, would we be able to make out facial features past say 75m? The reason i am considering these two cameras is for their built in NVR. They would likely be used mounted to a vehicle to conduct discreet surveillance. Also, are you able to simply remove the SDHC card and put in a laptop computer to view and copy the footage or is there an interface?

I did read your reviews on both products which has sparked my interest.

I am thinking about one of these for work. I do realise they are like chalk and cheese. It will be used to capture behaviour and number plates in built up areas. Most areas will be street lit at night, however it won't be overly bright. I like the idea of day night lenses but am not sure on codec available, specifically if h264 is an option. Also is it possible to hook it up to a 3g router (via cat5) to view live video, albeit at reduced fps and resolution? The other contender may be the brickcom gob 130 but am worried that number plate recognition will be sub par. Thoughts?

On the Mobotix, how close does someone/thing have to get before the pir begins recording? Is it possible to set either to start recording based on motion?

So... Can you set this to record when motion is detected and it then sends an email to let you know that an event has occurred? Do you then have the power to remotely login to the camera to review the event recorded? How noticeable are the IR led's?

Yes, the idea would be to use it for surveillance. The last one I had was a Reconyx HC600 which worked well until someone stole it. The black flash was great, completely invisible to the eye - however the shiny surface meant that headlights would have reflected off it giving away its position. At least this way the person who steals it will be identified. Also thinking about adding a GPS tracker to the device in the event the worst happens again. If the crook has any sense they would ditch it in the nearest river, however in my experience crooks aren't the brightest.

On the website blurb it mentions that they have sold units to the military and law enforcement. I would think these units would be a bit fancier than the ones on offer to joe public.

Comparing the images from the Reconyx or even the latest 12MP Skypoint game camera, the BuckEye seems a bit ordinary.

Is anyone currently using one of these?

Something like this may suit my needs but would like to hear from anyone who is using it. Having looked at the pics on their Facebook site, it seems there is a pretty fair lag time between shots. The clarity in the pictures also looks a bit ordinary.

Examples of pics would be most appreciated.

Merry Christmas!

Thanks for the reply.

This system must rely on IR and remain as covert as possible due to the nature of the investigations being conducted. At times this system may be deployed in a paddock no where near power and possibly outside of wireless internet connection, however that would be fairly rare. I see Telstra now has 4G services, but for now I am limited to 3G due to my location. How far out would you think the inbuilt IR would reliably work and provide detail of a persons facial features? Previously I have used game camera's which only provide good facial recognition out to around 6-10m at best at night - during daytime they are somewhat better. I have considered the use of extra IR blacklights but they are fairly expensive.

I did not realise the ch180 was a hard wired camera, I had assumed that it would send the signal wirelessly back to the router which would be preferred. Is there a camera with similar specs that you would recommend that could do it wirelessly?

I am considering developing a surveillance system for work.

It will be used for capturing trespassers among other things.

As I see it I require the following things:

IP camera. I looked at the Sony snc ch180 and it seems to fit the bill. How far out does the IR illuminate to? I need something that will be able to provide a clear picture of a persons face up to about 20m with only IR illumination.

Wireless 3G internet/router connection.

Power to the camera and the router.

As I see it if I send the images over the internet they lose a lot of their quality so would be better to have the router sending the images back to a computer with DVR card.

How much recording time would 1TB of HDD give me? How far would you reasonably expect for the IP camera to transmit to the router.

My apologies if this seems lame - I have not dabbled in this stuff before. I had a game camera previously but that got stolen by some crooks on a job and we never recovered it. This way I figure if the camera gets stolen we'll at least know who we are looking for as the images will have been downloaded ata remote location.

Cheers.