Camera Advice

[NickS 0]

I am looking for the best camera for day/night use externa on my house to watch my driveway area and walk up to the house. My DVR can record at a maximum of NTSC 30ftp/720x480, my mounting position is about 15 feet high and 30 feet away from the side of my driveway. There is a street light at the far corner away from my driveway so it is always lit to some degree.

 

I want to be able to zoom in mostly just on the driveway and the walk up the side of the house right next to it so people are recognizable at least. I also have a motion sensor light that comes on for the walk up to the front door. I currently have the following camera mounted and I'm not too happy with it:

 

HSCMR613 - Lasertech IR Vari-Focal Bullet Camera w/ 2.8-10mm Lens

 

I can't seem to get it to actually zoom in, whenever I set the zoom in it goes completely blurry and no adjustment of the focus fixes it, so right now I am stuck with a wide angle view of low detail of the driveway. I'm willing to spend $200 but I want to get a good camera for the job at hand.

 

Thank you for your advise,

-Nick

[Birdman Adam 0]

 

That's the camera you have now, right?

 

That is odd... Procedure to use the varifocal zoom would be to zoom in, and then adjust focus until sharp (if needed). Have you tried the whole range of focus? I think the camera is broken somehow... I would suggest trying to get it replaced, because that should not happen.

 

 

If you want a new camera, under $200, check out CNB's -24VF line of cameras:

http://cnbusa.com/en/html/product/product_search.php?searchstr=24vf

 

They all have varifocal lenses that go from 2.8-10.5mm. Cameras that start with V are vandal-resistant, completely waterproof - great for outside. Cameras that start with D are indoor domes, not waterproof, cheaper for that reason.

 

All of those have their 'Monalisa' processor, so night viewing is excellent for the price. They will have better picture than the camera you have now. The VCM-24VF (http://cnbusa.com/en/html/product/product.php?seqx_prod=1073) goes for less than $130 from online sellers, just google 'vcm-24vf'.

[NickS 0]

Yes that is the one. I've tried moving the zoom in a few turns, then tried the full range of motion on the focus and it just stays a blob the whole time. Only time I can get a clear picture is zoomed all the way out so yes I agree it seems broken. I didn't know if this was common with ~$100 cameras which is what I paid for it. Unfortunatlly it took me a while before I really tried to get it dialed in and was out of the return period.

 

Thank you for your advice on a camera. One other question, would raising my price range to $300-$400 make much difference given my DVR's limitations?

 

-Nick

[SEANHAWG 1]

Sounds like a manufacturing flaw if you can only get it to focus in one on focal point such as the wide view that you said. This is usually typical if the CCD sensor is moved too far back.

[mike_va 0]

For $400 you could start looking at IP cameras. You can occasionally get a good deal on ebay, I've seen Axis P3344 sell for 3-400. They will record to SD also, although I don't love the mkv playback files.

 

What I do at home is use Vitamin D for recording events, then either a NAS or SD to record it all. Just love the Vitamin D interface so easy to review what is going on. Lots of other options if you poke around the forum a bit. Personally I never want to see an analog DVR again (advantages of them to me would be low power consumption and low cost). Playing around with the Synology surveillance station today and while it works it feels clunky and limited options for ease of playback.

 

From my playing around analog cams are very good at the low light stuff, and certain other things. If you have some light, you may want to consider IP cameras. No comparison to the picture quality during the day, no problem getting license plates in the driveway while still having some coverage. There are also 10 megapixel pics I've seen posted recently, wow.