Help me pick a dome!

[ClayMan 0]

The application is:

-outdoors (Canada, so relatively extreme weather)

-wall-mounted (no eaves/soffits available)

-low light, but not no light (monitoring a parking lot that will be flood-lit at night) so IR is not necessary, distance will likely be too much for IR anyway

-vandal-proof

-true day/night would be nice

-budget: under ~$250

 

I have used [edit by mod- store link removed] Speco VL-6WMTDV before, which is nice in the sense that no additional hardware was needed to wall-mount. Pretty blind low/no light though, and mediocre resolution.

 

Looking through more Specos, the [edit by mod- store link removed] HT-650IRVFHQ looks like a pretty good value, with IR as a bonus. I also see a high-rez version of the one I've been using: the [edit by mod- store link removed]HT-8WMTDV

And finally, an EXview dome: CVC-7245EXTP [edit by mod- store link removed]

 

I've also read good things about the [edit by mod- store link removed] Nuvico CV-S on this forum. Specs look good too.

 

Also looking at [edit by mod- store link removed] KT&C vandal domes? They have a Super-HAD model, an EXview and even a WDR model within my price range. Plus they come with the hardware to wall-mount.

 

Any advice, opinions, suggestions or experiences will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[kao 0]

I've had pretty good luck with the KT&C vandal domes outside. Northern Wisconsin and Minnesota so they take rough winters. I havent had very satisfactory results from their WDR line tho. I'd stick with straight color or the D/N. Could be just me tho...have to experiment a bit with the WDR.

[SBTVideoman 0]

Another option to consider...

GE/Kalatel has (I think they still have it) a "fixed dome" option for their CyberDome housings. There is a "extreme weather" option available in their outdoor housings, that has a heater/blower rated down to lower temperatures than their normal PTZ housings. They also have at least two vandal-resistant options....one's a 7" "Rugged" housing that can be ordered with a tougher polycarbonate bubble. The other is a rather tougher 8" Heavy-Duty unit that's kinda octagonal and also available with a tougher polycarbonate dome.

 

It may be worth double-checking if that same option is available in the fixed housing option. Failing that, you could use a "normal" Cyberdome PTZ housing and then get a fixed camera conversion bracket that snaps into a standard PTZ Cyberdome.

 

OK...that gets you the dome/housing. For the camera, you could use any compact full body camera....such as GE's KTC-215CC or a Sanyo VCC5885. Both should fit quite nicely into this type of dome housing, with anything other than a ultra-large varifocal lens.

 

Now this may end up being somewhat more expensive....but at least it gets you a housing with a dedicated heater/fan assembly that's rated for lower temperatures, along with a decent full-body camera that performs well in low light. An added bonus is that you can get a relatively fast lens (like a Fujinon 2.8-8mm F0.95, much larger aperture in low light than a typical F1.6 lens on a fixed dome camera).