Outdoor nightvision security camera

[cs101]

Can anyone recommend a good outdoor security camera?

Outdoor nighttime use with visual capability up to approx 25m-50m.

I plan to use infrared flood lights so the amount of IR LEDs onboard the camera would not matter, as long as it's capable of up 25-50m. Being able to ID a license plate is critical - will 720p be sufficient?

Not looking to spend $400 on a single camera.

Running on a MAC mini, 500gb.

[lowdive]

http://bit.ly/1pHmQGP

(i mean, you're online so you should be able to search right?)

it seems there are a lot. some that are even wireless (2.4GHz) with a usb receiver. functionality will come down to the software that comes with it or other software that happens to work with it. with regard to the latter, i have found Blue Iris to be very useful.

http://www.blueirissoftware.com/

you can connect pretty much any camera (up to 64 of them!). more details on their site:

http://www.blueirissoftware.com/6.html

good luck!

[cs101]

I find that googling or searching on amazon returns an overwhelming amount of product.

Looking for recommendations from fellow calgunners who have "been there and done that".

Blueiris looks nice, requires windows. I'm running on mac.

So basically the setup would look like this? Cams>receiver>mac mini>software>internet>mobile access

Wired or wireless does not matter for me as either way I will need to run a power line to each camera.

Recommendations for a camera with high enough day/night resolution to ID a license plate?

[the86d]

USB has a typical length limit of about 5 meters for high-speed, I just read:

http://www.yourcablestore.com/USB-Cable-Length-Limitations-And-How-To-Break-Them_ep_42-1.html

If you wanted to go with Ethernet, you could run a Cat* wire to a switch, or I am sure someone here has a wireless Ethernet router/AP sitting in the garage that could be donated to the cause...

[lowdive]

Set up is something like camera plugs into your computer (either directly or using a wireless usb receiver) and software on your computer handles the rest.

pooh on BlueIris for not supporting Mac. sorry 'bout that. the camera(s) you go with should come with fairly decent software with which you can watch a live feed.

as far as viewing from your phone, i'm not sure. i'm guessing it's possible and would be linked to the camera software. an IP camera is easy to set up for remote access as you can assign a static IP (192.168.x.x) and access to it is direct through the router. access outside your network is also easy to open up (some security concerns with this). I have six cameras around my house that I can access from anywhere.

resolution shouldn't be an issue. there are 1080p cameras. at night you might need to boost the IR light output. the ones that are mounted to such cameras are only good for 20-30 feet. frame rate sucks at lower light, too, so less frames to grab the info from.

[cs101]

Ok, so I'm going to be spending my day setting up the mac mini to share its internet access, from my mobile hotspot, with the wireless router I picked up. I have a foscam laying around so I'll be struggling to get it to work wirelessly.

Still need some solid recommendations for outdoor night cams...

Edit, I wouldn't mind running a CAT wire either, so it doesn't have to be wireless. Either way I'll need to wire up the power so whats one more wire...

[Dr3am]

you can run BlueIris using a Windows XP emulator for mac. As for a camera get a Dahua off Fleebay. Just get one with a varifocal lens and 2 MP. The specs will tell you how many feet of IR you get for nigh time use. Good Luck!!!

[cs101]

Could i just use a low lux cmos camera and supply my own IR lightsource?

[problemchild]

The IQeye's with light grabber are the best thing out there.

Make sure to set little gear at lower right to 1080p.
The guy has his cam set to low frame rate, it works better on high but eats up more space on the HD.

Its intelligent too as bright lights wont blow the frame out.

Make sure to set the gear to 2160p

Face recognition from 200yds out.........

Day shot (set quality to 2160p lower right)

[cs101]

The IQeye's with light grabber are the best thing out there.

Make sure to set little gear at lower right to 1080p.
The guy has his cam set to low frame rate, it works better on high but eats up more space on the HD.

Its intelligent too as bright lights wont blow the frame out.

Make sure to set the gear to 2160p

Face recognition from 200yds out.........

Day shot (set quality to 2160p lower right)

Wow, thank you so much!! I think they will be perfect for my needs.

[Ian bell]

I use the new HikVision cameras - this multi-megapixel IR camera is easily available online and at a reasonable cost. My software is Security Monitor Pro, an excellent video surveillance software and I love it. It has time based recording and motion detection alerting, and remote viewing, along with many other features that are useful. Easy to use and reliable. Also supports most other IP cameras and it is expandable to 32 cameras

[Paltik.45acp]

You could try this one, especially for reading license plate numbers.

http://www.cctvsecuritypros.com/liplreca.html

I'm upgrading my cctvs in my house and I saw this one.

[stonith3901]

securityspy and some other hints

Can anyone recommend a good outdoor security camera?

Outdoor nighttime use with visual capability up to approx 25m-50m.

I plan to use infrared flood lights so the amount of IR LEDs onboard the camera would not matter, as long as it's capable of up 25-50m. Being able to ID a license plate is critical - will 720p be sufficient?

Not looking to spend $400 on a single camera.

Running on a MAC mini, 500gb.

For software, SecuritySpy runs on Mac:

http://www.bensoftware.com/securityspy/

As for getting a license plate that is critical, just remember, placement of your surveillance camera is key. At night time, if you have the camera placed in front of a garage, most likely the headlights will wash out and you will not be able to see the plates. Also, sunlight and shadow are concerns here as well. If the sun is beaming down it could literally make your camera useless and shadows from lets say tress and bush might create false positives for recordings. Camera placement for vandalism and all the other factors mentioned are key.

Do get a camera that is capable of POE or POE+. Try running at LEAST two CAT5 runs to each point. If you get a corner bracket, you might be able to get 270 degrees of viewing angle with a PTZ camera.

IR, research, make sure you know the difference between 850nm vs 940nm, and what you will need.

I am not going to tell you what camera make or model to buy, but my preferences are axis, mobotix, panasonic, and arecont.

If you are getting PTZ look for auto tracking feature, that is quite nice.