5MP Outdoor Camera Advice

icerabbit said:
Capturing details is important, but one is better off with multiple 1-2-3 mp cameras to cover properties than having just a couple 5MP ones.

While the idea of more megapixels may be better on paper, it really will depend on sensor size & lens quality for that to pan out. Like other's have said.

The highest mp cameras come in at a lot bigger price point and may not offer a great framerate for recording. Which is the worst part of multiple cameras with those extra megapixels. 5MP cameras drastically increase the bandwidth and storage needs. This may not be an issue for the each of the companies' budget, but, as I'm sure you understand, practically speaking, some system will have to process all the incoming data and save it. When you're talking commercial installs, you are pretty much looking at continues recording from lots of angles.

My vote would be for a balanced system with probably 2-3mp outside and 1mp inside.

Use cameras field of view to match broad coverage needs and focus on specific entry locations.

Which comes back to the 5MP thing, depending on the site, camera type, camera angle and its field of view, one can be recording a ton of sky, trees, shrubs, pavement, ... which would be a waste of pixels and storage.

Good luck with your project.

Hope to hear back about the actual installation.
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+1 this, if you really sit down and look at what you need to cover and think about it, you might find that a lot of areas have nothing of real interest and you can cover checkpoints like door and hallways and get good shots of people's faces without needing to cover every square inch of the place.
 
I'm going to review the sites and propose the multiple 3MP camera coverage option instead of just arbitrarily making every external camera a 5MP. That alone will reduce the project costs by 1/3 if not more.

That being said, can anyone recommend some quality 3MP outdoor cameras? The ones our local security company quoted were Axis P3346 @ $925 each not installed.

Thanks again everyone for all the help.
 
ilmrfd said:
That being said, can anyone recommend some quality 3MP outdoor cameras? The ones our local security company quoted were Axis P3346 @ $925 each not installed.
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I've been using my new ACTi E72 for a few weeks now and I'm very happy (so far) with this purchase.
 
With Axis out of range for soho & personal use, I was looking at stuff from LevelOne, Vivotek and some other brand - that would be compatible with Synology DiskStation - when I discovered Hikvision.

I really wanted to skip over low end IP stuff from Foscam * Ycam Dlink Netgear and the like; plus loads of analog stuff that is still for sale.

I do have two indoor PTZ from Foscam and they're OK for personal use. Not something for long term nor commercial or industrial. And you don't want to depend on their on-camera recording and local reviewing.
(Archaic-ly painful and slow with short lists of truncated file names that you can't tell the date & time (files all are "alarm...3123" ... the last four digits being minutes & seconds) ... and Foscam is super pushy for more sales, ask a technical question they try to upsell 2-3 three times; constant this or that "on sale" emails too)

I received my first Hikvision and am impressed with it. Will order more. One can buy half a dozen to a dozen cameras for the price of one top tier brand camera. When I was looking at Vivotek & LevelOne I'd need to buy 'extreme' models for winter capability. Not just their standard above freezing models. So, with Hikvision saying they can deal with the cold ... they're a win for personal & SOHO value in my book. Of course being new to this field, I can't personally, vouch for long term durability or if they're actually going to work when it is 0F next winter.
 
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I was all for Axis until recently. I just can't justify the price of the P33xx series, then you multiply that by 10 or so and it is expensive. Spent about $1k on 6 Hikvision 3MP turrets and have been very happy with them. I also have a 2732.


hmjgriffon said:
Hikvision, but I may be bias because I have 3 of them now, buhahaha.
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7 here, got you beat :rolleyes:
 
paarlberg said:
I was all for Axis until recently. I just can't justify the price of the P33xx series, then you multiply that by 10 or so and it is expensive. Spent about $1k on 6 Hikvision 3MP turrets and have been very happy with them. I also have a 2732.





7 here, got you beat :rolleyes:
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So jelly, I'm workin on it though, who knows where I will stop, haha.
 
paarlberg said:
I was all for Axis until recently. I just can't justify the price of the P33xx series, then you multiply that by 10 or so and it is expensive. Spent about $1k on 6 Hikvision 3MP turrets and have been very happy with them. I also have a 2732.
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Which Hikvision 3MP are you using, if you don't mind me asking?
 
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