Wow that is a very distant light source. I have a street light in my front yard about 40 feet in front of the place I'd put the camera so my situation isn't as bad as that. I'm getting the feeling that I'm just going to have to buy and try cameras until i find one I like. I was hoping for answers like "At that price point, X is the best camera for that use" but I'm guessing it's more complicated than that.
Cam for drive way monitoring
- Thread starter Araphen
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sebastiantombs
Known around here
Unfortunately it is kind of complicated. What makes it worse, in your case it seems, is that if it doesn't work you're out the money involved. Keep in mind, too, that a standard SD card will fail rather quickly in a security camera. The better, more expensive, SD cards will handle that for at least a year or longer without failing.
I already bought a panasonic window cam from amazon and I plan on returning it for a full refund. I also bought a sandisk 256GB max endurance microSD card which is currently in the panasonic window camera and i plan on using that in the next camera i decide on. But it was like 70 bucks so my budget for a camera and PoE injector is down to around $130-ish.
You over bought on the sdcard, but that is in the past. I can't help you on a recommendation for a lower quality cam (than I would use) since I have no true experience with one. I believe in fit-for-purpose cam selection, of course within my budget. I have purchased 21 quality Dahua cams from Andy for as low as $79 and as high as $235 with the average price being about $155. Each cam was chosen for it's ability to fulfil the requirements that I defined for the specific position.
On the question of screens. No I have not gotten a view through a screen that I would be happy with. The one that I showed above was an example, I have two others on windows with screens and just mounted them in the area above the screen. I have not painted the board white yet on the one below. But it is backed by black fabric just the same as the other mount. I use shelf mounts to hold up the board, those little clear plastic ones you find in bookcases.
wow did not realize how much the shutters need paint!
On the question of screens. No I have not gotten a view through a screen that I would be happy with. The one that I showed above was an example, I have two others on windows with screens and just mounted them in the area above the screen. I have not painted the board white yet on the one below. But it is backed by black fabric just the same as the other mount. I use shelf mounts to hold up the board, those little clear plastic ones you find in bookcases.
wow did not realize how much the shutters need paint!@samplenhold
Does the PoE injector matter at all or would pretty much anything work? I'm thinking of getting this The distance from the PoE injector to the cam would probably be less than 20ft
Does the PoE injector matter at all or would pretty much anything work? I'm thinking of getting this The distance from the PoE injector to the cam would probably be less than 20ft
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sebastiantombs
Known around here
Actually, depending on the camera you can use a 12 volt, 1 or 2 amp, wall wart. They're less expensive than a PoE injector. 20ft should be no problem and I'll bet you have an outlet right near the window anyway.
I have an outlet right next to it but i wanted to plug it into a UPS which is probably about 15ft away
sebastiantombs
Known around here
An extension cord? Even a simple zip cord style will work.
sebastiantombs
Known around here
I'm guessing you have an extension cord hanging around already. A 12 volt, 2 amp, wall wart is eight bucks.
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sebastiantombs
Known around here
I'll bet you're younger than 50. 
I do not use an injector for cams mounted permanently. All of my cams get there power from a POE switch.
I do have an injector that I have used for configuring a new cam. It is this one.
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If you are on a super tight budget, go to a local thrift or goodwill. I regularly buy network cables for pennies, extension cords for a couple dollars and wall warts of various voltages for a couple dollars for projects. Then you can spend more money on a nicer camera which is the important part.
Sorry to bring up an ancient thread, but just saw the Panasonic HomeHawk when searching for an aquarium cam. Are those things ONVIF and do they work without using their cloud app? IE, can I stream them to BI or an NVR 24/7 without the app?