Camera choices

[emin-j]

Hi all, I’m a total newbie to cctv but willing to learn!
I have a driveway 20’ wide x 30’ long with two cars side by side, another car parked on the road at the end of the drive , so far I have purchased Hikvision 4 channel nvr (7600 series) a WDpurple 4TB sata drive
and have a roll of cat5 cable.
My next purchase is a camera, I believe a Hikvision camera would be best to match the dvr but which camera ? My initial thoughts were to mount a dome camera above the front door which overlooks the driveway or maybe a turret camera ? But it would stand out like a “sore thumb “ so was looking at mounting a camera under the soffit of our bay window which would be closer to the cars but the soffit is only deep enough to mount a bullet type camera.
Hope you get the picture (no pun intended).
I see the latest camera’s are 8MP but have seen posts on the forum recommending 2MP ? Should I buy the 8MP?
Also to cover the width of the driveway I thought maybe a 2.8mm lens but think this would fall short for ID purposes at the car parked on the road so perhaps a 4mm ?
I have been advised on another thread I might need more than one camera but would start with one and see how it goes.
So, dome,turret,or bullet.?
8MP,4MP,2MP, ?
2.8 fixed 4.0 fixed or maybe Vario ?
And what model number if you have a recommendation please.
Thank you for your patience!

 

[mat200]

Hi all, I’m a total newbie to cctv but willing to learn!
I have a driveway 20’ wide x 30’ long with two cars side by side, another car parked on the road at the end of the drive , so far I have purchased Hikvision 4 channel nvr (7600 series) a WDpurple 4TB sata drive
and have a roll of cat5 cable.
My next purchase is a camera, I believe a Hikvision camera would be best to match the dvr but which camera ? My initial thoughts were to mount a dome camera above the front door which overlooks the driveway or maybe a turret camera ? But it would stand out like a “sore thumb “ so was looking at mounting a camera under the soffit of our bay window which would be closer to the cars but the soffit is only deep enough to mount a bullet type camera.
Hope you get the picture (no pun intended).
I see the latest camera’s are 8MP but have seen posts on the forum recommending 2MP ? Should I buy the 8MP?
Also to cover the width of the driveway I thought maybe a 2.8mm lens but think this would fall short for ID purposes at the car parked on the road so perhaps a 4mm ?
I have been advised on another thread I might need more than one camera but would start with one and see how it goes.
So, dome,turret,or bullet.?
8MP,4MP,2MP, ?
2.8 fixed 4.0 fixed or maybe Vario ?
And what model number if you have a recommendation please.
Thank you for your patience!

Welcome @emin-j

Do take some time to review the cliff notes before jumping on a camera.

As you've picked up a Hikvision NVR I would recommend looking for a Hikvision OEM camera to go with it for the best compatibility.
( there are brands which carry Hikvision OEM cameras which they rebrand - example the ipcamtalk cameras here, LTS, and others .. )

 

[Tolting Colt Acres]

Hi all, I’m a total newbie to cctv but willing to learn!
So, dome,turret,or bullet.?
8MP,4MP,2MP, ?
2.8 fixed 4.0 fixed or maybe Vario ?

Avoid bullets outdoors, unless you like cleaning off spider webs. I am not a fan of domes, because the domes get water drops, etc., on them and get dirty outside. I use 99% turrets (I have 3 PTZ domes at CWOP stations I operate, but that’s it.) I am very happy with the turrets

2.8 or 4.0 is a field of view issue. Its hard to say which will work best because we can’t see your installation sites, what you’re trying to capture, etc. I use 2.8s and 4.0s depending on where my install is. Someone who does this professionally might be able to tell you better, in my case, it was trial and error. I started with the 2.8s to give me the maximum field of view, but went with 4.0s in some areas where I found the FOV didn’t need to be as wide as the 2.8 gave me. Also, the higher the size the more “zoom” effect so putting a 4.0 on the house may result in you being able to see the street better at the “expense” of not being able to capture scenes close to the house.

What is your ambient light like at night? Are you looking for really good night vision? Again 8 4 2MP depends on what you’re trying to capture, when, etc. If night vision is a major issue, then you’re not looking at camera MPs but should be looking at camera specs to see which camera is going to give you the best NV regardless of MP.

2MP = your 1080p TV
4MP = somewhere in the middle
8MP = your 4K TV

I recommend you spend some time on YouTube, there are many videos which deal with these topics (lens mm, megapixels, etc.)

 

[emin-j]

Thanks guys I ordered a
Hikvision DS-2CD2385G1-I 8MP 4mm
See how it goes .

 

[jd415]

That's a really nice camera during the day but wont work so well in the dark unless you have a lot of light or good infrared illuminators. Usually cameras with lower megapixels work better in low light.

 

[emin-j]

That's a really nice camera during the day but wont work so well in the dark unless you have a lot of light or good infrared illuminators. Usually cameras with lower megapixels work better in low light.

Thanks for replying jd, it comes with Dark fighter ultra low light technology so will be interesting to see what NV is like but we do have a street lamp across the narrow road opposite our driveway plus a light by the front door of the house which picks up people passing the bottom of the driveway.

 

[jd415]

Cool, post some pics of once is up during the day and during the night. I would love to see it