Camera Choices

[Sybaris]

I have a rental home next door that I need to keep an eye on as it's a magnet for vandals when not occupied.
The furthest distance I need to clearly see a face at night is about 120ft. There is a single light source that marginally illuminates about the first 60ft of that.
The HFOV I need is about 100 degrees max.
Preference is a outdoor dome as I'm limited on where the camera can be placed.
I'm looking at these three:

DS-2CD2185FWD-IS, 8MP, .028 lux, Darkfighter
DS-2CD2785G0-IZS, 8MP, .014 lux, Powered by Darkfighter
PCI-D18Z2S, 8MP, .003 lux, Powered by Darkfighter

Kind of confused about the Darkfighter thing. From what I've read Darkfighter is better than Powered By however comparing the above cameras the min lux on the PCI-D18Z2S is better than the DS-2CD2185FWD-IS

I tried comparing by running them through the IPVM Camera Calculator but it doesn't have the PCI-D18Z2S.

Any suggestions much appreciated.

 

[sebastiantombs]

Dark Fighter, ColorVu, Starlight, Starlight+ and all the rest are nothing more than marketing terms and are actually meaningless in technical terms. The only thing that truly matters is the lux number and lower is better. Unfortunately, manufacturers "cheat" a little with that number and will rate it with slow shutter speeds. Slow shutter speeds allow more light to reach the sensor but that also produces blur when motion occurs. The slowest the shutter can go to prevent blur is 1/60th second. 1/100 is even better.

The size of the sensor versus resolution of the camera is very important. The higher the resolution, the larger the sensor has to be for good low light performance.

1/3" = .333"
1/2.8" = .357" (think a .38 caliber bullet)
1/1.8" = .555" (bigger than a .50 caliber bullet or ball)
1/1.2" = .833" (bigger than a 20mm chain gun round)

The current sensor/resolution ratios for good night performance are -

1/12.8" on a 2MP sensor
1/1.8" on a 4MP sensor
1/1.2" on a 8MP sensor

The short answer is to chase sensor size first, then chase lux ratings. DO NOT CHASE MEGAPIXELS (resolution).

Look for reviews here on IPCT with video at night. Buy one camera, preferably varifocal, and test to see if it will work for you. At 120 feet getting a shot good enough to use as evidence for identification will take some serious zoom capability, probably 24 or 36mm worth of zoom.

 

[Sybaris]

The short answer is to chase sensor size first, then chase lux ratings. DO NOT CHASE MEGAPIXELS (resolution).

Look for reviews here on IPCT with video at night. Buy one camera, preferably varifocal, and test to see if it will work for you. At 120 feet getting a shot good enough to use as evidence for identification will take some serious zoom capability, probably 24 or 36mm worth of zoom.

Thanks for the input.

I guess I should have said I don't really need something that's going to zoom in and track on a face on a cloudy night like this guy ...... DS-2DF8C842IXS-AELW plus I couldn't mount that anywhere.

Going with your suggestions I think maybe the DS-2CD5546G0-IZHS will work for me.