Camera Sticker Shock

[Maconi]

I think I'm ready to finally commit and buy a proper camera setup for the outside of my house. From the research I've done I was starting to lean towards Hikvision but then I realized the cameras I was looking at cost hundreds per unit so now I'm at a loss. Am I just going to have to bite the bullet or are there models that are just as good for much cheaper that I'm just missing?

Here are the cameras I was looking at:

3MP http://overseas.hikvision.com/en/Products_accessries_164_i5589.html
2MP http://overseas.hikvision.com/en/Products_accessries_506_i5557.html

The difference between them (besides 1MP) seems to be the 1" sensor difference with better Min. Illumination (smaller being the "Darkfighter").

However, looking them up on various websites they seem to be priced at ~$600 per camera? :sad2:

So then I started looking at the cheaper options which have EXIR but worse Min. Illumination, Shutter Speed, and aren't "smart" but even they seem to be ~$170 per camera (which is more tolerable but still more than I was expecting).

4MP http://overseas.hikvision.com/en/Products_accessries_159_i5610.html
2MP http://overseas.hikvision.com/en/Products_accessries_159_i5611.html

So are these prices what everyone really pays or are they actually much cheaper than I'm finding? I've requested a catalog from milkisbad (no response yet) but have prices just gone up since we can't purchase from CCTV China anymore?

If I'm just going overkill with these cameras feel free to suggest alternatives (even other brands as I've noticed others having luck with Dahua and possibly Longse). We've had a lot of vandals messing around at night all over the neighborhood (including my house) so one of my main goals was a camera with good night performance (hence the Darkfighter). I plan on buying around 6 cameras.

Thanks in advance.

 

[nayr]

Yep, thats what DarkFighter/StarLight sensor'd cameras run for the most part.. the ONLY thing with those specs at a reasonable cost right now is the Longse S600 for ~$150 shipped.. and thats a barebones camera, you pay extra for PoE hah.. long term durability has yet TBD, to my knowledge nobody has done a Longse only setup.

for normal Hik's retail from the US, yeah thats about normal price.. $150-200 per camera.. might get it down to half that importing it your self and dealing w/no support or firmware.

your better off spending the money on big IR spotlights instead of DarkFighter/Starlight cams (its the massive sensor size that makes em better at low light)

 

[whoslooking]

You would also be paying for the Smart 2.0 features the you don't need like anpr.

 

[Maconi]

So do you think a camera like the http://overseas.hikvision.com/en/Products_accessries_159_i5610.html would be suitable for my application then? I suppose I could always put motion detection flood lights in the back yard (or would that cause more issues for the cameras?).

Here's the layout I was considering (red triangles are the 6 cameras). What kind of FOV should I be looking at for these? Should I stick with 4mm or should I be going up to 6mm/8mm/12mm/etc.?