Covert outdoor camera. Disassembly required for this.
- Thread starter slip kid
- Start date
To be clear, I was not advising you to get that camera. I have no experience with that model. I just noticed that it was available. After I made the original post, I did a search of that model here on IPCAM Talk and found the thread I posted next. In that thread there was a comment by a user that had experience with that specific model and he stated that it was not good in low-light.
As far as stats for cameras, in my limited experience I have found that the stats listed for Minimum Illumination can't always determine the performance in low light, even in comparison between cameras. Sometimes the manufacturer gives enough information as to F-Stop, shutter speed, etc that is needed to achieve that low Lux number, and sometimes they do not, or those factors are different between cameras, and this makes comparing cameras difficult at best.
Take the numbers quoted above and compare that to the published numbers from the IPC-HDW5231R-ZE, which most folks here like for it's low-light image:
"0.009Lux/F1.8 (Color), 0.001Lux/F1.8 (B/W)" IPC-HUM8230
"0.006Lux/F1.4 ( Color,1/3s,30IRE), 0.05Lux/F1.4 ( Color,1/30s,30IRE)" IPC-HDW5231R-ZE
So, which is better? The 5231's Lux is smaller but it needs a larger lens opening (F-Stop) to achieve this. But we have no idea how long the shutter needs to be open for the 8230 to get that number.
The next question becomes, what is 'Minimum Illumination' and how does that impact the usability of that low-light image? Is that 'Minimum Illumination' the amount of light that is needed to make a positive ID of a face at 20 feet from the camera? I have no idea what it means. So for me, I take the Lux ratings with a grain of salt and only use them to possibly compare a few cameras to each other in a gross sense. I prefer to read the reviews of the specific camera here on IPCAM Talk and see the low-light images that are posted in that review. Also the recommendations of those reviewers and others that have used the cameras, to me, is more important than the Lux ratings.
I know you are not getting the recommendations for a specific camera that you asked, which probably means no one here that has read your thread has experience with what you are requesting. I know I do not.
Hope this helps.
Sadly, the best performing of the lipstick cameras I saw at Amazon were about $500 each, making them cost-prohibitive. Conversely, the least expensive were all analog with bulky umbilicals.
@fenderman posted about two new Hikvision pinhole versions of the small-format TOP-720 style camera here. They're listed as indoor cameras, so maybe not best for outdoors unless decently protected from the elements.