Looking for Cameras to watch over my Garden for pest issues, need Cameras that have good Night Vision as well as the capability to zoom onto leaves.

[Dragonfruit]

Hello all.

My request might seem out of the ordinary, but I am having a bit of trouble with my new garden on the side of my house, and thought about having a camera out there to watch for pests, especially at night. I also wanted to watch the area for people as well, in case people try to come onto my yard, possibly try to touch my garden(some people have been looking at the property next door as the owner passed a few months back, and I don't like people walking on my property and possibly touch my garden, and last week the community sent someone to mow and spray and I want to make sure this guy isn't getting his spray near my garden). As for my garden, my Watermelon leaves are being decimated and I'm not sure when, and by what, but it seems to be sometime in the middle of the night, or maybe early morning. I want to be able to view my Garden area and see what is going on, so I can take proper action against these pests. I assume having higher quality resolution will allow me to zoom into the video better during playback, but I would like a camera that I can zoom in to scout leaves, as well as a good night vision Camera. I initially heard about the "HikVision" Cameras, and found out that they produce good picture and do night vision, but I'm not sure what other options out there, and if Hikvision is the right brand, I'm curious if someone recommends a certain product(s) for my needs? I also just read, before making this post, that this website has their own brand that is HikVision Rebranded, so I assume if this forum is basing their Cameras off of HikVision, that they are a great brand to deal with?

Essentially for pests I am having mainly issues with the part on the corner of my house, but I'm setting up the garden on the entire side of the house. I've seen Cameras like this,

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1705511-REG/hikvision_colorvu_ds_2cd2387g2p_lsu_sl_8mp_network.html/specs

which give an entire side view but I'm not sure this is something that would be better than having multiple separate turret cameras that can rotate around? The entire area is about 40-50 feet in length, so I figured I would probably need a few cameras if I want to view the plants better, as the closer to the cam, would be better, so maybe that panorama dual cam unit wouldnt' be good?

Any advice is appreciated, I'm brand new to security cameras, but I do come from a Software background.

Thank you everyone.

 

[wittaj]

Keep in mind a colorvu camera, or any camera labeled as full time color cannot see infrared, so if you do not have enough light or are unwilling to use the built-in white LED, then that will not be the proper camera and you cannot add IR later.

Digital zoom after the fact only works in TV and the movies, especially at night.

You would need a camera OPTICALLY zoomed to the leaves if you expect to have any chance at identifying the pest u less it is a big deer lol.

Only PTZ cams can spin around. Turrets are a set it and forget it.

You need to decide what function you want the camera to achieve. One camera cannot be the be all, see all.

You can't have one camera that can see and zoom in to scout leaves and also see the surrounding area.

A turret is a set it and forget it. A PTZ is needed if you want the ability to zoom in and out and pan around at will.

Most here prefer the Dahua line. Most of the cameras sold on this site are rebranded Dahua, although some are hikvision. A trusted member here @EMPIRETECANDY has his own website and sells on Amazon as well, along with providing cameras for this site to sell.

So how big of pests are you thinking - like rabbit or insect size? These cameras probably are not good enough to pick up small insects.

 

[Dragonfruit]

Keep in mind a colorvu camera, or any camera labeled as full time color cannot see infrared, so if you do not have enough light or are unwilling to use the built-in white LED, then that will not be the proper camera and you cannot add IR later.

Digital zoom after the fact only works in TV and the movies, especially at night.

You would need a camera OPTICALLY zoomed to the leaves if you expect to have any chance at identifying the pest u less it is a big deer lol.

Only PTZ cams can spin around. Turrets are a set it and forget it.

You need to decide what function you want the camera to achieve. One camera cannot be the be all, see all.

You can't have one camera that can see and zoom in to scout leaves and also see the surrounding area.

A turret is a set it and forget it. A PTZ is needed if you want the ability to zoom in and out and pan around at will.

Most here prefer the Dahua line. Most of the cameras sold on this site are rebranded Dahua, although some are hikvision. A trusted member here @EMPIRETECANDY has his own website and sells on Amazon as well, along with providing cameras for this site to sell.

So how big of pests are you thinking - like rabbit or insect size? These cameras probably are not good enough to pick up small insects.

Thank you for all of this information, I appreciate it.

Is there a reason one wouldn't use the "built in white LED?"

The pests are probably snail/worms/caterpillars, so really tiny. Entire leaves of my Watermelon plant are being eaten, so I would assume I should be able to get a good enough picture to see what's going on, if I Optically zoomed it in.

Oh, I thought I read Turrets are what I want, but maybe they only rotate 360* and then are set and forget?

Yes, I didn't mention in the first post, but since i wanted viewing of the entire garden, as well as view of grow area for pests, that I would maybe need different cameras based on me needs. One for the entire area for security surveillance, and the others to look at pest attack areas.

Oh okay, I had read in the newbie guid eabout the HikVision.

Is there a reason why the Dahua are preferred over other brands?

Thank you for all of your help.

 

[wittaj]

Most don't use the built-in white LED because it screams "here is camera" as it isn't where house accent lighting typically would be.

Plus it attracts bugs flying around so white specs all night depending on where you live or time of year.

Further, they aren't much brighter than a cellphone flashlight - would you be able to see anything 50 feet away with that?

Yeah, snails, worms, etc. won't be seen by one of these at distance. You would need to place cameras with short focus distances next to the leaves in order to be able to see them. And we have seen people do that - you would have to put the camera within inches or a few feet from the leaves. And it would have to be a camera with close range focus. Some of the cameras have ideal focus at like 15 feet out.

Hikvision or Dahua are equivalents to many, but a lot of people here prefer the GUI of Dahua and we have a trusted vendor with great relationships with Dahua that will listen to our comments and suggestions and incorporate them. Further in the states it appears Hikvision has been pulling back and/or companies don't want to deal with them.

Yeah turrets rotate 360 degrees...manually. You have to move it with your hand to the direction you want it pointed to.

Here is the review thread of the best 4K full color camera out right now. You can see leaves and what not in the video from say 10-15 out - you will never see a bug on it...and then at night forget about it.

Worlds First Review - Dahua - IPC-Color4K-X / DH-IPC-HFW5849T1-ASE-LED - Full Color 4K Camera

Intro I’m excited to be doing another Worlds First Review. this time as I mentioned in the full color thread, I’ve been testing the new Dahua full color 4K camera. This was provided courtesy of @EMPIRETECANDY for a fair, honest, no holds barred, unbiased review. I’ll attempt to answer any and...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[Flintstone61]

maybe the guy could use a PTZ to move around the garden.....I think it's time for chocolate Ice cream.....

 

[Flintstone61]

We have a thing i havent seen around in here in the 3 years we've been at this address....Grasshoppers..like hundreds and hundreds of them....they're eating the leaves off some of the flowers and what not..

 

[EMPIRETECANDY]

Hmm, watch the pest issue need powerful lens, better use a ptz, you can watch how big the pest issue happen. But if just for a small part watching use a powerul motorized IPC-HFW5241E-Z12E also ok.
if you use for some farmland i recommend you to use the PTZ. 25X zoom will be good if not too far away.

Those fixed lens is useless.