Need recommendation for $100 camera

mat200 said:
Hi @Murphy625

Starting with a budget first ( < $100 for a camera ) is imho not the way to start your journey. I think we all start out this way... and find out later we need to learn more first before jumping on a cheaper camera.

For the best results imho:
1) First decide what you functionally want / need. Use the info on the cliff notes to help you out. While the camera models in the cliff notes may have been updated with newer versions, the general principles still apply.
2) Once you have decide on what you functionally want / need - then look for cameras which may meet that need. Check out the reviews, check out the cameras listed by southernyankee.
3) then scale your budget / expectations and needs and find a balance which works for you.

Watch out for Chinese market cameras.. while the price looks good, they can be a real pita if you don't know what you're getting into as many are hacked with English versions of the firmware and thus can not be easily updated and often have cheaper components ( a reason why they are cheaper ).
Click to expand...
Thank you. I'm getting there and making progress. So far, I have figured out I want a Turret camera or any camera that has the IR LED's separate from the lens to prevent the spider issue. Looking at anything 2MP or more, and I want to have the SD Card slot for internal storage.

Being out in the countryside, performance under NO LIGHT conditions is required. Dark and cloudy moonless nights here are so dark you can't see your own hand in front of your face. I also want something in the 2.8mm.

Upon looking at specs, it would seem that the cameras to go for are those with an aperture of 1.6 with a light sensitivity of 0.008 lux or less.

I don't think I'm going to get all that in a $100 camera and will most likely have to sacrifice light sensitivity. I can always add IR LED's to help light the area up if needed.

I'm also wondering if maybe you folks in this forum are a little Camera Crazy. I was part of another forum dedicated to a certain type of product where members seemed to gravitate to only a few of the "best of the best".. I ordered the economy model and found it was even more than I needed. Didn't have any experience with the newer stuff and when I tried the economy model, I was blown away by how much better it was than what I was accustomed to.

It gets dark here, really really dark sometimes. There are NEVER any porch lights on within visual range. A lot of the youtube video's I see of folks showing off the night vision of their cameras are always in the city or suburbs where there are street lights or porch lighting. Heck, I can't even see a light on an antenna from my location.
 
Murphy625 said:
Thank you. I'm getting there and making progress. So far, I have figured out I want a Turret camera or any camera that has the IR LED's separate from the lens to prevent the spider issue. Looking at anything 2MP or more, and I want to have the SD Card slot for internal storage.

Being out in the countryside, performance under NO LIGHT conditions is required. Dark and cloudy moonless nights here are so dark you can't see your own hand in front of your face. I also want something in the 2.8mm.

Upon looking at specs, it would seem that the cameras to go for are those with an aperture of 1.6 with a light sensitivity of 0.008 lux or less.

I don't think I'm going to get all that in a $100 camera and will most likely have to sacrifice light sensitivity. I can always add IR LED's to help light the area up if needed.

I'm also wondering if maybe you folks in this forum are a little Camera Crazy. I was part of another forum dedicated to a certain type of product where members seemed to gravitate to only a few of the "best of the best".. I ordered the economy model and found it was even more than I needed. Didn't have any experience with the newer stuff and when I tried the economy model, I was blown away by how much better it was than what I was accustomed to.

It gets dark here, really really dark sometimes. There are NEVER any porch lights on within visual range. A lot of the youtube video's I see of folks showing off the night vision of their cameras are always in the city or suburbs where there are street lights or porch lighting. Heck, I can't even see a light on an antenna from my location.
Click to expand...

HI @Murphy625

The challenge you have is: "Dark and cloudy moonless nights here are so dark you can't see your own hand in front of your face."

From a budget perspective, this means you will need "better" ( best of the best is nice, but none of us can really afford that... )

If you were only concerned about day time image capture you could get away with more affordable cameras imho...
 
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I just ordered a IPC-HDW2231R-ZS from Empire on Amazon. Paid $127 so I'm going to go have to go down to the street corner and pimp myself out to make up the difference in my budget. If it does what I want, I'll buy another in a couple weeks.
 
Murphy625 said:
I just ordered a IPC-HDW2231R-ZS from Empire on Amazon. Paid $127 so I'm going to go have to go down to the street corner and pimp myself out to make up the difference in my budget. If it does what I want, I'll buy another in a couple weeks.
Click to expand...
It will do precisely what you need. It's a great camera, with excellent low-light performance.
 
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Buy now, think later

Review-OEM IPC-T2231T-ZS Ver 2, 2mp Varifocal Starlight Camera

Updated 12/11/19. Edited for clarity. Dahua OEM IPC-T2231T-ZS from EMPIRETECANDY 2MP WDR Turret Varifocal Network Camera Review unit courtesy of Andy (@EMPIRETECANDY) in exchange for a fair and honest review. Andy's ipcamtalk vendor forum: link Andy's AliExpress store: link Andy's Amazon...
ipcamtalk.com ipcamtalk.com

Buy directly from Andy; this new model will be shipping to you via DHL @EMPIRETECANDY
 
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YouTube is full of sponsored content; no one here is telling you to buy anything based on YouTube advice. If you want budget, the 2mp Varifocal Starlight is the way to go, that includes other models mentioned and thoroughly discussed here on this forum ;)

Murphy625 said:
Thank you. I'm getting there and making progress. So far, I have figured out I want a Turret camera or any camera that has the IR LED's separate from the lens to prevent the spider issue. Looking at anything 2MP or more, and I want to have the SD Card slot for internal storage.

Being out in the countryside, performance under NO LIGHT conditions is required. Dark and cloudy moonless nights here are so dark you can't see your own hand in front of your face. I also want something in the 2.8mm.

Upon looking at specs, it would seem that the cameras to go for are those with an aperture of 1.6 with a light sensitivity of 0.008 lux or less.

I don't think I'm going to get all that in a $100 camera and will most likely have to sacrifice light sensitivity. I can always add IR LED's to help light the area up if needed.

I'm also wondering if maybe you folks in this forum are a little Camera Crazy. I was part of another forum dedicated to a certain type of product where members seemed to gravitate to only a few of the "best of the best".. I ordered the economy model and found it was even more than I needed. Didn't have any experience with the newer stuff and when I tried the economy model, I was blown away by how much better it was than what I was accustomed to.

It gets dark here, really really dark sometimes. There are NEVER any porch lights on within visual range. A lot of the youtube video's I see of folks showing off the night vision of their cameras are always in the city or suburbs where there are street lights or porch lighting. Heck, I can't even see a light on an antenna from my location.
Click to expand...
 
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