need super simple camera recommendation

[klimshelf]

I just need a camera to view the front gate of the property from my office 300 feet away. Requirements:

• live feed feed to computer screen or monitor, wired or wireless
• hard wired power
• on off capability on either camera or power
• DOES NOT need to record
• DOES NOT need motion detector or night vision

 

[TonyR]

Several clarification questions:

• Is there 120VAC power available at the front gate?
• Is there clear LOS (Line Of Sight) between the gate and where the viewing computer is located?
• Do you have a budget?
• Did you intend to have the camera view the gate from 300 feet away?

 

[Swampledge]

Also, what information do you hope to gain from this camera? Merely the presence of a car or person, or sufficient clarity to identify a person’s face or license plate?

 

[klimshelf]

Several clarification questions:

• Is there 120VAC power available at the front gate?
• Is there clear LOS (Line Of Sight) between the gate and where the viewing computer is located?
• Do you have a budget?
• Did you intend to have the camera view the gate from 300 feet away?

Yes, 120v available.
Camera will be mounted on outside of building where the computer is located. There is clear LOS between gate and camera.
Want to spend only enough to get suitable results.
Yes, 300 feet from camera to gate.

 

[klimshelf]

Also, what information do you hope to gain from this camera? Merely the presence of a car or person, or sufficient clarity to identify a person’s face or license plate?

Mere presence.

 

[looney2ns]

You need optical zoom. This cam will meet your needs.

https://www.amazon.com/Loryta-IPC-HFW5241E-Z12E-Starlight-Network-English/dp/B07RJQT9NB/ref=sr_1_3?m=A329YQ83EBQGJF&marketplaceID=ATVPDKIKX0DER&qid=1694893386&redirect=true&s=merchant-items&sr=1-3&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.c3015c4a-46bb-44b9-81a4-dc28e6d374b3

 

[klimshelf]

You need optical zoom. This cam will meet your needs.

https://www.amazon.com/Loryta-IPC-HFW5241E-Z12E-Starlight-Network-English/dp/B07RJQT9NB/ref=sr_1_3?m=A329YQ83EBQGJF&marketplaceID=ATVPDKIKX0DER&qid=1694893386&redirect=true&s=merchant-items&sr=1-3&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.c3015c4a-46bb-44b9-81a4-dc28e6d374b3

Needs to be analog, BNC connection. 12mm lens. 5K mimimum.

 

[wittaj]

12mm lens for 300 feet away will only give you maybe detect capabilities and at night probably just a black blob that far out - is that sufficient for what you need?

 

[klimshelf]

Won't be used at night. Don't need wide angle, just to focus on gate, 20 degree angle or less. Mainly need to discern UPS from FedEx truck. Yes, longer than 12mm would be good.

 

[dudemaar]

You need optical zoom. This cam will meet your needs.

https://www.amazon.com/Loryta-IPC-HFW5241E-Z12E-Starlight-Network-English/dp/B07RJQT9NB/ref=sr_1_3?m=A329YQ83EBQGJF&marketplaceID=ATVPDKIKX0DER&qid=1694893386&redirect=true&s=merchant-items&sr=1-3&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.c3015c4a-46bb-44b9-81a4-dc28e6d374b3

good camera. can easy see 300 ft on 2mp camera with 91.5 ppf even. you can also get Ip over coax converters


Amazon.com: Loryta Coaxial Cable Single-Port Long Reach Ethernet Over Coax Extender EOC Converter IP Over Coax max 3000ft POE Power and Data Transmission Over Regular RG59 Repeater LR1002-1ET+LR1002-1EC : Electronics

 

[wittaj]

good camera. can easy see 300 ft on 2mp camera with 91.5 ppf even. you can also get Ip over coax converters
View attachment 173693

Amazon.com: Loryta Coaxial Cable Single-Port Long Reach Ethernet Over Coax Extender EOC Converter IP Over Coax max 3000ft POE Power and Data Transmission Over Regular RG59 Repeater LR1002-1ET+LR1002-1EC : Electronics

That doesn't help him though as that is simply using a coax line to transmit IP over a distance. It doesn't turn an IP camera into an analog camera.

 

[TonyR]

Needs to be analog, BNC connection

OK, so that's the reason for "live feed feed to computer screen or monitor, wired or wireless" in your first post.
That didn't sink in at first, at least not for me.

 

[klimshelf]

To update:
I need a camera to view the front gate of the property from my office 300 feet away. Requirements:

• TVI live feed BNC monitor, not to DVR
• 5mp or better
• 50mm lens or better, manual focus
• 12v wired power
• DOES NOT need speakers, motion detector or night vision

Scarce as hen's teeth if it even exists. Suggestions appreciated.

 

[looney2ns]

To update:
I need a camera to view the front gate of the property from my office 300 feet away. Requirements:

• TVI live feed BNC monitor, not to DVR
• 5mp or better
• 50mm lens or better, manual focus
• 12v wired power
• DOES NOT need speakers, motion detector or night vision

Scarce as hen's teeth if it even exists. Suggestions appreciated.

Only one I've found.

HAC-HFW3231E-Z12-VP - Dahua International

HAC-HFW3231E-Z12-VP

www.dahuasecurity.com

 

[mat200]

To update:
I need a camera to view the front gate of the property from my office 300 feet away. Requirements:

• TVI live feed BNC monitor, not to DVR
• 5mp or better
• 50mm lens or better, manual focus
• 12v wired power
• DOES NOT need speakers, motion detector or night vision

Scarce as hen's teeth if it even exists. Suggestions appreciated.

Only one I've found.

HAC-HFW3231E-Z12-VP - Dahua International

HAC-HFW3231E-Z12-VP

www.dahuasecurity.com

@klimshelf

Thanks to Looney2ns for the Dahua link we can find the Dahua list of HDCVI cameras, i'd start in the pro series to see if you can find a product that meets your needs ..

Pro Series - Dahua International

Pro Series

www.dahuasecurity.com

Hikvision should have a similar webpage you can look over ..

 

[TonyR]

To update:
I need a camera to view the front gate of the property from my office 300 feet away. Requirements:

• TVI live feed BNC monitor, not to DVR
• 5mp or better
• 50mm lens or better, manual focus
• 12v wired power
• DOES NOT need speakers, motion detector or night vision

Scarce as hen's teeth if it even exists. Suggestions appreciated.

Just an FYI, the TVI, AHD and CVI can have a resolution of 1920 x 1080 (NTSC) whereas the CVBS (standard composite video) is only 960 x 480 (NTSC).
Not sure about finding a monitor having specifically a TVI, AHD or CVI input although a CVBS cam may work on a AHD input, I don't really know.
For sure that's something to discover, IMO as 960x480 is less than half the resolution of 1920x1080.

CVBS input on monitors and many TV's are easy to find, although most TV's have migrated to HDMI and Component video inputs.

Bottom line: you may have to consider a cheap 4 channel NVR that will receive the analog video from whichever cam you wind up with if it's TVI, AHD or CVI and NOT CVBS and display on a HDMI TV/monitor or VGA monitor. I did this recently to display some cams on a 75" TV for a recently widowed woman. She wanted to view only, I left the HDD out and it beeps 3 times when powered up (only if there's a power outage) because of the missing drive but then it goes right to the 4-up camera screen. She clicks on an IR-controller remote to rapidly switch what's going into the TV's HDMI input from the satellite to the NVR.

 

[Swampledge]

To update:
I need a camera to view the front gate of the property from my office 300 feet away. Requirements:

• TVI live feed BNC monitor, not to DVR
• 5mp or better
• 50mm lens or better, manual focus
• 12v wired power
• DOES NOT need speakers, motion detector or night vision

Scarce as hen's teeth if it even exists. Suggestions appreciated.

Based on info you’ve provided earlier ( detect presence, mostly differentiate between UPS and FedEx trucks) you don’t need 5 mp or better. Also consider that, especially if you can come up with a surplus PC with a network card, your least costly, simplest setup might be an IP camera connected to the computer as a display. Years ago I set up an analog camera with monitor that used BNC connector for a simple “observe” setup in my shop. Monitor died after 6 months, so I bought a cheap analog DVR to use simply to convert the video stream to HDMI so I could use a flat screen TV one of my kids had abandoned.
This still is from a 2 mp camera like @looney2ns describes. That’s my chicken coop, about 300 feet from the camera, which is not at full zoom.

 

[klimshelf]

Based on info you’ve provided earlier ( detect presence, mostly differentiate between UPS and FedEx trucks) you don’t need 5 mp or better. Also consider that, especially if you can come up with a surplus PC with a network card, your least costly, simplest setup might be an IP camera connected to the computer as a display. Years ago I set up an analog camera with monitor that used BNC connector for a simple “observe” setup in my shop. Monitor died after 6 months, so I bought a cheap analog DVR to use simply to convert the video stream to HDMI so I could use a flat screen TV one of my kids had abandoned.
This still is from a 2 mp camera like @looney2ns describes. That’s my chicken coop, about 300 feet from the camera, which is not at full zoom.View attachment 173741

Thanks very much. I'll see what I can come up with.

 

[The Automation Guy]

Don't confuse "over all" resolution with the amount of pixels that end up covering the desired subject. You could have an 8k (16mp) camera with a wide angle lens that meant the gate 300ft away has a very low pixel count. You could also have a 2mp camera with enough zoom on the lens to get a tight capture of the gate. The 2mp camera would provide a much better image in this case than the 8k camera.

Besides, your stated goal is for "detection" or perhaps "observation" of a subject. High resolution really doesn't matter with those goals in mind and higher resolution generally means worse low light performance. I'm not suggesting that you ignore resolution completely in your selection process, but you are clearly putting way to much emphasis on resolution when it literally is one of the last things to worry about in your use case.

 

[klimshelf]

Don't confuse "over all" resolution with the amount of pixels that end up covering the desired subject. You could have an 8k (16mp) camera with a wide angle lens that meant the gate 300ft away has a very low pixel count. You could also have a 2mp camera with enough zoom on the lens to get a tight capture of the gate. The 2mp camera would provide a much better image in this case than the 8k camera.

Besides, your stated goal is for "detection" or perhaps "observation" of a subject. High resolution really doesn't matter with those goals in mind and higher resolution generally means worse low light performance. I'm not suggesting that you ignore resolution completely in your selection process, but you are clearly putting way to much emphasis on resolution when it literally is one of the last things to worry about in your use case.

Thank you for the explanation, that'll help narrow it down. Most variable zooms top out at 12 to 13.5mm. Searching now for some that will approach 50mm.