Re: Recomendations wanted for outdoor video camera (make/model) and retailer

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"Mark Thomas" <mrt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

<stuff snipped>

> > Hmm... are there any cameras that have controllable IR LEDs? I'm
> > thinking about getting a Day/Night cam with IR, but really only need
> > the IR if motion is detected.
>
> I could use a separate illuminator, but since this will be on the front
> of my house, I'd rather it be as inconspicuous as possible.

Illuminators come in fairly inconspicuous packages.  Remember that an IR
camera is a pretty big item, too, compared to a standard bulletcam.  If
you've got a porchlight, you may not need IR at all, at least in the better
cameras with HAD or ExView imaging chips.

The IR (in the KTC's only comes on when it's dark and the output is
automatically adjusted for ambient light levels).  This is normally a good
thing, but for me it's bad because my eaves IR cam currently has spider webs
running across the field of view.  Their proximity to the lens reflects back
a lot of light and thus dims the IR LEDs to adjust for the closer "subject."
That leaves the real subject (my car in the driveway) very dark.

Why do you want to control the IR function?  It's not a whole lot of juice
being consumed and it does shut the IR off automatically in the daytime.  IR
is more useful for monitoring things like sheds, cars parked in the driveway
and places where you might not normally have lights on.

> I guess I could just make motion turn on the front light... will that
> be enough illumination, even if it's on the opposite side of the door
> from the camera?

Yes!  For anything with a Sony HAD or ExView chipset it's almost enough
light to see color.  www.Supercircuits.com sells them.  Try one and you'll
be unhappy with anything else.  A porchlight is certainly enough to make out
faces, even when dimmed to the equivalent of a 25W bulb.  I'm going to see
if a match works later tonight if I remember to test it.  I'm pretty sure it
will!

Deciding where to mount the camera becomes an issue.  I bought a wide-angle
camera that looks and installs just like a peephole viewer.  Had to enlarge
the existing peephole a bit (very nasty job drilling holes with no center!)
The I (sort of) concealed the wires along a channel I routed in the door
under the molding of the lower panel.  I got away with this right after the
neighbor was nearly beaten to death by her husband.  SWMBO suddenly saw the
need for security, and lots of it.

What I'd really like is a nice-looking polycarbonate housing that didn't
suck out a whole f-stop and allowed bullet cams to be placed in a fan array.
There's always something happening slightly out of the doorcams' field of
view.  If you mount them too low - someone will steal them.  If you mount
them too high, you just see the tops of people's heads.

CCTV is as addicting as X-10.  Once you have a front door cam, you see the
need for a side door cam, a garage cam, a backyard cam, a shed cam, a
driveway cam, a porch cam and in my case, a roof cam pointed at the major
thoroughfare that runs behind my house.  It's really been helpful as a
traffic cam, believe it or not!  I even took a B&W ExView bulletcam to mount
on the end of a pole with a single white LED for looking under and behind
things like stoves and under credenzas.  I saw a naturalist using a similar
rig to look into tarantula holes on cable the other night along with a
chimney specialist using something similar to find cracks and holes in old
chimneys.

When you consider what video cameras looked like even 20 years ago, these
things are truly amazing.

Supercircuits has a $12 CMOS board camera I think I am going to adapt to
face the outside electric meter.  At that price, I'm not going to worry too
much about it being stolen.  Probably do the same for the outside gas meter
if it the "electric meter cam" works.

--
Bobby G.