Tuesday, June 2, 2009

CCTV Security Camera Guide

By Adam Togo

There are two types of CCTV cameras. You can choose from CMOS or CCD which are differentiated by the image sensor. Cameras that are CMOS based are cheaper of the two but do not produce the same quality of image in terms of sharpness and clarity as the CCD camera delivers.

Depending on your needs you can find the camera that is right for you. If you need to identify faces, you'll need a vastly different security camera from a need to simply monitor crowd traffic patterns.

There is a difference in cameras designed for indoor versus outdoor use. There are additional durability standards that the camera would need to ensure it survives the harsh conditions, unlike an indoor security camera.

Other things that will directly impact your buying decision include your budget, for the entire system as well as per individual security camera, as well as the size of your entire security system and the number of cameras you required. The number of cameras you require depends on the number of areas you wish to monitor.

The lighting in the area to be monitored by your security camera is another important consideration. A high quality camera designed for daytime use installed in a low light environment won't be able to render anything more than shades of black. If that is the case you will need flood lights or some other source of lighting in the area.

If you're going to need to monitor night scenes consider a black and white camera as they will deliver sharper images in low light. If you want 24 hour surveillance consider a day/night outdoor security camera.

For true low light recording there are dedicated nigh vision cameras available. Look for lower LUX rating when the environment the camera will be used in will have less light. A lower LUX rating means less light is required for the camera to capture an image. A camera with a rating of 0 means it works in complete darkness.

A cameras resolution measures the sharpness of the image the camera will capture; higher resolution, higher quality image. Entry level cameras start at resolutions of 330 lines upward to 400 lines in higher quality cameras.

There are more advanced monitoring systems that allow for panning and zooming the camera but for many a standard recording device will suffice. Most people will use a digital video recorder, or DVR to record directly onto a harddisk.

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