Reasonable priced security cameras

[SAWYER]

I would like to get a couple cameras that I could put outside but do not want to spend a lot. What are some good ones to look into?

 

[boomerang]

The first decision you have to make is how good a picture quality you want. My way of thinking is that if I am going to get video of bad guys, I want to be able to have those bad guys identified. It doesn't do much good to be able to identify them as humans and that's about it.

Wired or wireless?
How will you be storing the recordings?
Do you want to be able to view the cameras online?
With a phone app?
Do you want email or text notifications of detection of movement?
With monthly cost or no monthly cost?
Night vision capability?

 

[SAWYER]

Wireless preferred
Not sure about storage
Yes
Yes
Would be nice but not necessary
No
Would be nice

 

[boomerang]

Wireless preferred Will they be attached to the house? You're going to need power to the cameras either through a transformer or POE.
Not sure about storage You either need an NVR or cloud storage. You're not going to get cloud storage for free AFAIK. But see what I wrote below.
Yes
Yes
Would be nice but not necessary If you're getting them for security wouldn't it be nice to know in essentially real time that there is something going on?
No
Would be nice I would say it's a necessity. And frankly most cameras have it these days.

I'm just planting some seeds for consideration. I am no expert on these things by any means. I think it's going to be tough to meet your requirements. Especially with something as vague as "reasonably priced". That's pretty subjective.

I have one Foscam at each of our residences. They are indoor cameras but they make outdoor models too. In Michigan, the camera records to a Synology NAS. In Florida, I need to set it up to record to Foscam's cloud storage which is in beta right now. My understanding is that one camera can be set up to store in their cloud at no charge but there is a limit on how much storage you have. I would think that would not be an issue if their cloud storage can be set up to delete older recordings. There is obviously no need to retain recording where there is nothing happening. In Florida I now have it recording any movement it sees to a micro SD card in the camera. But if bad guys break in and take the camera, the recordings go with it.

These cameras have DDNS built into the software. There is no monthly cost for that. They will record based on movement and they will send emails based on detection of that movement. They are very full featured and I haven't even begun to scratch the surface of what they can do. Buy the camera, and you're all set. No monthly cost is entirely possible depending on how you want to deal with the recordings.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2439024 Daytime screen grab and night time screen grabs.

 

[boomerang]

With outdoor cameras you have to take into consideration the location, the movement of the sun and proper shading from the sun. If the sun if shining in the lens for the whole afternoon with the video feed looking like it's aimed at a white sheet of paper, that doesn't do you much good.

They make fake cameras ...

 

[tracerbullet]

I'm just planting some seeds for consideration.

:thumbsup: Making me consider it too. Good info here, thanks.

 

[BeeBoop]

I've been down this road and it's a huge mess. I'll show the options I came up with for my home.

Ismart alarm system. This is an internet based alarm system that will inform you when someone breaks into your home. It uses the same door sensors as every single other alarm system on the market. These sensors do not work on metal, no door senors work on metal. This means it does not work on a garage unless you place it 2 feet away. If a sensor is triggered, I log into my camera to see if there is a break in.

I do not rely on camera motion sensor alert because every single camera alert system on the market will produce lots of false alarms. If you choose to rely on the motion sensor from a camera to alert you by the internet, do not place the camera in view of any window. The sun will produce as much as 8 false alarms from shadows a day. Your email will practically be filled with spam.

Also, there is no such thing as a wireless security camera. All cameras require a power source! There will be wires running around your house no matter what setup you pick. You can go with power over Ethernet or analog. Both will require only one wire that carries both the video footage and power. Analog carries both power and video. POE carries both power and video. The POE however, still requires a separate switch called POE switches. Power needs to go to the switch and the switch to the camera in order for you to have power in the Ethernet line.

If you want to monitor your home, this is the best system for your money. It's an analog system that carries both power and video from the camera to the DVR. So yes, you will have to run wires around your home just as you would a "wireless" system because a wireless camera still needs power! Wireless POE or NVR systems are more suitable when you have to setup cameras for a multistory building. There should be no difference doing a DVR or NVR system for a residential home, unless you live in a mansion.

 

[BeeBoop]

With outdoor cameras you have to take into consideration the location, the movement of the sun and proper shading from the sun. If the sun if shining in the lens for the whole afternoon with the video feed looking like it's aimed at a white sheet of paper, that doesn't do you much good.

They make fake cameras ...

I have a fake camera. lol

 

[skyking]

A little background on me:
I installed a half dozen systems in small to medium businesses over the last 10 years. The largest system is a mix of 25 IP and analog cams, recording 200,000 motion events in a 5 week span.
One thing I've learned is, if you don't already know the bad guy it does no good to have super duper good cameras and images. The police don't have the time to help you identify them.
Another is night vision is really not worth it. Unless you want to look at wildlife, get a motion light instead. You can calibrate it to minimize false triggering, and unlike a camera it will deter many thieves. The light will trigger the motion detection on a nearby camera and then you can see what caused it.
That camera can be inside a window close to the glass. No housing needed. No outdoor rated camera. Close to the glass minimizes any reflection issues.

 

[boomerang]

I have a fake camera. lol

I have three fakes. One by every entrance. We live in a semi-rural area and the layout of our property makes breaking in to our place very enticing. So enticing that it has happened twice. Now, they are greeted by visible cameras (the fakes), signs saying the house has an alarm system (which it does) and stickers at doors, etc. It keeps the dummies away and these people are truly dummies.

Regarding the indoor camera, I bought one to leave in Florida for the eight months of the year we're not there. I wanted to be able to keep a bit of of an eye on somebody that had to come in and fix the A/C, fix a window a golf ball had come through, stuff like that. A neighbor has a key to the place and them knowing the camera is there could keep them from snooping around should they get bored one day too.

I liked the technology of the camera and bought a second to leave in Michigan for when we're away for the winter. Pretty much for the same reasons.

Now, having said all that, I am having issues with the camera in Florida. The area we are in is known for having very brief power interruptions. I call them blips. The power goes off and comes back on in about the time it takes to snap your fingers. This freaked out the camera. It could not recover. I had to have the neighbor go in and power cycle it. The second time it happened I had a small UPS shipped to his door and he went up and put that in place. That should take care of that problem but only time will tell.

The second issue is that if I view the camera on the phone app or the Internet, I keep getting time-outs. I try to pan the camera and I get a time-out and the picture freezes or the feed goes black. It recovers in about 30 seconds. I try to change a setting and it times-out, etc. It's very frustrating. I called Foscam about it and they say that it's a wireless issue. They said it was that a wireless signal from another router is creating interference. I had manually changed the channel on my router to a channel that was not being used by others so I'm not sure I believe that. Then, I fibbed and told them that I wasn't seeing it on their phone app. I then knew they were lying to me because the explanation they gave for why it worked on the phone app versus the Internet was B.S.

So, here I am 1500 miles away and I can't solve the issue until we return in January unless we bop down for a short stay which is unlikely.

But if the neighbor comes up to check on the place for me I do get video recorded and I do get email alerts so it is working. Just not without a few glitches.

I should probably add that I have in place in Florida the same make and model of wireless router that I had up here in Michigan. While in Florida for the winter, the router in Michigan got flaky and eventually took a dump about two weeks before we returned. I had to replace it when we got back. It may very well be that the router in Florida is on its way out too. We were down there for four months and had no wireless issues while we were there, but that doesn't mean much. Until we return, I won't know if it's the camera or the router.

 

[Stopsignhank]

Skyking,
I am going to be installing cameras in my 85,000 square foot production facility. Any nuggets of wisdom you care to share? I am not putting them in to spy on people, but to be able to look back and see how an accident truly happened.

(I don't mean to threadjack, but since the OP has not responded I thought I would ask)

 

[Scarpozzi]

I bought a QSEE 4 camera kit from Home Depot a few years ago for $200 shipped. The system has a 500GB hard drive, can be networked, etc...the cameras run on a closed circuit coax...the cameras aren't hidef, but good enough (480p).

I recommend looking at those kinds of systems. You can try to roll your own with cheap wifi cameras and a computer or NAS device, but you still have to worry about power. The systems you get come with 50 foot cables and you can get longer ones if you need to for pretty cheap. While you're running those cables, go ahead and run a cat 5 cable to each location so you can upgrade later if you decide to do Ethernet with POE.

 

[SAWYER]

I probably wouldnt want to spend more than 2-300 on three or four cameras

 

[joutlaw]

I use Hikvision 3mp cams and have been pleased.

 

[skyking]

Skyking,
I am going to be installing cameras in my 85,000 square foot production facility. Any nuggets of wisdom you care to share? I am not putting them in to spy on people, but to be able to look back and see how an accident truly happened.

(I don't mean to threadjack, but since the OP has not responded I thought I would ask)

I can't answer with any real meaning without a lot more detail.
Send me a PM with the nature of the business, hours, lighting, infrastructure, and budget.

 

[Stopsignhank]

I can't answer with any real meaning without a lot more detail.
Send me a PM with the nature of the business, hours, lighting, infrastructure, and budget.

Thanks for the offer. Now that I am going ahead with this project everyone is adding to it. I am the safety guy so I wanted stationary cameras so we can see what happens if someone has an accident. I did not want to see things live, just be able to look at the video when needed.Pretty simple. Now people are saying they have to be pan-tilt-zoom cameras, they have to be able to look at them from their desk, oh yeah need to see the aisles in the office and also need cameras outside.

So instead of use getting some cameras and installing them with our maintenance guys we now have to use an outside contractor. This is going to be a bloated project that will cost about 6 times what my original seat of the pants estimate was and has no chance in hell of being installed.

Sorry, I meant to say, thanks for the offer but I don't want to waste your time. I just get to waste mine.

Wow I sound bitter.

 

[skyking]

I'd come do it your way, if i were not so busy.
The PTZ cams are a huge waste.
Fixed cams with motion detection is my preference. That way you don't record hours of non-events to drone through, trying to find out what happened.
Funny story about that. One of my clients had a truck broken into, and I was going through events on this high mounted camera in an alley.
I got this perfect shot of a crow with wings spread just a dozen feet in front of the camera.

 

[Stopsignhank]

Thanks. I agree the PTZ cameras are a waste. I am going to have they system quoted both ways, regular cameras and the with the PTZs.

You reminded me, a long time ago we had power doors installed with motion sensors. I got a call the door were going crash. I could not find anything until I looked at the motion sensor itself and there was an itty bitty spider crawling across the face of it.

 

[boomhower]

You get what you pay for. I had a 480P system and while you get video the quality just isn't there for IDing anything. I upgraded to a Swann IP HD system and the difference is night and day. While it is a lower end system the quality is outstanding. Even the IR night vision is very good with it. Swann makes getting the feed on your phone very easy too. Wiring with IP is also a lot easier than the older BCA wires.

 

[iamwiz82]

You get what you pay for. I had a 480P system and while you get video the quality just isn't there for IDing anything. I upgraded to a Swann IP HD system and the difference is night and day. While it is a lower end system the quality is outstanding. Even the IR night vision is very good with it. Swann makes getting the feed on your phone very easy too. Wiring with IP is also a lot easier than the older BCA wires.

This is true. A $1000 Axis 360 w/ 18x optical is a heck of a lot better at nightvision than the stuff you buy at Best Buy.

I've been on a few projects for work deploying cameras. The ones where we have gone cheap analog have all died or produced video that is next to useless. If you aren't going to spend thousands it's really not worth it. Get fake cameras.

At home I have a single Nest cam and I like it so far. Picture is great, but it's cloud based.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

Picture is great, but it's cloud based.

Is cloud based bad? Friend's shop got broken into and his trailer vandalized last week, and wife's friends had gas stolen from their truck last night so now my wife is paranoid again. Starting to do some research, but can't really afford much right now.

I do run a whs that's got about 8tb capacity, mostly used to backup my dvd/br collection and pics/docs/home vids I was thinking of having a system record to, but I have no idea how to set something like that up. Might be easier to just get a system with a head unit and network it in.

 

[rh71]

Got a Foscam and couldn't be more happy with it.

http://www.amazon.com/Foscam-FI9804...IU7O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1439941382&sr=8-1

outdoor wireless, 720p, night vision, records to local PC, emails on movement, smartphone app... $100.

The only downside to any of these is getting the wire back inside the house for a power source. The cables all need to fit back in together (which mean a bigger hole) unless you house them outside in an enclosure (what we did). Bad design, but otherwise a great product. What they should've done was make the cabling removable from the camera rear (hex-screwed anyway) so all you'd have to do is string it from inside the house to outside and reconnect.

Also, it's better to put it under an eave where it won't be directly exposed to rain.

pic quality at 720p: