Subscriber Discussion

Pinhole Camera And Encoders

Pat Roam

•Jun 12, 2017

Hi,

We have a need coming up that requires a covert camera or two installed in custom enclosures. Any recommendations on a camera with audio, preferably self contained wireless with a battery but will have power and enough room to do otherwise if necessary. Also a fire alarm style without audio, also wireless will be needed for this project as well. The recording end will be XProtect running on a laptop nearby. My thoughts lead me to using some proprietary cameras with an XProtect compatible encoder or three on the recording end.

Any ideas would be appreciated!

Pat

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John Honovich

•Jun 12, 2017

IPVM

Pat, a number of vendors have pinhole camera / encoder kits, e.g., Axis F series and Hikvision pinhole covert cameras. Does that type of approach work for you?

Neither supports built-in wireless. There are covert camera kits that do but not sure how well they integrate with VMS systems as they tend to be standalone.

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Brandon Frazier

•Jun 12, 2017

IPVMU Certified

I have had a couple successful projects with the Axis F41 base unit and F1025 pinhole lens. We use an external microphone in whatever form factor works for the situation and often add a toggle switch using the camera's I/O ports to "dumb down" the start and stop recording function. We often place the pinhole camera behind the "i" of a no smoking sign by using a counter sink to match the angle of the lens keeping the sign near eye level and an epoxy to adhere the lens mount to the rear of the sign. My only complaint with the F1025 really is the fact you can only get a 10' cable which is too short or 39' cable which is way too long.

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