Subscriber Discussion

Top 10 Things That Are Essential For Selection Of A Camera

U
Undisclosed #1
Jul 14, 2017

From the most to least, what are the top ten (if you cant think of 10, lets hear what you have) things you look for in a camera? I know it depends on the application, but limit responses to the things we CAN relate to generally.  Also, tell us what kind of business you are in (integrator, user, consultant, engineer, manufacturer, etc). 

(1)
JH
John Honovich
Jul 15, 2017
IPVM

This topic makes me nervous because it's so broad that answers are going to be difficult to interpret without understanding what background or focus the user is coming from.

In terms of things we regularly test for (which implicitly we believe are fundamental for selecting cameras), they include:

  • Image quality - even indoor conditions
  • Low light quality
  • WDR / sunlit outdoor entry quality
  • Integrated IR max distance, i.e., quality / image at that point
  • Image quality at edges / integrated IR quality at edges
  • Bandwidth consumption (with normalizing quantization levels)

That's just scratching the surface, many people surely care about installation issues, video analytics, audio quality, video performance in the rain or fog or other weather conditions, etc.

I want to help provide a response to the question but it's hard to give a universal answer to such a broad question.

(1)
U
Undisclosed #1
Jul 16, 2017

This topic makes me nervous because it's so broad that answers are going to be difficult to interpret without understanding what background or focus the user is coming from.

Indeed it is. That broadness is intentional. 

That's just scratching the surface, many people surely care about installation issues, video analytics, audio quality, video performance in the rain or fog or other weather conditions, etc.

 

What i am looking for is are the base line items. 

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #2
Jul 16, 2017

Not really a feature or ability of the equipment but, for me, one of the essentials is familiarity with the product line, such as it's onscreen GUI.  I like to use what I'm familiar with and do not want a mixture of different brands with different setting interpretations to remember.  After that, I look at matching the camera to the scene, such as lens, lighting and indoor/outdoor requirement.

I do primarily alarm systems and learned to standardize on a product line many years ago, but surveillance can be similar with the difficulties in knowing how to adjust your settings and how it will perform.  In knowing your product intimately well you can usually achieve very good results.   If you want to try out a manufacturer's latest camera for an upcoming job, and it's not among one of the products lines you're familiar with, expect some bumps.  I like to test a product line before I commit it to job.

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