Camera & Accessories Search

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

How to Buy A CCTV Security Camera

By Adam Togo

There are a few basics about CCTV security cameras when deciding to protect your home and family. CCTV cameras come in two forms. They are either CMOS or CCD cameras and are differentiated by the image sensor. CMOS based cameras are cheaper but produce a lower quality image than the CCD camera.

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.

If the area you want to monitor is outdoors, there are requirements such as durability concerns that need to be address unlike an indoor security camera. There are factors such as weather and vandals that will test the durability of your 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.

There are also dedicated night vision cameras for true low light recording. The minimum amount of light required for the camera to record properly is measured by the LUX rating. A camera of lower LUX rating requires less light and a rating of 0 means the camera is designed for complete darkness.

When it comes to the sharpness of the image, this is measured in resolution. Higher resolution cameras will produce higher quality images. Entry level cameras will have resolutions of about 330 lines and up to 400 lines in higher end 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.

About the Author:

No comments: