CCTV Security Camera Information for Non-Technical People

Get a good face shot!the way lenses are removed from traditional
Use Higher quality cameras at entry areas Doors,cameras. There are lens options from 2.5mm up to
gates and other entry areas need a good quality,500mm providing many different magnification
high resolution camera to record a good 'face shot.'options.
The video from this camera should be considered aIn general, an 8mm lens is like a 4mm lens magnified
highly valuable since it can be used as evidence in200%. A 16mm lens is like the 4mm lens magnified
identifying a person in a court of law.400%
Wide Angle Cameras for large surveillance areasOutdoor Housing
Once you can get a good shot of a persons face,C-mount cameras can be used outside when put in
you should use a wider angle camera lens for thean outdoor camera housing like the photo to the right
interior surveillance spaces of the building. Using colorneeded to protect the camera. Heat and Fans are
cameras inside your building is a good idea becausenecessary in the 'extreme climate areas.'
you can readily identify a person by the clothes theySee our outdoor housings
are wearing. Used in conjunction with the face shotVarifocal Lenses
at the entry point, you have an excellent record of allYou can also use a varifocal lens on a c-mount
people and activities in your surveillance areas.camera body. The higher millimeter of the lens the
Use Bullet Security Cams and Dome Security Cams!further distance viewable. C-Mount cameras can use
They're Low Cost, High Performance, can be usesa varifocal lens. This is a huge advantage because
indoors and outdoors and available in Color oryou can adjust zoom and focus. With Varifocal lenses
B&W. Dome cams and bullet cams come inthe focus can be varied from 5mm to 20mm or
many low cost models. Good quality B&W camsmore.
start at less than $80 and good color cams start atEven after installed, the varifocal camera lens can be
$150. When it comes to budgets, having a low costadjusted to choose a variety of focal distances and
black & white camera is better than no cameraangles of view. An example of where you might use
at all.a varifocal lens is outside (or inside) a warehouse or
Black and white cameras have advantages over colorparking lot where you need more distance than 35
security camerasfeet.
Most B/W cameras can see in lower light and havePan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ)
higher resolution than color cameras. If most of yourPan-Tilt-Zoom Cameras also known as PTZ cameras
surveillance goals are at night and your budget isare excellent devices to use when you want to 'look
limited, a black & white camera may actually bearound' your surveillance area.
your best solution.PTZ cameras allow you to pan an entire room, tilt up
Professional and Standard C-Mount Camerasand down and zoom in on anything or anybody within
If your budget permits, a c-mount camera offer athe sight of the lens.
big advantage over other cctv cameras.PTZ cameras can be set to automatic or manual
C-Mount or CS-Mount?mode or both. In automatic mode, hundreds of points
C-mount and CS-Mount lenses offer similarcan be set for the camera to look at. The duration
performance, the only real difference is the way thethat the camera looks at a given set point can be
lens mounts to the camera. And that's not a problemadjusted from less than a second to as long as you
since the adapter to convert 'C-Mount' to 'CS-Mount'would like.
comes with the camera. This enables the camera toThere are some variances in different models. Some
use either C-Mount or CS-Mount lenses.have 17x zooms while others have 50x zooms or
Lenses can be changed!more.
They simply unscrew from the camera body, just like