I've been surfing around the internet and found this website. It has a lot of useful information about CCTV systems. I am kind of new to CCTV's. I've had a setup in my office with 16 Analog cameras for about 7 years. I had pretty much just put the camera's up as to discourage honest folks from doing undesirable acts around my office. I had set up the old system in 2014 and pretty much forgot about it. We would check the camera's from time to time but that was about it. Fast forward 2022, after some thought I decided perhaps it was time to upgrade my system. Several of the camera's quit working or had pretty bad night vision. I think the LED's were fading out. Anyway, I've purchased and installed the Hikvision IDS-7216HUHI-M2S. I went all out on the camera's before doing any real homework. I loaded up the system with higher MP's cameras and it's working fine. But, I am finding that the higher 4MP IP and 5MP Analog camera's don't seem to be much of an advantage the standard 2MP's. I'm kind of doing the office as a prerequisite of one I'm planning for my home. I'm discovering it's more about the camera lens and not the MP behind it. I did install one 8MP IP camera. It does pretty good but if I had it to do over again I think I would have been fine with a 2MP. I don't really know if one brand of DVR is better than the other. I did just pick up an Hikvision IDS-9632NXI-18/16S on eBay. It seems Hikvision is clearing them out. You can get a pretty good deal on one at this time. I was planning to use that on my home system. I live on a 3 acre property and plan to use a lot of cameras. I know NVR's are the latest. But I've been real happy with just the old Analog stuff. I'm thinking of stacking a DVR with a NVR. My main issue is I have a 450' driveway to my entry gate. Any suggestions are welcome! Thank you!
New to this forum.
- Thread starter V7Sport73
- Start date
Welcome,
As you have seen, MP isn't everything. You need to chase sensor size, not MP. Many 4MP, 5MP, and 8MP cams are on a 1/2.8" or 1/3" sensor which is great for 2MP, but you need way more light for more MP on that size sensor.
You need to identify the areas you want to cover and pick a camera designed to cover that distance. In some instances, it may be a 2MP or 4MP that is the right camera. DO NOT CHASE MP!!!
The proper MP/sensor ratio is the most important component. The correct focal length for the area to be covered is next.
Your option for your driveway 450 feet away - either PTZ on the house if you have clear line of site or if there is power there, put a camera and an Ubiquity nanostation to send the data back to the house.
Here are my general distance recommendations, but switch out the Dahua 5442 series camera to the equivalent 2MP on the 1/2.8" sensor or equivalent Hikvision works as well. All the cameras proposed below are on the appropriate MP/sensor combo:
You need to get the correct camera for the area trying to be covered. A wide angle 2.8mm to IDENTIFY someone 40 feet away is the wrong camera regardless of how good the camera is. A 2.8mm camera to IDENTIFY someone within 10 feet is a good choice OR it is an overview camera to see something happened but not be able to identify who.
One camera cannot be the be all, see all. Each one is selected for covering a specific area. Most of us here have different brands and types, from fixed cams, to varifocals, to PTZs, each one selected for it's primary purpose and to utilize the strength of that particular camera.
So you will need to identify the distance the camera would be from the activities you want to IDENTIFY on and purchase the correct camera for that distance as an optical zoom.
If you want to see things far away, you need optical zoom, digital zoom only works in the movies and TV...And the optical zoom is done real time - for a varifocal it is a set it and forget it. You cannot go to recorded video and optically zoom in later, at that point it is digital zoom, and the sensors on these cameras are so small which is why digital zoom doesn't work very well after the fact.
As you have seen, MP isn't everything. You need to chase sensor size, not MP. Many 4MP, 5MP, and 8MP cams are on a 1/2.8" or 1/3" sensor which is great for 2MP, but you need way more light for more MP on that size sensor.
You need to identify the areas you want to cover and pick a camera designed to cover that distance. In some instances, it may be a 2MP or 4MP that is the right camera. DO NOT CHASE MP!!!
The proper MP/sensor ratio is the most important component. The correct focal length for the area to be covered is next.
Your option for your driveway 450 feet away - either PTZ on the house if you have clear line of site or if there is power there, put a camera and an Ubiquity nanostation to send the data back to the house.
Here are my general distance recommendations, but switch out the Dahua 5442 series camera to the equivalent 2MP on the 1/2.8" sensor or equivalent Hikvision works as well. All the cameras proposed below are on the appropriate MP/sensor combo:
- 5442 fixed lens 2.8mm or the 4K/X - anything within 10 feet of camera OR as an overview camera
- T5449H-ASE-D2 2.8mm fixed lens - anything within 10 feet of camera where the object would be in a backlit condition at night
- 5441F-AS-E2 (AKA Boobie cam) or E3241F-AS-M- great choice for a front door camera. The boobie cam can have one lens pointed down for packages
- T5241H-AS-PV - Great little active deterrence camera with two way talk. Good for anything within 10 feet of camera or as an overview camera
- 5442 ZE or 5831R-ZE- varifocal - distances up to 40-50 feet (personally I wouldn't go past the 30 foot range but I like things closer)
- 5442 Z4E - anything up to 80-100 feet (personally I wouldn't go past 60 feet but I like things closer)
- 5241-Z12E - anything from 80 feet to almost 200 feet (personally I wouldn't go past 150 feet because I like things closer)
- 5241-Z12E - for a license plate cam that you would angle up the street to get plates up to about 175 feet away, or up to 220 with additional IR.
- 49225 PTZ - great auto-track PTZ and in conjunction with an NVR or Blue Iris and the cameras above that you can use as spotter cams to point the PTZ to the correct location to compliment the fixed cams.
You need to get the correct camera for the area trying to be covered. A wide angle 2.8mm to IDENTIFY someone 40 feet away is the wrong camera regardless of how good the camera is. A 2.8mm camera to IDENTIFY someone within 10 feet is a good choice OR it is an overview camera to see something happened but not be able to identify who.
One camera cannot be the be all, see all. Each one is selected for covering a specific area. Most of us here have different brands and types, from fixed cams, to varifocals, to PTZs, each one selected for it's primary purpose and to utilize the strength of that particular camera.
So you will need to identify the distance the camera would be from the activities you want to IDENTIFY on and purchase the correct camera for that distance as an optical zoom.
If you want to see things far away, you need optical zoom, digital zoom only works in the movies and TV...And the optical zoom is done real time - for a varifocal it is a set it and forget it. You cannot go to recorded video and optically zoom in later, at that point it is digital zoom, and the sensors on these cameras are so small which is why digital zoom doesn't work very well after the fact.
Last edited:
As an Amazon Associate IPCamTalk earns from qualifying purchases.
Welcome to IPCT ! 
Thank you. I have learned many of your suggestions the hard way. I agree on the 2.8 lens. They are fine indoors in small rooms but, as far as the exterior I think the 4mm lens is a minimum. I will use your suggesting as a starting point for my home system. Thanks again! AR
As an Amazon Associate IPCamTalk earns from qualifying purchases.