Cheap CCTV Cameras

Cheap CCTV cameras.

Cheap cameras come in many shapes and sizes so look out for the basic which are:

• Resolution of the camera. The most common types of cctv cameras are standard analogue type and nowadays they are 420-600 TV lines TVL. There are some cameras below and some above that TVL but not many. The higher the number the better the camera should be, but not always. I have taken many standard 420 line cameras and compared them to 600 line cameras and could not see the value in the 600 line, but that is not to say a 600 line camera is not better, just not always.
• Chipset used in the camera. The most common chips used are either Samsung or Sony and the extra lines are often just enhanced chips on steroids using similar base level image sensors, which explains why more lines is not always a guarantee of more quality. The rest of the cctv cameras often use generic electronics made by many manufacturers. Most cameras are made in China nowadays and it is rare to see a problem with that, although the cameras are still made in the USA, Taiwan, Japan, etc.
• Lens, lenses are critical to good image and many cameras that have a good chipset are let down by poor lens selection. The bigger the lens the better the image quality as a general rule because it allows more light and colours to enter the camera. A fixed lens is setup by a factory and cannot be changed, where as a vari-focal lens allow you to zoom in or out manually and then manually adjust the focus. An auto-iris lens is very handy and many vari-focal lenses have auto-iris features also. Auto-iris lenses need power from the camera to operate and simple open the lens more when it is darker, thus allowing more light and colours to enter and in reverse when too much light exists they will make the iris small and close much more light.
• Other things to look for include the housing and if it is weather and dust resistant or weather proof, although I do not like the terms weather proof, vandal proof, dust proof etc as I don;t believe anything can be entirely proofed.
• Night cameras can use technology that allow a much lower view in very low light and therefore have a LUX rating. the lower the LUX number the better the camera should see at night, so a 0.1 lux camera is not as good at night as a 0.01 lux camera would be.

Hope this all helps and happy sourcing and selecting Cheap CCTV cameras.