Outdoor Security Camera
An outdoor security camera is an important part of any monitoring system for the exterior of a building, whether it be home or office or industrial area. These types of cameras are sprouting up everywhere, including traffic intersections and toll booths.
Effective monitoring of an outdoor area can be accomplished with the use of security cameras mounted in strategic locations. Selecting the right camera for your situation requires a bit of planning. Here are a few things to consider when you are shopping for outdoor security cameras:
- Mounting location
- Availability of power
- Wired or Wireless?
- Clear field of view – in ALL seasons!
- Lighting – will you need to have a camera with low light or night vision capabilities?
- Temperature and weather resistance
- Camera resolution (ability to pick up detail from a distance)
Which of these factors is most important depends upon your application. However, a few of them tend to come up again and again when selecting a camera for outdoor surveillance.
Wired or Wireless Outdoor Security Camera
On first glance, a wireless camera may seem to be the simplest and easiest solution to a multitude of factors in selecting a camera. No wires! Well, sort of – you still have to supply power to the camera! Though it’s pretty easy to find a power source close to a building these days – so perhaps it’s not that big a deal.
A wireless camera will be transmitting imagery (and possibly audio) over radio waves, so some other considerations are radio interference, and distance from the camera to the receiver. The interference can be from:
- Other radio transmitters in the area
- Radio signal being blocked by buildings, trees, walls, etc.
- The camera transmitter interfering with other radio receivers in the area, or other wireless security systems in the area.
All of these factors must be taken into account when selecting a wireless outdoor security camera. Fortunately, most manufacturers have overcome some of these obstacles, especially the radio interference issues. It’s the physical structures that can interfere with the radio signal that you have the least control over, and sometimes makes it more effective to use a wired camera.
Also note that if you must go wired, you can use either a traditional video cable connection (using co-axial cable like RG-6) or perhaps use an IP camera, which uses internet protocol to transmit digital signals to the receiver (which can be a website). Essentially the IP camera is like a mini-website that you can “log in” to for monitoring purposes. The cabling for this would be typical network cable (CAT-5, CAT-6, etc.)
Lighting The Scene
Your camera needs light in order to work. If you are monitoring an area at night, then obviously you will either need to have lighting, or use a night vision camera. In general, parking lots and industrial areas are well lit at night, and mounting the camera near the light source may be an easy way to ensure there is lighting and power for the camera.
For monitoring unlit areas, there are cameras with built-in infra-red lighting that either turns on when it gets dark, or is triggered to turn on when it detects motion. There are a variety of cameras with these features, and the quality of the imagery depends a lot on how much you are willing to spend on the camera.
Hot and Cold, Wind and Water
An outdoor security camera must resist the environmental effects all around it – meaning heat, cold, rain, snow, ice. You can either purchase a weather resistant camera, or get one that is for indoor use, and mount it in a weather-resistant housing. There are temperature controlled camera housings available! There are standards bodies (NEMA and IEC) that rate outdoor enclosures, you may want to find out more about those ratings when looking for an enclosure.
Field of View, or What You Get is What You See
The location of the security camera will determine the lens you need for the camera. How far away are you, how wide an angle do you need to monitor, and how much detail do you want to get are factors to consider.
This is a good place to discuss resolution of your camera. Basically, the higher the resolution, the sharper the image and the more detail you can capture, compared with a lower resolution camera. Resolution may be indicated in a few ways – the number of pixels on the camera’s sensor (if it is digital, which is the majority of cameras available today), and also “lines per inch,” which is the way resolution is indicated on television monitors. In both cases, the higher the better (though television resolution is somewhat limited by the bandwidth of the signal).
Let’s See What We’ve Got
All in all, modern outdoor security cameras can be used to effectively monitor an exterior area from a remote location, increasing security and decreasing the likelihood of theft or trespassing. While there are many factors to consider when looking for the right security camera for your system, you just have to take the time to sort out what is most important for you, and start evaluating from that point.
