What Are The Different Types Of CCTV Camera?

CCTV cameras come in various styles, types and configurations. Some of them can be used indoors, while others are best for outdoors. Many of them even have a night vision capability, which allows them to capture everything even in dark. With so many CCTV camera types, both homeowners and businesses have a wide choice of cameras to choose from. Let’s have a close look at some CCTV cameras types available in Singapore.

* DOM cameras
Dome cameras are one of the best choice whenever possible. The best thing about these cameras is that they cannot be easily manipulated or vandalized, even when they are within someone’s reach. They are mostly installed in drop ceiling using just two or four screws. As the dome contains covered lens, the direction in which camera is pointing is hidden. DOM cameras can also accommodate IR (infra red) facility for night vision.

While DOM cameras are preferred in many offices and homes, they do have some limitations. As the domes are quite small, there are limitations on the size of the lens available. If you need a camera that can focus on long distances (50mm or more focal length), it will not fit inside a standard dome camera. They can be housed in metal vandal-proof casing for public places, or simple plastic casing for offices and homes.

* Box cameras-
Box CCTV camera types are best when mounting to any vertical area or to a wall. It will also work when you want to use it to view long distances using a long lens. Unless the camera is infra-red sensitive, it won’t work well in low light conditions. When this camera is within easy reach, it is housed in a protective enclosure. Sometimes it is house box equipped with external infra-red illuminators for assisting in low light conditions.

* Infra-red cameras-
These CCTV camera types are most popular in Singapore and work best in low light conditions. These hi-tech cameras can see depending upon its illumination capacity. These cameras are equipped with LED’s that cast out into the darkness. Usually, each LED on the camera equals one foot, which means a infra-red camera with 20 LED’s can see about 20 feet. There are some latest LED’s known as Cat’s Eye’s that have even more power, but are only used in hi-tech cameras.

You can easily differentiate a Cat’s Eye from other LED’s because they are slightly large in size. As regards to its infrared quality, it has more to do with the intensity of these LED’s and the distance they can cover. Infrared LED’s have limited life as they glow most of the time, so they’ll have to be changed over time. Just because a camera has more LED’s doesn’t mean that it has more power and can cast longer distances. It actually depends on the strength of the LED’s.

* Bullet cameras-
These cameras are best when you want your camera to be inconspicuous, but not covert. They are good for shorter to middle distances when low light conditions are not a consideration. As these CCTV camera types are small, they have limited capability lens and internal board. Therefore, their picture quality is less than more traditional cameras that come with camera function controls and double layer board.

* Covert cameras-
These cameras are designed in a way that they are not easily visible and they come in all sizes and shapes, such as smoke detectors, wall clocks, or even as a sprinkler head.

* Wireless cameras-
These cameras are best when connection to physical connection to digital video recorder is not possible. However, wireless facility will work only for video signal, as you will still need writing to power the camera. These CCTV camera types are available in most styles.

Wireless CCTV cameras require line-of-sight to function in a proper way. Distances covered may vary depending upon the strength of their transmitter, receiver and other devices in the spectrum. Usually, a affordable wireless camera can cover 100 foot or less with ease. You can attach external wireless transmitters and receivers to any standard camera to make it wireless.

* Pan Tilt Zoom (PTZ) cameras-
When you are interested in a live control of your CCTV camera, and manual adjustment of tilt, pan or zoom is not possible. When you want to set a camera to view from different angle, you can get desired results with PTZ camera.

These CCTV cameras cannot see or record where it’s not looking. You cannot tilt, pan or zoom once it has been recorded. It’s expensive to make a PTZ camera wireless. You can easily control this camera and zoom optically up to 40x and beyond digitally to 12x thereby giving sufficient zoom capabilities in the 100’s.