Do you need to monitor just indoors or outdoors too? 

If you want to monitor outdoors, you’ll need a weather resistant camera.  Weather resistant cameras are able to be used in the outdoors if shielded from direct sun, rain, temperatures, snow and wind.  Camera power supplies must never be left exposed. 

All Swann cameras will provide clear images under normal (day) lighting conditions and include a (non-replaceable) 3.6mm lens which offers a 50° wide angle lens that is ideal for indoor or outdoors surveillance application.

Do you want a colour or a black & white camera?

B&W cameras offer better imaging in lower light (such as in a restaurant with soft lighting) and a very economical price. Colour cameras are more suitable to being used where colour information is required for identification, such as colour of clothing or of a vehicle.

Do you need your camera just for daytime use, or will it be for night-time use too? 

If you want a camera for night-time use, you’ll need a “Day & Night” camera with Infra-red.

What is ‘infra-red’ night vision?

It is the method of using IR LEDs (Infra-red Light Emitting Diodes) as illumination for a camera with a sensor that can ‘see’ infra-red light.  Infra-red light provides the illumination needed to capture clear images in total darkness or low-light conditions.

How does ‘infra-red’ night vision work? 

Infra-red light is a part of the light spectrum that is not visible to the human eye. When there is insufficient visible light to see an object a Swann camera with night vision automatically activates its IR mode and sees the light from the IR LEDs using its IR image sensor and shows the resulting image as a black & white picture on your screen.

How far can the Swann ‘night vision’ camera models see at night? 

The Infra-red LEDs can project IR light that is invisible to the human eye but can be seen by the night vision cameras to a distance ranging from 16ft (5m) to 165ft (50m) depending on which model you choose. With a small amount of ambient light, such as street lighting and house lighting, the distance can be extended on certain models.