Small Business Camera Recommendations

T

TechDude98

n3wb
Oct 3, 2025
4
2
Phoenix, AZ
Looking for a good value solution (~$200 per camera) for my parents commercial building (18,000 sqft). They have a very old NightOwl analog system with bullet cameras for the interior of my dad's auto shop that we're going to be upgrading as well as adding cameras to the exterior of the entire building.

I'm an IT Systems Administrator so I'm fine installing a VMS on a separate machine and using a Cisco PoE switch to power the new system. I'm going to implement VLANs and subnetting to ensure the cameras are walled off from the rest of the network.

I've looked into Hanwha "A" series dome cameras (mainly the ANV-L7082R) as the value option but am not opposed to Hik/Dahua.

We have 8 existing interior cameras that will be expanded to include 7 additional outdoor cameras. Our climate doesn't have much rain, averaging 14 inches per year.

Footage will be stored for 14 days.
 
The specs show a 1/2.8 CMOS and a pixel resolution of 2560 x 1440. about 4 megapixels. A 1/2.8 Cmos works well for a 2 Megapixel camera for outdoors. You could getaway with the Hanwha in a lit, indoor setting.

A better outdoor lowlight 4 megapixel camera with a 1/1.8 CMOS sensor is on Andy's website. it's a popular solution with a Varifocal lens.
EmpireTech IPC-T54IR-ZE-S3 1/1.8" CMOS 4MP IR Starlight 2.7mm–12mm Var
Which is good for Dialing the camera in for best view.
 
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if your dead set on domes
here is a fixed lens version
empiretech01.com

EmpireTech IPC-D54IR-ASE-S3 1/1.8" CMOS 4MP IR Fixed-focal Vandal-proo

4MP 1/1.8" CMOS Built-in IR LED, and the max. illumination distance is 50 m Deep learning algorithm Alarm: 1 in, 1 out; audio: 1 in, 1 out Supports max. 512 GB Micro SD card, built-in MIC IP67 and IK10 protection SMD 3.0
empiretech01.com empiretech01.com
 
Flintstone61 said:
The specs show a 1/2.8 CMOS and a pixel resolution of 2560 x 1440. about 4 megapixels. A 1/2.8 Cmos works well for a 2 Megapixel camera for outdoors. You could getaway with the Hanwha in a lit, indoor setting.

A better outdoor lowlight 4 megapixel camera with a 1/1.8 CMOS sensor is on Andy's website. it's a popular solution with a Varifocal lens.
EmpireTech IPC-T54IR-ZE-S3 1/1.8" CMOS 4MP IR Starlight 2.7mm–12mm Var
Which is good for Dialing the camera in for best view.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the information!
 
If you’re upgrading your surveillance system, the ACTi E416 and E48 dome cameras are solid choices. The E416 is a 5 MP fixed dome with IR night vision up to 30 meters and WDR, making it well-suited for interior areas with mixed lighting conditions. The E48 is designed for outdoor use with weather-resistant housing and IR capability, perfect for exterior coverage in dry climates.

Both models support standard PoE and ONVIF, ensuring smooth integration with Cisco switches and self-hosted VMS platforms without vendor lock-in. They offer reliable image quality and flexibility for growing setups.

These cameras provide a good balance of performance, durability, and compatibility—definitely worth considering for an auto shop or similar commercial buildings.
 
Hank Weng said:
If you’re upgrading your surveillance system, the ACTi E416 and E48 dome cameras are solid choices. The E416 is a 5 MP fixed dome with IR night vision up to 30 meters and WDR, making it well-suited for interior areas with mixed lighting conditions. The E48 is designed for outdoor use with weather-resistant housing and IR capability, perfect for exterior coverage in dry climates.

Both models support standard PoE and ONVIF, ensuring smooth integration with Cisco switches and self-hosted VMS platforms without vendor lock-in. They offer reliable image quality and flexibility for growing setups.

These cameras provide a good balance of performance, durability, and compatibility—definitely worth considering for an auto shop or similar commercial buildings.
Click to expand...
Both of which are $700+ each...
 
Hank Weng said:
If you’re upgrading your surveillance system, the ACTi E416 and E48 dome cameras are solid choices. The E416 is a 5 MP fixed dome with IR night vision up to 30 meters and WDR, making it well-suited for interior areas with mixed lighting conditions. The E48 is designed for outdoor use with weather-resistant housing and IR capability, perfect for exterior coverage in dry climates.

Both models support standard PoE and ONVIF, ensuring smooth integration with Cisco switches and self-hosted VMS platforms without vendor lock-in. They offer reliable image quality and flexibility for growing setups.

These cameras provide a good balance of performance, durability, and compatibility—definitely worth considering for an auto shop or similar commercial buildings.
Click to expand...

No offence but he should heed Looney's advice & ignore those. Domes suffer from internal reflections & the polycarb goes opaque over time from UV light causing an ever more degraded image. Turrets or Bullets are best outdoors because they usually use flat glass lenses that suffer neither from internal reflection nor opaqueness.

I'd say best advice is head to the Wiki and look up the post about camera pixels vs sensor size. This will point you in the right direction as to what you should be looking for in that regard for a good night picture.

Otherwise, look for one of Matt's posts on the go to cameras on this forum as these comprise the best models that have been tested on here for reasonable money. They're mostly Dahua because that's what most people on here buy as they tend to provide the best picture in our experience although some Hik run them close or occassionally better them which is why we have a Hik sub forum.
 
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