Mobotix M24M camera

[mikse]

Does anyone have any experience with the Mobotix M24M series camera? I'm wondering if I should go with the 22mm or the 11mm lens. Also, apparently the lenses come in either D (daytime enhanced) or N (nighttime enhanced). This will be used for indoor security, and will record continuously day and night. At nighttime, the area will be just slightly lit (a 10W flourescent bulb will be kept lit at night in a 20 feet by 40 feet lobby). Any suggestions as to which variant to go with, and any other tips/advise?

[buellwinkle]

It's funny because I was just looking at the M24 to try and save a few bucks over the M12 I've worked with in the past. The difference in cost is probably not worth the 15-20% difference in cost, so not sure I would go that way. The M12 with one day, one night sensor is awsome with available light and great in the daytime. If you get an M24 with a night sensor, which is only 1MP, it will be B&W all day, if you get the day camera, it will be 3MP and color, but will get noisy at night and the shutter speed will drag out causing a lot of motion blur on moving objects.

As for 11 vs 22, covering a 20x40 area will not give you good facial recognition on the far end with the 11. I will barely give it to you at the extreme (corner to corner) with the 22 and that's at 3MP. Drop down to 1MP at night and certainly not. So if you did go with the M12, get a D22N43 because the 43 will not cover as wide and area, but the area it does cover will be nearly twice the size. When you do your testing, figure that you need a minimum face height of 40 pixels, but 80 is ideal.

Also, for what it's worth, the D12 is slightly cheaper, can be outfitted with the same lenses as the M12 and the dome may look better indoors and has the ability to change lenses (the M12 does not ).

The last thing is that flourecents do not give off much IR light. You may want to put in a decent IR illuminator so there's no question on the amount of light you have and will allow for faster shutter speeds and less blur.
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