Camera Resolution the benefits, trade offs, and why you want more

You have seen the pictures on the news. Some one has robbed a convenience store and they need your help in identifying the perpetrator. When they show the image the person is one of three things some one in a hoodie or is that a babushka or it could be ET. The reason for this is a lack of resolution.

The way to think of camera resolution by thinking of drawing a picture. Imagine you have a sheet of paper and you start making dots on the paper to create a picture. The smaller the dots and the greater the number the more detailed the picture becomes. So the benefit of greater resolution is greater detail. When a image needs to be blown up, like a close up of a person in a store, the greater detail allows a usable image. We can then tell what a person looks like and what they are wearing for a more positive identification. Cheap cameras have to trade off better sensors that have higher resolution and low light capabilities for cost.

While high resolution is great for things like identification there are some downsides as well.

High resolution means a higher amount of data is created by the camera sensors. This means that a greater amount of storage is required for the images. Either a greater cost is incurred in terms of hard drive space needed or the record time is decreased to handle the higher resolution. Often the result is a balancing act, where the cost of increased storage space is weighted against the length of time that the recordings are stored. If too short a time is selected, say two days, the result maybe that the recordings are overwritten before there has been a chance to retrieve the recordings.

Higher resolution also requires better cabling and termination of the cabling. if a cable is installed incorrectly or not terminated correctly it can reduce the bandwidth of the cable. If this happens video loss can occur.

Cheap packaged systems get around these problems by reducing the image resolution and by reducing the length of cable runs. This is why when you buy a packaged camera system from a big box store it will often come with a proprietary cable for the cameras.

The best way to avoid these problems is by choosing quality cameras and recorders with the realization of the higher costs this brings. In the long run this will result in a system that will outperform the cheaper system with a longer usable lifespan for the equipment.