Best 12 Megapixel Security Cameras

4K cameras may be all the hype right now, but what if they just don’t cut it for your specific needs? Want to step up to the best 12 MP CCTV cameras on the market? We got you covered.

We rounded up the best 12MP IP cameras on the market that offer both stellar daytime detail and outstanding night time performance with no compromise on features.

Of course, the price band these premium IP cameras occupy is a step above the 4K cameras but that’s to be expected.

The Best 12 Megapixel Security Cameras

Hikvision DS-2CD4AC5F-IZH – Outdoor Bullet with Motorized Zoom, Audio and Heater

What list of high-end IP cameras would be complete without Hikvision on the list? Let’s start with the Hikvision DS-2CD4AC5F-IZH. Just like the Dahua, this IP camera also sports a 1/1.7″ CMOS sensor. The lens is a more standard 2.8 – 12 mm motorized varifocal with f/1.4. The lens also has the Smart Focus with auto-iris feature. The viewing angle ranges from 31.8° to 93.6°.

H.264 H.264+ and H.265 encoding are supported. It can only do 15 fps at 12MP resolution, which is a slight letdown.

Night vision range of 50 metres is provided by the onboard EXIR style IR LEDs.

Compared to the Dahua above, the Hikvision also supports line crossing (tripwire), intrusion detection, and abandoned/missing object, face detection, people counting, and a heat map feature.

Local storage of images and motion detection clips is supported with an SD card slot that takes up to 128 GB cards. For cameras with such high pixel counts, the SD card is more suited as a fail-over video recording destination in case of network outage.

On the connectivity front, IEEE 802.3af PoE is present. The -S in the model name indicates the 1x audio in and outs, and 1x alarm in / 1x out ports.

A standout feature is the built-in heater for starting the camera in low temperature operation. This is indicated by the -H in the model name.

On the list of downsides, I would mention the lack of 120dB WDR, the 15 fps frame rate max for 12MP recording and lack of 2-way full-duplex audio.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lO_u1aq8gE

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Dahua NK8BB7Z – Outdoor Bullet with Motorized Zoom, Audio & Heater

Dahua is a great security camera brand so let’s see if they have an answer to the Hikvision above. The IP camera that I have picked is the Dahua NK8BB7Z. This IP camera also uses a very large and highly sensitive 1/1.7″ Sony Starvis sensor with 12MP resolution. It also has a motorized zoom range of 4.1 mm to 16.4 mm. An auto iris feature based on the Hall effect sensor is also provided.

The camera can encode 4000×3000 resolution at 20fps which is better than the comparable Hikvision models. Both H.264 and H.265 encoding are supported. There is also a feature called Smart H.265+ whereby the camera uses a scene-adaptive strategy to reduce bitrate and storage requirements qithout compromising quality.

The f-stop is F1.53 at the wide end. The viewing angle ranges from 35° to 85° at 12MP resolution.

One feature frequently missing from high MP cameras is an on-board IR illuminator. Fear not, this Dahua has 4 EXIR LEDs giving it a stellar night vision range of 50m (164 feet).

I always rave about security cameras with advanced motion detection ability because they can drastically reduce false alerts. Like all top-end Dahua IP cameras, this camera also supports line crossing (tripwire), intrusion detection, and abandoned/missing object. On top of that, it also has face detection, people counting, and a heat map feature.

Local storage of images and motion detection clips is supported with an SD card slot that takes up to 128 GB cards. For cameras with such high pixel counts, the SD card is more suited as a fail-over video recording destination in case of network outage.

On the connectivity front, IEEE 802.3af PoE is present, as is 1x audio in and outs. 2x alarm in / 1x out are also provided.

Just like the Hikvision model, there’s a built-in heater for cold start situations.

The downsides in this model are lack of WDR, no audio detection features and the 2-way audio is only half-duplex (like a walkie-talkie).

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Hikvision DS-2CD55C5G0-IZHS – Outdoor Dome with Zoom & Heater

If you prefer the vandal resistance of a dome form factor, this Hikvision DS-2CD41C5F-IZ has you covered. This dome has most of the same features as the Hikvision bullet we saw earlier. So I will focus on the differences. The 1/1.7” Progressive Scan CMOS is not the Starvis type. Still it can do a minimum of 0.008 Lux when zoomed out and with IR, it can work in complete darkness of 0 Lux.

The semi-manual varifocal lens goes from 2.8-12mm and has viewing angle ranges from 36.1° to 101°.

H.264, H.264+, H.265 and H.265+ encoding are supported. It can do 20 fps at 12MP resolution, which is very good.

Night vision range of 30 metres is provided by the on-board EXIR style 850nm IR LEDs.

Local storage of images and motion detection clips is supported with an SD card slot that takes up to 256 GB cards, but edge recording is not available.

On the connectivity front, IEEE 802.3af PoE is present. The -S in the model name indicates the 1x audio in and outs, and 1x alarm in / 1x out ports.

The -H in the model name means there is a built-in heater for cold start applications

On the list of downsides, I would mention the lack of 120dB WDR and lack of 2-way full-duplex audio.

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Dahua NK8BL7Z – Outdoor Dome with Motorized Zoom & Heater

So let’s look at this alternative to the Hikvision dome above. The Dahua NK8BL7Z also has a similarly large and highly sensitive 1/1.7″ Sony Starvis sensor with 12MP resolution. It also has a motorized zoom range of 4.1 mm to 16.4 mm.

Both H.264 and H.265 encoding are supported. It can also do 20 fps at 12MP resolution and 30fps at 4K (8MP) resolution). The f-stop is F1.53 at the wide end. The viewing angle ranges from 35° to 105° at 12MP resolution. The auto iris is motorized and is the Hall effect type.

This Dahua dome has 3 EXIR LEDs giving it very good night vision range of 50m or 164 feet.

Like all top-end Dahua IP cameras, this camera also supports line crossing (tripwire), intrusion detection, and abandoned/missing object. On top of that, it also has face detection, people counting, and a heat map feature.

Local storage of images and motion detection clips is supported with an SD card slot that takes up to 128 GB cards. For cameras with such high pixel counts, the SD card is more suited as a fail-over video recording destination in case of network outage.

On the connectivity front, IEEE 802.3at PoE+ is present, as are 1x audio in/out and 1x alarm in/out connections.

On the list of downsides, I would mention the lack of 120dB WDR, lack of 2-way full-duplex audio and audio detection alert events.

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Vivotek MS8391-EV Outdoor Panoramic Security Camera

Vivotek is a high-end security camera manufacturer that typically caters to the commercial integrator market. But they do sell retail and you can pick up one of their amazing cameras pretty easily.

The MS8391-EV is a unique outdoor vandal-resistant panoramic camera that can do a resolution of 7552 x 1416. The panoramic term refers to its amazing 180 degree field-of-view. It does this by putting together the images from the 4 discrete 3MP sensors.

Each sensor has a 6mm lens with f/1.6 aperture. It has night vision through the 4 Smart IR LEDs that are built-in. The range is a good 98 feet.

Enhanced Wide Dynamic Range (WDR) is available to avoid areas such as shadows getting under-exposed. 2-way audio is available and as with most Vivotek cameras, this is the full-duplex variety. No walkit-talkie business here!

A microSD/SDHC/SDXC slot is available for edge recording. The only downside is the maximum frame rate of 7 fps at 12MP resolution. Smart stream technology is included to optimise bandwidth usage.

Power input is via either 24 VAC or 802.3at PoE connection.

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Dahua IPC-HFW81230E-ZE – Outdoor Bullet Camera with Motorized Zoom

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_rXBbJvVpQ

Both H.264 and H.265 encoding are supported. It can also do 20 fps at 12MP resolution. The f-stop is F1.53 at the wide end. The viewing angle ranges from 35° to 105° at 12MP resolution.

One feature frequently missing from high MP cameras is an on-board IR illuminator. Fear not, this Dahua has 4 EXIR LEDs giving it a stellar night vision range of 50m or 164 feet.

I love security cameras with advanced motion detection ability. Like all top-end Dahua IP cameras, this camera also supports line crossing (tripwire), intrusion detection, and abandoned/missing object. On top of that, it also has face detection, people counting, and a heat map feature.

Local storage of images and motion detection clips is supported with an SD card slot that takes up to 128 GB cards. For cameras with such high pixel counts, the SD card is more suited as a fail-over video recording destination in case of network outage.

On the connectivity front, IEEE 802.3af PoE is present, as is 1x audio in and outs. 2x alarm in / 1x out are also provided.

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What to look for in a 12 Megapixel Security Camera

At the high-end of the security camera market populated by the 12 Megapixel IP cameras, there are features that you just wouldn’t see elsewhere.

So a slightly different set of criteria need to be set before you select your 12MP camera:

• Indoor or Outdoor – Outdoor cameras should have at least an IP66 rating for weather protection
• Wired connections – At 12 Megapixel resolution of 4000×3000, you have to use a wired connection. Wi-Fi simply doesn’t have the bandwidth required to carry that much data. 802.3at PoE (also called Poe+) is fine but an SFP fibre-optic slot is even better due to its ability to cover long distances.
• Local storage for Edge Recording – As a failover mechanism in case of link failure, an SD card can be a life-saver.
• Smart motion detection methods such as line crossing, intrusion detection, face detection and even heat maps should come as standard. Less common is audio event detection.
• If 2-way audio is important to you, look for full-duplex support as opposed to half-duplex. Otherwise you will be having an 80s style walkie-talkie conversation through your very expensive 12MP IP camera!
• Smart home compatibility – Make sure the camera has ONVIF support for inter-operability with other brands and hardware

Conclusion

The 12 Megapixel CCTV cameras that we have reviewed above are the cream of the crop when it comes to high-resolution security cameras. The added features such as heaters and optical zoom allow you to cover large areas without giving up video quality.