Ajax Cameras

Ajax cameras: the camera that lives in the alarm app

Ajax IP cameras in dome, turret and bullet formats, black or white, plus the brand’s recorders. What sets them apart is not the sensor: it is that the camera, the detectors and the alarm are all seen and managed in a single app.

Who it is for

For anyone who already has, or is about to install, an Ajax alarm and does not want a second app. The scenarios line up: a detector trips and the camera in that zone shows you what happened, in the same alert. For a home with four to eight points it is the easiest system to live with day to day. If you need twenty different lenses or motorised varifocals, the variety is in Dahua and Hikvision; and if the project has no Ajax alarm, the main advantage of these cameras disappears.

What to compare

1. Form factor. Dome mini for indoors and porches, bullet for outdoor reach, turret as a discreet middle ground.
2. Resolution. There are 5 and 8 MP versions. On entrances and perimeters, 8 MP gives room to zoom into the image; indoors 5 MP is usually plenty.
3. Finish. White or black. On a dark façade black draws less attention; indoors white disappears.
4. Recording. Card in the camera, or an Ajax recorder. With several cameras and time-based searching, go for the recorder.
5. Scenarios with the alarm. This is the part to plan: which detector triggers which camera, and what alert reaches your phone.

How it gets installed here

On the Costa del Sol the usual approach is to combine an Ajax alarm that is already in place with two or three cameras at the points where a detector alone does not tell you what happened: the gate, the front door and the back yard. These are PoE cameras, so cable and switch have to be counted from the start. If you already have the system, tell us which hub you run and we will tell you what can be added without touching anything else.

Worth reading first

• Ajax with other brands’ cameras: scenarios
• Ajax alarm with no monthly fees

Two references: the Ajax DomeCam Mini 5 MP IP camera and the Ajax BulletCam 8 MP.

Frequently asked questions

Can I install Ajax cameras without an Ajax alarm?
They work, but you lose what makes them different: the scenarios with the detectors and a single alert in one app. If you are not installing an Ajax alarm, compare price and features with Dahua and Hikvision first, because the catalogue there is much wider.

When a detector sees something, do I get the footage too?
With a camera linked to that detector, the alert can carry the video from the moment it tripped — which is exactly what stops you driving home over a false alarm. It has to be configured at installation; it is not set up out of the box.

Are these cameras mains-powered or battery-powered?
They run over network cable with PoE, like the professional cameras in the rest of the catalogue. The system’s detectors use batteries, but the cameras do not: plan the cable run and a PoE switch with enough power budget.