Does image quality of IP cameras deteriorate over time?

[dgsmith]

A fair few of our internal IP network cameras have been in situ for a good number of years (2009-2012 are among the oldest, 1 or 2 slightly older) and despite at the time being 2-3MP and from memory fairly good quality, these days the quality "seems" to have reduced, despite the settings being unchanged. Compared to our newer hikvision cameras of similar or even slightly lesser megapixel quality, there is a clear difference.

 

Can the lens in these units degrade over time to output an inferior image even if the settings are broadly the same as when new? I have no comparison of the output from 10+ years ago so can't really be sure if it's just the newer kit is better at the same megapixel quality or if quality is "lost" over time. Our older cameras are mostly ACTi and Axis.

[bald_pig]

Have you ever cleaned the lenses and/or housings? It may well just have crud on the lens

[chaplic]

I've got hikvision cameras installed at my home, 5 years old. Just installed some for the inlaws and the PQ is astonishingly good, much better than the 5 year old kit despite spec being about the same.

[jthompson]

Crud and dust accumulation, I suspect. I wonder whether a VBR stream would end up at a lower bitrate over time if the picture has become less optically sharp/focussed or electronic components have begin to wear.

[southhamster]

Our CCTV supplier commented that they found camera image quality degraded on cameras near the sea. Maybe the effect of salt/pollution degraded the lenses. Don't know about CCTV cams, but actual camera lenses have all kinds of clever coatings to improve performance so maybe that is it.

[Aprice]

I'm sure I've seen some lenses start to yellow in some older installs I've seen. UV exposure from the sun would be my guess.

[dgsmith]

The cameras being internal show little signs of dust accumulation, no more than any others anyway. Some have been moved over the years which in turn has meant a cleaning of some description. I am sure part of it could be that newer cameras of a similarly advertised specification have just got better in recent years to produce a better quality but I didn't think the difference could be quite so noticeable.