user3558: The pinhole camera is a 420TVL, 3.7mm Passive Infrared Detector Color Covert Security Camera. Can I use this camera with an arduino creation? 
Things I don't know to answer the question:

Does the power need something special arduino can't offer?
Is the arduino powerful enough to push the video feed/photos to a computer or any other method to video/photos. 

Here are some specs from the site:


Sensor   1/3" Sony Super HAD II CCD
Picture Elements  NTSC 768x494
PAL 752x582
Horizontal Resolution 420 TVL
Minimum Illumination  0.001 Lux
S/N Ratio more than 50dB
Scanning System   2:1 interlace
Synchronous System    Internal, Negative sync
Auto Electronic Shutter   NTSC 1/60s ~ 1/100,000s
PAL 1/50s ~ 1/100,000s
Gamma Characteristics 0.45
Video Output  1 Vpp, 75 ohms
Auto Gain Control Auto
Power / Current   DC 12V (±10%) / 150mA
Lens  3.7mm Taper Pinhole Lens


Is it possible? They're on sale but I don't want to throw money away and find out that they don't work with any arduino. Also, I don't have any setup for this to be plugged into. Therefore, I'm not tied down to previous creations the cameras need to fit in.

user612: No, you cannot use this with an Arduino without additional hardware in between, and even with it, not as more than a still camera (or maybe low quality video for one of the ARM- rather than ATmega-based boards).
The first problem is that this camera has a high speed analog output called composite video.  It is basically what would be fed into a modulator to produce an old-style analog TV signal.  Capturing this digitally requires an Analog to Digital converter (ADC) capable of several million measurements per second, while that on the classic ATmega-based Arduino tops out at around ten thousand.
But let's say you had an additional Analog-to-digital converter to put in between this and your arduino.  The next problem is that the data rate out of the camera will be too high, and the Arduino won't have enough RAM memory to buffer it. 
In theory, you could get a "frame grabber" consisting of an ADC and its own buffer memory, which would take a still snapshot of the video and allow the arduino to read it out more slowly.  But you can buy cameras which already do that with their onboard electronics, and allowing something like an Arduino to read the still image data out over a moderate speed serial interface.
Even the ARM-based arduino boards would be taxed to keep up with the output of a video ADC and do much of anything useful with the results - typical digital cameras do not record raw images to SD card, but do JPEG compression within a frame.  When cheap digital cameras operate in video mode, they compress each frame of the video before storing it (just as with stills - they do not compress between frames in the manner of real video recorders), and are able to get that processing done in time because the actual computing hardware is optimized for it in a way that none of the Arduinos are.
If you want to experiment with a camera on a development platform, there is one with a high speed digital interface sold as an add-on for the Raspberry Pi board.  Or you can use a more inexpensive USB webcam with that.

3558: <p>The pinhole camera is a <a href="http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=110&amp;cp_id=11018&amp;cs_id=1101801&amp;p_id=9285&amp;seq=1&amp;format=2" rel="nofollow">420TVL, 3.7mm Passive Infrared Detector Color Covert Security Camera</a>. Can I use this camera with an arduino creation? </p>

<p>Things I don't know to answer the question:</p>

<ol>
<li>Does the power need something special arduino can't offer?</li>
<li>Is the arduino powerful enough to push the video feed/photos to a computer or any other method to video/photos. </li>
</ol>

<p>Here are some specs from the site:</p>

<blockquote>
  <ul>
  <li>Sensor   1/3" Sony Super HAD II CCD</li>
  <li>Picture Elements  NTSC 768x494</li>
  <li>PAL 752x582</li>
  <li>Horizontal Resolution 420 TVL</li>
  <li>Minimum Illumination  0.001 Lux</li>
  <li>S/N Ratio more than 50dB</li>
  <li>Scanning System   2:1 interlace</li>
  <li>Synchronous System    Internal, Negative sync</li>
  <li>Auto Electronic Shutter   NTSC 1/60s ~ 1/100,000s</li>
  <li>PAL 1/50s ~ 1/100,000s</li>
  <li>Gamma Characteristics 0.45</li>
  <li>Video Output  1 Vpp, 75 ohms</li>
  <li>Auto Gain Control Auto</li>
  <li>Power / Current   DC 12V (±10%) / 150mA</li>
  <li>Lens  3.7mm Taper Pinhole Lens</li>
  </ul>
</blockquote>

<p>Is it possible? They're on sale but I don't want to throw money away and find out that they don't work with any arduino. Also, I don't have any setup for this to be plugged into. Therefore, I'm not tied down to previous creations the cameras need to fit in.</p>
 612: <p>No, you cannot use this with an Arduino without additional hardware in between, and even with it, not as more than a still camera (or maybe low quality video for one of the ARM- rather than ATmega-based boards).</p>

<p>The first problem is that this camera has a high speed analog output called composite video.  It is basically what would be fed into a modulator to produce an old-style analog TV signal.  Capturing this digitally requires an Analog to Digital converter (ADC) capable of several million measurements per second, while that on the classic ATmega-based Arduino tops out at around ten thousand.</p>

<p>But let's say you had an additional Analog-to-digital converter to put in between this and your arduino.  The next problem is that the data rate out of the camera will be too high, and the Arduino won't have enough RAM memory to buffer it. </p>

<p>In theory, you could get a "frame grabber" consisting of an ADC and its own buffer memory, which would take a still snapshot of the video and allow the arduino to read it out more slowly.  But you can buy cameras which already do that with their onboard electronics, and allowing something like an Arduino to read the still image data out over a moderate speed serial interface.</p>

<p>Even the ARM-based arduino boards would be taxed to keep up with the output of a video ADC and do much of anything useful with the results - typical digital cameras do not record raw images to SD card, but do JPEG compression within a frame.  When cheap digital cameras operate in video mode, they compress each frame of the video before storing it (just as with stills - they do not compress between frames in the manner of real video recorders), and are able to get that processing done in time because the actual computing hardware is optimized for it in a way that none of the Arduinos are.</p>

<p>If you want to experiment with a camera on a development platform, there is one with a high speed digital interface sold as an add-on for the Raspberry Pi board.  Or you can use a more inexpensive USB webcam with that.</p>
