Best Type of Weather Cam

[wxdoofus]

I'm trying to get a professional weather cam set up on top of a skyscraper to view incoming weather for scientific research. The issue I'm running into is determining what type of sensor technology to use.

 

One option that I was originally leaning toward was a module with Sony Effio-P....Granted, it's an analog 900H  (700TVL) camera; Though I understand these actually get converted to standard def by the time you view them due to limitations in the amount of bandwidth cables can carry, etc....The pluses that I've noted with these are that the sensors are CCD, they have the strongest zoom ability (some modules going to 36x optical zoom) and it has real Wide Dynamic Range....The downside being the standard def.

 

The second option is the high def, all digital CMOS sensors (such as Sony Exmor)....I first discarded this option completely due to the inferior reputation of CMOS in the past....However, looking at some of the video samples online, I must admit that I'm surprised at how good they look on your average partly sunny day. Very crisp images, good contrast ratio between the deep blue sky, clouds and surrounding trees/buildings. Not neary as blurry and washed out as the standard def analog cams...However, these tend to have less zoom (only finding about 20x optical) and though they look better on a sunny/partly sunny afternoon, not sure how they would compare in less-ideal situations (ie. low light situations, trying to catch funnel clouds at night during lighting strikes, etc.)

 

Point is, these are for scientific research, not just entertainment value. Thus, I wouldn't want to get something that looks better on a sunny day if it's somehow inferior during the harshest of conditions. Is there anyone here with experience in this that could help shed some more light on the situation for me? Again, the biggest issues at hand would be any potential limitations in having more or less optical zoom, more or less resolution, dynamic range ability, low light ability, and rapidly changing light (freeze framing lightning during night thunderstorms to analyze surrounding cloud structure)

 

Thanks for any help you could offer!

[dendrite]

A lot of places use the StarDot cams. I think their big Black Friday sale runs through tomorrow so you would have to make the decision quick. Their streaming cameras are part of the sale too.

 

http://www.stardot-tech.com/blackfriday.html