I've been dabbling with cheapos for a while.
Would like to buy a decent camera. The C-Mount type with interchangable
lens is the way to go. But, they are too much in the grand scheme.
Areas of my concern are Field of View without fish eying
with a Low Lux auto shutter.
Another way to approach this is to try and find out the camera
CCD element they are using. Then I look up the chips capabilities.
I like that site since they have a lot of sample video.
I've been taking apart the X10 wireless cameras and wiring long
cables to them. Need to make a mount next. Its on my arm long list
of things to do.
Some of the cheap PC cameras FROM a few years back make good
specimens.
The Sun Workstation Camera is a great camera. But its the size
of a cigarette pack. So it would be chassis mounted.