Security Camera
From BioShock Wiki
| Security Camera | |
| 1 | + Damage Vulnerable to armor-piercing rounds and electricity |
|---|---|
| 2 | Twice the film found on destroyed cameras |
| 3 | ++ Damage |
| 4 | Flow speed reduced when hacking cameras |
| 5 | +++ Damage |
Security Cameras throughout Rapture help maintain order. Staying within their field of view for too long is bound to set off an alarm and get you unwanted attention from Security Bots. Once the alarm is sounded, you either have to wait until it resets (as long as one minute) or use a Bot Shutdown Panel.
Big Daddies and Little Sisters and Splicers are normally ignored by Security Cameras. Hacking a camera causes it to be hostile to Splicers but not to Big Daddies or Little Sisters. Using Security Bullseye on a Big Daddy or Splicer will cause cameras to initiate an alarm against them.
It is possible the reason why Jack is the only one normally attacked, is because Ryan wants you dead and programmed them to only send bots after you, as the splicers do his bidding via the pheromones being pumped through Rapture's ventilation system.
[edit] Strategy
Although easily destroyed without consequence, hacking a security camera can turn it into a valuable ally that will call in Security Bots to assault your enemies.
Some cameras are mounted too high to hack. You don't get the option to hack a camera when you stand under it and look up. The easiest approach is to look up at it, jump, and at the top of the jump, attempt to hack the camera. You may also be able to jump up onto something to reach it. One or two may be completely unreachable.
A security camera's field of view is easily seen by the searchlight it projects. A hostile camera's searchlight is red whereas a hacked camera's searchlight is green.
The searchlight becomes white when it detects an enemy after which they have a about 2-4 seconds before the alarm goes off if they continue to stay in the camera's field of view. If you have the Natural Camouflage Physical Tonic equipped, all you need to do is stop moving, as the tonic effect comes into play faster than the camera alarm. Cameras have a blind spot directly beneath their mounting.
The camera is especially vulnerable to armor-piercing ammunition. Electrical attacks can short out the camera temporarily and ice attacks (Liquid Nitrogen or Winter Blast) can freeze it temporarily, allowing safe passage, although it is usually easy enough to wait for a camera to turn away and then walk beneath it, from where you can hack it (after taking its pictures, if you have a Research Camera). If destroyed, cameras may provide film for the Research Camera.
| Enemies in BioShock | ||
| Organic | Thuggish Splicer · Leadhead Splicer · Nitro Splicer · Houdini Splicer · Spider Splicer | |
| Big Daddy (Machine) | Bouncer · Rosie · Rumbler | |
| Machine | Security Bot · Security Camera · Turrets | |
