CCTV lens calculator

Anybody recommend a good and free CCTV lens calculator?

Reply to
G. Morgan
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Yes

Reply to
Robert L Bass

I'm still using the one I got from my Javelin rep. :-P

Reply to
Frank Olson

I can't get any of the online ones to work with my browser(s)! Javascript is enabled on Firefox, but no joy.

Lemme ask you this, camera mounted above front doors - needs to see

15' in each direction down (30' total) mounting height of 10'-12'. What lens for 1/3" ccd?
Reply to
G. Morgan

What is the distance from the camera to the target area ?

Reply to
A.J.

About 4-8 feet depending on mounting ht. need to see faces coming inside door plus a lot of peripheral on the sides of the door.

I might need a 1/2" ccd ?

Reply to
G. Morgan

Another "helpful" post to add to the "tens of thousands" you've left here... :-)

Reply to
Frank Olson

Ooops, read the message again and realised that the camera is mounted from the ceiling looking down.

Distance to object 10 feet Lens 1.6 mm Field of View 30' x 22.5 '

According to the online calculator at supercircuits.com. Looks like you will need two cameras back to back to provide the desire coverage. They will be both looking down but covering a different 15' in different direction. but looks like you still need to get down to 3mm lens just to cover 16' across.

Reply to
A.J.

Actually it's going to mounted on a wall facing the door entrance that has a vertical ht. of 20' so I can mount it higher if I can get away with just one cam.

Basically, I'm looking for a 140° field, mounted at least 10' high up to 20' (hope it don't have to be that high) with person recognition in the center of the door entry and still see any shenanigans 15' on either side of the door.

Kinda like a half fish-eye?

Reply to
G. Morgan

With camera mounted at 20 feet using a 4mm lens, your FOV is still limited to 24 x 18.

If you move the camera to 25' height using a 4mm lens, you will get

30'x22.5".

But then both mounting height are no good since you can only see the top of the heads anyway.

You want face regonition and you also want a large FOV with one camera ??????

Reply to
A.J.

I told the dude it would take two cams. Our company charges monthly by # of cams online. I want to find a cam that he can buy outright.

I thought maybe by adjusting ccd size and height and lens I could get away with one.

I'll make the recommendation that I already thought, and you confirmed.. He's got to have two to cover his entrance. Now I'll just have one for face recognition in front and the other mounted on the side to cover lateral.

Reply to
G. Morgan
1/2" CCD doesn't give you much more FOV.

Try this site

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Reply to
A.J.

Awesome, that one works in my browser.

Thanks man.

Reply to
G. Morgan

I don't do many "cheap" installations so I basically just keep two lenses on hand. They cover 99% of my applications. I keep a 2.8-12mm Varifocal AI and a 5.5-33mm Varifocal AI lens on the shelf. The 2.8-12mm covers probably

95% of all applications and its pretty darned inexpensive if you shop around. The savings to go with a fixed focal lens is more than outweighed by the labor savings when the customer asks me to adjust the field of view. I just hand the customer one of my GMRS radios and tell them to stand in front of the monitor while I go get on the lift, climb the pole, setup the ladder, or whatever. I tap in a t-connector at the camera (if signal strength is not an issue and I use my inspection monitor so I can see what they see. One trip up the ladder. One lens on the camera. When the customer says ok then its OK. If they want it changed in the future then its a billable service call because they said it was ok the way it was before.

It also helps them to understand things like, "No. Wider is not better. More cameras is better."

For field calculations prior to bidding a job I have an eyeball monitor and a 12VDC camera that I run off a battery pack. This often helps me show customers what they will get before hand, and the preparedness often lands the client. There are a few cheap skates out there who will try to use that info to do it themselves. Let them. Once they have demonstrated what they are I am always too busy to help them when they call back. "Gee, we are awfully busy right now. If you really want us to look at it I have a whole in my schedule in about 5 weeks. If you want us out you need to schedule for that time now. There will be a charge for coming out of course." If they hem and haw, when they call back I seem to have always scheduled that time, but if they can put it off another week I might be able to work them in.

Its all about maximizing your time.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

I'm just getting back into doing CCTV. I dropped out of CCTV work about

15 years or so ago becuse I decided I wasn't going to compete with the guys who were selling equipment for cost and $200.00 for a days pay.

Recently, it's taken me about 6 months and a couple of exibits to get down to the few pieces of equipment I want to deal with. There's just too damn much equipment out there to decide upon. I've been thinking about doing just what you said above, regarding bringing a camera and small monitor to do estimates. Most people think that everything they see on TV action programs is available for $1.95. They want a lens on one camera that can see the entire parking lot, the license plate number on the car and identify the person in the car too. It's a lot easier to show them than trying to explain FOV, MM, distance to object, lighting, backlight control and day/night switching and why. And that pan and tilt and going from 2.5 to 70 MM, doesn't just happen like in the movies. I've decided that $800 a camera inside and $1000.00 (w/o PTZ) outside, is going to be what it takes to get me to do it. I'm sticking with residential and MAYBE small commercial if it's for an existing customer. Anywhere from $2 to $3k for the DVR and $600, on up for the monitor. I figure that pricing ought to keep the work fairly high end and enable me to keep my work schedule within 3 to 4 weeks with all the other things I'm doing.

But I gotta tell ya, it was tough trying to choose the equipment. Too DAMN many choices!

Reply to
Jim

What names did you decide on? Other than the DVR, for the market you discribed, I choose names brands everyone is familiar with. Made the sales easier and gave the client a comfort level right out of the box.

Reply to
Bob Worthy

That's all great advice. Thank you.

Reply to
G. Morgan

That's all Cracker deserves.

Reply to
news.comcast.net

Yeah, ummm. I was asking people in the trade, so your response would have been ignored either way.

Reply to
G. Morgan

Well, as I say, I've been searching catlogs and asking people what they use and why. I've been (re) learning what spec's cameras and DVR etc, I should be looking for (nowdays, compared to 15 years ago) . Then a couple of weeks ago, I spent 2 days at the ISC show in NY and went to just about every CCTV booth. The following is the equipment I've going to order to experiment with. Not sure which I'll end up using. Keep in mind this is for residential.

One of the things that I kept repeating at the show was that most of the equipment that has any capability seems to be priced for the commercial market. That is, in commercial you drill a hole through a cement wall .... run some wires along a drop ceiling, down a wall by a secretaries desk .... hook it up and walk away. In residential.... al lot ..... lot more has to go into hiding wires, making the system work though the TV, snaking, and not have a jumble of wires showing behind the monitor on the kitchen counter. And ...... Yes, we still need the varifocal lens, back light control, day night all that other nice suff but we need that in a camera that falls into the $200 to $300.00 range because the rest of what we charge is going to be eaten up in snaking, interfacing and control with existing monitors and making it look nice. And $89.00 camera is out of the question. On the other hand, residential doesn't seem to be as demanding on resolution of picture and day night capability. As well as less stringent requirments for any DVR, except internet viewing. So these are the items I'll be trying out over the next couple of months.

DVR Everfocus EDR 410 H Everfocus EDR 810 H I like the compactness and simplicity of operation of these units for residential use.

Speco DVR4 or 8 or 16 TN

But I like the following one ( on paper), best so far, but I'll have to buy one and check it out.

Power Telecom Mercury model MPEG4 pentaplex standalone DVR

They have better modles also. I'll be ordering one in the next couple of weeks.

Cameras

Everfocus EHD525

Speco CVC7445EXTP

I intend to use LCD monitors and I don't think it's necessary to decide on just one, as they all seem to be pretty equal. I see some pretty economical LCD monitors in Office Depot and Staples which I think would be adequate for residential use.

One thing I did recently learn and that is that I may have to re evaluate my choice in cameras because ....... I found out that the infra red light sources are not ( in fact ) LED's and that they only have a life expectancy of about 4 or 5 years. I was under the impression that they were LED's and had a long useable life like a regular LED. I've got to follow up on this information and perhaps decide that it might be better to pay a little more for a low lux camera rather than have to go back to the end user in a few years and say Oppppps, it's time to buy a new CAMMMMMMMMRAAAAA!

I've got to find out if repair of the light source is possible/economical.

Were you aware of this?

Reply to
Jim

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