The Importance of Focal Length over MP in camera selection

[Ri22o]

For reference, here are my front door 5442s. Height is about 9.5'. One is above the front door, the other is about 11' away. They are both 3.6mm. It depends on the person and what they're doing as to whether I can get a good face capture or not.




I also have a 2.8mm next to the door, just above the doorbell. I have considered changing it out for a 3.6mm, but it hasn't been a strong consideration. I do need to work on some settings adjustments though. The seasons really make a difference with lighting and cloud cover.


I also just made this to tell people I am both not interested and to draw more attention to looking over that way.

 

[bigredfish]

That 2.8 needs some SSA or WDR.

 

[Ri22o]

That 2.8 needs some SSA or WDR.

I just checked SSA is on.

 

[bigredfish]

It may be turned ON, but I'll bet it shut itself OFF in that picture. Check this out

One downside to SSA, while it gives a much better image in scenes with big lighting differences, it can and will cut out even when turned on.
By definition its dynamic and decides for itself when its too bright for it to be enabled and "not needed"

No backlight


WDR


SSA



So SSA is On with my Day profile until about 7pm when my schedule switches to Night Profile.

Here's a shot at 2:40pm


Another at almost 4pm



No watch what happens when the sun is at max bright shining into the carport at about 4:30pm

View attachment 192.168.1.110_ch3_20250210162950_20250210163005.mp4

 

[Ri22o]

Yep, I posted about the same issue some time ago. I may just need to add some WDR to it.

Post in thread 'WDR vs SSA'

May 24, 2023

Is this normal behavior? I have noticed this happening out of the corner of my eye while I have the monitor on and working, but never really paid attention and looked into it. It is almost as if it shut the SSA off. I tried refreshing the settings in the UI and a reboot of the camera, but it persisted. The only thing that got it back to normal was switching from the Day profile to Night and back, and 5 minutes later it did the same thing and is now back to acting as if SSA is off.

• Ri22o

• 

 

[bigredfish]

Ahh yes now I remember.

I did have WB set to Auto again, I’ll experiment with that.

 

[Ri22o]

Compared to yesterday, this is now with SSA active.

 

[bigredfish]

Yep it does over do the saturation and under do the contrast. But the price to pay, like with WDR, for getting face shots in dark areas that are backlit

 

[factor01]

That would be correct on the camera.

And yeah, probably best to make a new thread (not now but any future questions) for specifics to your install.

New Thread here.

 

[JPmedia]

This is a pretty good website at being able to pull your house up and select cameras and get an idea of how wide you can see. However, I wouldn't go by the representative sample image for anything much beyond 30 feet.

IPVM Designer / Calculator

Using Google Maps, layout and design cameras, choosing from 10,000+ models, delivering FoV and image quality previews plus export to PDF, Powerpoint and more

calculator.ipvm.com

Unfortunately, your time is very limited for testing that website out. I was on there about 30 seconds, and it a pop-up told me my time was up. It wanted me to join at $199/year, before I even had the chance to get a feel for the process. NO thanks

 

[David L]

Unfortunately, your time is very limited for testing that website out. I was on there about 30 seconds, and it a pop-up told me my time was up. It wanted me to join at $199/year, before I even had the chance to get a feel for the process. NO thanks

Yeah it use to be free to use...

 

[JPmedia]

Yeah it use to be free to use...

I get it but have at least a 24-hour trial period before asking potential users to join, not 24 seconds! How are you supposed to know how well it meets your expectations if you cannot even get one camera in place?

While I'm sure it can be a good tool to get a rough idea, most people are not going to fork over $200 based on 30 seconds of trail use.

 

[bigredfish]

For $200 you can do what I do.

Eyeball it, take an educated guess on which camera/lens , and try it.

If it doesnt work out, (90% of the time it does) I get to buy another new camera!

 

[wittaj]

Unfortunately, your time is very limited for testing that website out. I was on there about 30 seconds, and it a pop-up told me my time was up. It wanted me to join at $199/year, before I even had the chance to get a feel for the process. NO thanks

Yeah, as others pointed out, this used to be free. Thanks for the reminder of another update to this post!

Here was the thread talking about this change, along with another thread started by the owner of that calculator.

I like @bigredfish approach LOL!

This is the latest one folks are using:

System Designer

Generated by create next app

system-designer.vercel.app

 

[David L]

I get it but have at least a 24-hour trial period before asking potential users to join, not 24 seconds! How are you supposed to know how well it meets your expectations if you cannot even get one camera in place?

While I'm sure it can be a good tool to get a rough idea, most people are not going to fork over $200 based on 30 seconds of trail use.

Here is one I have used from time to time.

Lens Calculator

www.jvsg.com

What many of us do here is get a varifocal lens camera to test positions before we buy fixed lens CAMs. After several CAMs though, we pretty much can tell what lens FOV we need, like @bigredfish mentioned...

 

[David L]

Yeah, as others pointed out, this used to be free. Thanks for the reminder of another update to this post!

Here was the thread talking about this change, along with another thread started by the owner of that calculator.

I like @bigredfish approach LOL!

This is the latest one folks are using:

System Designer

Generated by create next app

system-designer.vercel.app

Thanks, did not know about that one. When I get asked about CAMs I will add this, thanks...

 

[JPmedia]

For $200 you can do what I do.

Eyeball it, take an educated guess on which camera/lens , and try it.

If it doesnt work out, (90% of the time it does) I get to buy another new camera!

Well, I'm nowhere as experienced to make educated messes and I have to end up hiding my errors away from the wife. I already have 3 cameras hid in my office drawer. Thankfully, all three of them I bought used, so much less investment (and I'm sure at some point I'll find a use for them

My lack of knowledge is more than FOV, it's choosing the right camera for the installation location and use, which requires experience or help from those who have been through it. When you start with a pre-packaged system you thought was great (and it was great until I was asked to provide evidence to the police with a blurry, blobby mess) and found out I was bamboozled by a slick tongued car salesman.

But I'm stubborn and will keep at it, and just maybe I'll get lucky

 

[David L]

Our Cliff Notes is a good place to start...

IP Cam Talk Cliff Notes

Information in this section was contributed by [URL='https://ipcamtalk.com/members/mat200.29441/'][COLOR=#0000b3]@matt200[/COLOR][/URL] and [URL='https://ipcamtalk.com/members/giomania.36271/'][COLOR=#0000b3]@giomania [/COLOR][/URL] [/LIST] Any dedicated manufacturer NVR should match...

ipcamtalk.com

D.O.R.I. is important to understand when picking a CAM. One of the biggest mistakes people make is thinking one camera does it all.

The key is to figure out what job the camera will be doing. Since most here are for surveillance you want to make sure you have footage that cover doors and windows (entry areas) Same with barns/sheds other buildings you are trying to watch/protect. Of course vehicles/driveways. So multiple cameras will be needed so you can make sure you get Recognize and Identify footage for Law Enforcement.

LPR cameras are another addition which help in capturing License Plates. They are focused/fixed to a specific location on the street to capture plates.

Night vision, getting the correct image sensor. This Thread is full of great information explaining this...watch out for flashy words like 12MP CAMs, they are trash without a large image sensor.

HTH

 

[wittaj]

Well, I'm nowhere as experienced to make educated messes and I have to end up hiding my errors away from the wife. I already have 3 cameras hid in my office drawer. Thankfully, all three of them I bought used, so much less investment (and I'm sure at some point I'll find a use for them

My lack of knowledge is more than FOV, it's choosing the right camera for the installation location and use, which requires experience or help from those who have been through it. When you start with a pre-packaged system you thought was great (and it was great until I was asked to provide evidence to the police with a blurry, blobby mess) and found out I was bamboozled by a slick tongued car salesman.

But I'm stubborn and will keep at it, and just maybe I'll get lucky

Most of us have been burned by the pre-packaged systems LOL. That is what caused me to find this place and be utterly shocked that there actually are cameras that can do better than the stuff you can buy at Best Buy LOL.

 

[wittaj]

Our Cliff Notes is a good place to start...

IP Cam Talk Cliff Notes

Information in this section was contributed by [URL='https://ipcamtalk.com/members/mat200.29441/'][COLOR=#0000b3]@matt200[/COLOR][/URL] and [URL='https://ipcamtalk.com/members/giomania.36271/'][COLOR=#0000b3]@giomania [/COLOR][/URL] [/LIST] Any dedicated manufacturer NVR should match...

ipcamtalk.com

D.O.R.I. is important to understand when picking a CAM. One of the biggest mistakes people make is thinking one camera does it all.

The key is to figure out what job the camera will be doing. Since most here are for surveillance you want to make sure you have footage that cover doors and windows (entry areas) Same with barns/sheds other buildings you are trying to watch/protect. Of course vehicles/driveways. So multiple cameras will be needed so you can make sure you get Recognize and Identify footage for Law Enforcement.

LPR cameras are another addition which help in capturing License Plates. They are focused/fixed to a specific location on the street to capture plates.

Night vision, getting the correct image sensor. This Thread is full of great information explaining this...watch out for flashy words like 12MP CAMs, they are trash without a large image sensor.

HTH

And a recognition that DORI numbers are ideal, best case scenario with ideal light and no movement.

Most here will cut that number in half during the day, and cut that half number in at least half at night.