testshoot

I made a bad assumption that these cameras could use any of the M12 board mount lenses. I ordered the Costco 4 camera package but knew the FOV of the 6mm lens would at most only be useful for one of the four cameras. I ordered a 3.6mm and a 12mm lens as the beginning of my swap project. Since these cameras are offered with the 3.6, 6, and 8mm, I suspect the 3.6mm lens swap would work fine, and it did, but the 12mm won't focus at distance. When I screw in the 12mm lens, it will focus close, i.e. within the first foot or two, but beyond that it is just fuzzy and no matter how much I screw it in and out, it just won't focus for me. Since the 12mm FOV of 29 was the most important FOV for me of the cameras I was installing, I was very disappointed. According to a data sheet I found for the Mega Pixel brand lenses, the back focal length of the 3.6mm is 6.59 and the 12mm is 6.54, i.e. virtually identical. As a comparison the 6mm is 8.75mm and the 8mm is 5.4mm Since the camera is supposed to work with the 3.6, 6, and 8mm, I am wondering why it isn't working right with the 12mm for me. What other lenses have the people here tried, and worked? I think I saw someone who tried the 2.8mm lens. There is also a 16mm lens which seem to be the two extremes available not counting the pinhole versions. Thanks for any help or suggestions!

That's not possible. The rear lens element is located, you guessed it, at the rear. Cutting would just render the lens unuseable. Actually, on the lenses I tested the rear lens was not all the way at the back of the threads. One each of the lenses I am guessing there was about 2.5mm space from the last element to the end of the threads. I am guessing on the lenses where I wasn't able to screw the lens in far enough that I could have either cut down the lens mount or cut some threads off of the back of the lens, depending on where the obstruction was. One supplier did suggest buying a shorter lens mount which would be the same as cutting some threads off of the lens mount if you were talented enough to do that without messing things up. I haven't been able to get a BFL spec from Dahua and some of the lens suppliers won't give or don't have a BFL spec for their lenses so it is a bit of a crap shoot.

Image quality is primarily the optic, the sensor, and the software that takes the raw data and makes it into an image. About all we can change on a camera is the lens. I have to assume a lens that cost $15 is better than if you pay $14 for six of them. Also, as a general rule, lenses sold with a metal mount are better than ones sold with a plastic mount. I am working with two vendors to find a good quality compatible 12mm lens. Rage's price of $89 is outrageous no matter how good it is and I am not desperate enough to pay as much for a lens as the whole camera, or nearly so.

Hello, I think the 16mm would be too narrow and I think he had chromatic aberration on the 12mm or it wasn't IR compatible. I checked the DX page and it doesn't mention IR for the lenses. His sample show was in a cloudy condition and he mentioned fringing when the sun came out. He also said the 6mm in the kit was lower quality than the 6mm that came with the camera indicating that the whole set of lenses is of lower quality that the Mega Pixel brand. I am in email communication with the person from m12lenses. They are trying to help me find an appropriate 12mm lens. Since the Mega Pixel 12mm lens couldn't screw in far enough, they are suggesting that changing the mount might be the solution. Don't know what that will take. They asked for the length from the PCB to the top of the mount to see if they have a shorter mount that will let the 12mm lens screw in the 2-3mm more that it needs.

M12lenses.com sells what appear to be two grades. One line is simply called "board lenses" with no brand name. The 12mm lens is f2.0 and sells for$5.27. They also sell a "Mega Pixel" brand that is labeled MEGA, the same labeling as the Dahua provided lens. The MEGA 12mm lens is F1.8 and marked IR and sells for $14.70. The cheaper lens also appears to have a plastic body vs. metal. Bikerider was able to buy a set of 4 or 5 lenses for the same price as I paid for one MEGA lens. He was able to get the 12mm and 16mm to work, as apparently their BFL was appropriate for the Dahua camera. I am unable to find the BFL spec for the MEGA brand of lenses, or any other brand for that matter so I can know without buying whether they will even focus, never the less the quality of the lenses. I am in contact with another company, Peau, that only sells plastic body lenses and is asking what the BFL should be, and I can't even tell them. I just didn't think this would be so tough given we are working with a standard M12 lens. I did check the Atrix brand but it seems the don't offer a 12mm lens. Mobotix says they glue their lenses in place and want 200 Euro to swap the lens. They don't appear to sell the lenses themselves individually for those who want to attempt the replacement. I checked the specs on the Mobotix site and they give no information on the BFL for their M12 line. It would seem there is a potential market for people like myself who would like to buy a quality lens and swap them. I can't believe everyone is happy with the Q-See 6mm only option, especially given that Dahua at least offers the 3.6 and 8mm options. I contacted Cherry who has been mentioned as a good source for Dahua and she didn't know if there was a 12mm option that worked or that she could sell. If nothing else materializes, I might buy the Mega 8mm option and settle for the wider than desired width. Thanks

The guy wanted $89.00 for the lens...he is crazy. I saw his prices for the GoPro lenses and already thought his pricing was high. They guy is making a huge profit on these lenses. The MEGA lens which is of good quality (glass lens, metal body) goes for $14 and BikeRider got a set of 4 or 5 lenses for $15...although I am guessing they were plastic. Thanks anyway, but I am not desperate enough to pay that much for a lens, even if it was platinum plated.

Just noticed your lens is marked 3.6mm EGA. I am guessing EGA is a brand vs. the Mega brand on the 6mm lens in the Q-See version. Since you apparently didn't change the lens (yet), I am guessing you ordered it as a 3.6mm? 3.6mm is one of the two lenses I bought for my cameras and it focused, unliked the 12mm which couldn't screw in enough. The Mega brand 3.6 screws in almost exactly the same distance as the 6mm. I am assuming the 8mm is almost the same distance as it is the other of the three offered by Dahua.

If you will notice, there is a lock ring that screws down to the base to lock it into position after you screw it in and out to find the focus. It is a knurled ring right above the base, below the exposed threads. I did hear back from the Ragecams guy saying he might have some lenses but didn't elaborate other than to say 12mm was a narrow view. I am surprised he commented on that as you would think I would have known that and wanted that?

Thanks for the suggestion. I wrote Ragecam. It seems his stuff is incredibly expensive. I saw the same Mega lens I bought for $15 he was selling for $70. Will wait to see what his response is before I jump to a conclusion. Appreciate your reply!

To add my 2 cents worth, I purchased the 3.6mm and 12mm lenses from M12lenses.com. They have a couple different quality levels. It was suggested to get the Mega brand as that is what Dahua supplies in the cameras so that is what I bought. The 3.6mm lens went in fine and works great, as expected. The 12mm lens is too long, and can't screw in far enough to focus. It was only have trying it in a couple of cameras that the contact at M12lenses told me the distance needed. With the Dahua 1.2mp camera, you need a lens that is shorter than about 20.5mm, i.e. the distance from the tip of the lens to the sensor. The 12mm lens, when screwed in all the way, still stuck out over 22mm so it would never focus. The 12 and 16mm lenses that bikerider tested apparently were short enough to screw in far enough to focus. I was disappointed that the Mega 12mm was too long to work as I assumed all the 12mm would be made equally. Bikerider reported some quality issues with the lenses he bought, in particular in strong light, which is what we have a lot of here in New Mexico. Is there another brand that is of a higher quality like the Mega brand but is short enough to work in the Dahua camera? From Dahua, they only offer the 3.6, 6, and 8mm. If I have to, I can get the 8mm, but would really like a quality lens in the 12mm format. Thanks

I have two purposes for moving into the camera world. 1. I run a weather station and want to make a local weather related feed 2. Security for my home Hope I can learn more and get help on this forum. Thanks, Lew

Thanks for the tip. The downside of that method is one more lens to create aberrations and more light loss. I am a photographer and we use teleconverters to do the same thing you are suggesting. It is always preferred to buy the right lens vs. using a teleconverter however for a photographer, the teleconverter can typically be used on a variety of lenses giving us more flexibility in our kit. I have gotten a reply from bikerider regarding his testing and the link to his test results. He mentions his test camera was a Dahua bullet, but not what model, so his results might be different than mine. I only tested the 3.6mm which worked fine but the 12mm wouldn't focus. He was able to get his 12mm to work and a 16mm as well. viewtopic.php?f=19&t=33089&start=15 Thanks

I have little experience other than trying to get a Foscam wireless camera to work. Even though it was only one room and two walls away from the router it would not keep a connection and was not a reliable method plus wireless is always a security issue on top of the dropout problems. I don't intend to ever try wireless again for an application where I want to be insured of a constant connection. I suppose there are other cameras that would work wirelessly better than the Foscam, but then you still have the security issue.

Hello, The purpose of this particular cam is to show the Sandia mountain range, or a portion of it on my weather website. I was purposely picking a narrow lens to reduce the width to 29 degrees which at the same time would reduce the vertical FOV as well. Since this cam is to be displayed on the web for my weather site visitors, I don't want to show anything but the mountain and in particular I don't want to show the back of my two neighbors houses. Blocking out that area would look bad in that application. Seems the blocking purpose is more aimed at eliminating areas that would have motion that you wouldn't want to trigger a motion alert. Or not to show something on a cam that would be for public consumption, but I think having a blocked out area wouldn't look good. I guess it wouldn't be as bad if it was a narrow strip along the bottom, something I might need to do even with a narrow FOV. As it is, I am already thinking my neighbor might get upset thinking I am using it to spy on them. I just ordered a roof mount antenna tripod on which to mount the camera, up on the roof to give me a higher angle and reduce the backyard problem. Still hoping to find a way to get the camera to show less FOV both horizontally as well as vertically. Thanks for the suggestion.

Could be you got a bad lens. The QC for these inexpensive lenses is not the best (part of how they keep the cost down), and often the customer provides the basic QC when they install it. You can roughly check the back focal length by pointing the lens at something bright a little ways off, watching the light coming out the back, and moving a piece of paper back and forth until the image focuses on it. A light fixture works well, or the sun shining through trees can work better for distance. Since it focuses up close and won't focus at a distance, you could also try holding the lens slightly away from the threads to see if you get better focus. This takes a steady hand and a dark area, with something lit that you can point at. If you can focus further out by holding the lens a little further away from the camera, it means your focal length is too long, and once you start screwing it in, your distance images are focusing behind the sensor. Ideally, you want the focal point in front of the sensor when the threads first engage, so that by turning it further in, you move the focal point back onto the sensor. Thanks for the test tip. I bought the more expensive Mega brand hoping to get a higher quality lens vs. the $4 ones. I wrote bikerider in hopes to hear back on his testing. What I found said the 16mm was soft. Haven't heard of anyone trying with the 12mm. I could use the 8mm which should work, but would rather have the 12mm as I don't want the height of the wider lenses, i.e. I don't want to freak out my neighbors by having their houses in view nor do I want to aim it way up and get a lot of sky.

I am dealing with someone named James Stewart who said I should ask Dahua after I proved him wrong.

I had already read that message string, and read it again from where your link started. Saw where bikerider mentioned testing the lenses, but never saw the results of his testing. I did see lowpro mentioned swapping for the 3.6mm lens from M12, the same lens and the same vendor I dealt with. As you know, the 3.6mm lens swapped easily and works fine. Tried the 12mm on a second camera and the same result. Would focus on things close, but not at a distance...meaning not even something 8' away. Thanks

I asked Q-See about swapping the lenses and here was their reply: "Well I looked into the camera you are talking about and while the lens is adjustable they are not replaceable so you would not be able to put a difference lens on." What do they mean by "adjustable"? Is that their way of saying focused? Obviously they either don't know they can be swapped or chose not to admit they could be swapped. I am guessing they would rather sell people the 3-12 variable focus camera for much more than to let customers know the lens can be changed.

I think observant people will recognize the domed style camera as readily as a bullet style as they are both prevalent. Some people are clueless and wouldn't notice either but anyone who is going to burglarize you will know to look for both types. The dome type are more attractive, or I should say, less obtrusive. I am a new Costco Q-See owner and am just getting my cameras set up. It appears the Q-See is as you said, a rebranded Dahua. They put their own firmware in the devices which you may or may not be able to substitute for the Dahua version. The hardware is the same in either case. The HFW3200C can be bought straight from China for $270 plus $55 shipping. IF you buy multiple cameras from China, I am guessing the shipping cost will be the same, i.e. you won't pay more and can split the shipping cost over the number of cameras you buy. Do you really need the zoom function? If it is going to be used for unmanned surveillance, you can probably figure out the angle you want and install or get it with the right lens for the angle you need. Why I say that is because they are going to be selling the "S" version soon. Same "guts" as the C version, but with a fixed lens vs. a zoom lens. For cost comparison the "S" version is $145 plus shipping so you can see that there is a $125 difference to get the zoom feature. I haven't considered the dome version as I know the areas I want to cover and the FOV needed for each one so I can get the bullets with the lenses I need for each instance. The Chinese contact thought the "C" version would be available some time after Chinese New Year and another source said some time in February.

Hello, I have a weather station with a web site for all the weather data. Quite a few of the other weather station owners stream video and/or updated JPG images to their websites. The most popular camera they use is the Panasonic BL-C140A which works fine, but it is only .3mp and has a wide angle lens. I would like a higher resolution image and the ability to replace the lens with one that is 12mm. I know Trendnet makes a 12mm lens version of their camera, but it is more than I wanted to spend. I know a lot of people on here are using some variant of the Dahua 1.3mp camera, like the Q-See model from Costco. I am wondering if the Q-See/Dahua model can perform a similar function. I didn't intend to buy a NVR as I thought the video stream could be viewed on an HTML page directly like it does with the Panasonic, Foscam, and other cameras. It also appears that the Dahua sends out a proprietary format still image you need their player to view? Can someone please clarify if the Dahua camera can have it's output streamed and/or a JPG web displayable image posted? The weather software can FTP an image to the web page if that isn't something the camera can do directly, but I would still want/need a way to display a live video stream if possible. I asked a variant of the question on the networkcameracritic site and was given an URL my browser couldn't view. There are a lot of live streaming web cams all over the net so what I am asking is being done now with existing equipment. I was hoping to find a sub-$300 camera that has or can be changed to 12mm that would allow the video to be live streamed to my web site and/or updated JPG images. I was told the Dahua camera can't do the JPG images and an SDK would need to be used and theoretically a programmer hired to convert the images for web display. I thought what I was trying to do would be easy Thanks for any help getting me from A to Z.... Lew

The best solution for me would be a method whereas my weather PC could get the feed from the camera and re-transmit it to the server such that the video file was being played from the web site's server which might be what you just said, but how would that be done? I was hoping that the solution at the link provided above: http://www.bahamasyellowpages.net/articles/dahua-rtsp-stream.asp#0 Was in effect passing the video stream from the camera through VLC which was then output to a destination, which I assumed could be the web server's web page? Thought this would not only make the stream available on the web server's page, but would also bypass the concurrent user restriction as it was only a single copy of the RSTP feed coming from the camera and the feed being made available on the web server wouldn't have the concurrent restriction? Thanks

Thanks Don, I had thought about the concurrent user issue but without having given a lot of thought, it seemed to me that the person wasn't viewing the camera feed, but instead was viewing a modified version of the feed. If the camera feed was being passed through a program and being restransmitted to the server, they were viewing the feed from the server copy, not from the camera copy? Regarding bandwidth, I *am* the ISP It is my own account on my own server so that isn't an issue. I am always way below the bandwidth allocated to the server by hundreds of GB. Thanks for the thoughts and the link!

Nothing, just hadn't found it. Thanks a LOT as it gives a lot of options and I am hoping at least one of them will work for me. Now I just need to get a camera Thanks so much! Lew

Thanks for the review of the options I found when Googling.... The Canon camera doesn't operate within the environment range I live in. It isn't clear what is optical vs. digital zoom, so it might not be optical zoom out to the angle I want. Don't know if it is mandatory, but I don't want to offer any camera controls like that site shows. Thanks for the suggestion!

Here is a sample of what I am trying to do: http://www.cnyweather.com/backcam.php This is a weather site using the same software as my weather website. He is using a simple D-Link camera. I was hoping a camera like one of the Dahua models could do whatever the D-Link was doing and being able to display the video on my website like this guy is doing on his website. If the Dahua is unable to put out output like the D-Link can in this example, is there another outdoor camera that can operate with a 12mm lens with over 1mp? Thanks