Autofocus camera

[Hathol 0]

Hi,

 

I´m still pretty new to this ipcamera world. I have an NVR3216 and one HFW3300C and is pretty happy with that one.

Now I would like to have some more cameras and I wounder if anyone out there would like to help me with some suggestions with other cameras.

 

I would like to have a camera with:

autofocus

IR around 20-30 meters (it needs to work in dark area without any backlight)

at least 720p solution

compability to my NVR3216

PoE support

 

Do anyone like to help me with a suggestions what camera I should look at/buy.

[buellwinkle 0]

Look at all the products they have on their website, www.dahuasecurity.com.

[Hathol 0]

Thanks for the tip, but I can not find any autofocus dahua cameras or perhaps I dont understand what I should look for?

[shropna 0]

Thanks for the tip, but I can not find any autofocus dahua cameras or perhaps I dont understand what I should look for?

Why you need autofocus? Fixed camera lens infinity focus is enaugh at most situations.

[Hathol 0]

Thanks for the tip, but I can not find any autofocus dahua cameras or perhaps I dont understand what I should look for?

Why you need autofocus? Fixed camera lens infinity focus is enaugh at most situations.

 

Ok, does it not focus on diffrent things in the covered area such as moving objects/people?

[MaxIcon 0]

Usually you'll find auto-focus on PTZ or remote zoom cameras, as they need it when the zoom changes. Some higher end cameras support it as well - I haven't used it, but others talk about how much easier it is to auto-focus from the PC instead of climbing up a ladder with a tablet or laptop.

 

If you search on auto focus, you'll find a bunch of topics, including some camera models.

[buellwinkle 0]

There's true autofocus like what you expect from your digital cameras or camcorders and that's only on the PTZ speed domes and they make several.

 

If you are talking motorized focus and zoom for varifocal lenses, that's different and they do have some models with that, the 2MP IR dome, I think it's a 3202 model, that has this feature and played with it briefly. Personally, on cheaper brands it's more annoying than it worth. It inevitably focuses on the wrong thing, it takes 20-30 seconds to focus so it's mostly an install only feature. What you have to do is click on it's auto focus feature, it does the best that it can, then you use + and - signs to do fine tuning which is tedious. For me, I put the camera up on my 32" HDTV, set the iris open and bench focus it by hand and it takes me a few minutes at most and I find that works for me and I save the extra cost this option adds to a camera.

 

The exception is Axis, the P33 fixed dome has features to select the zone you want to focus on and while it's slow, I find the most accurate and I feel comfortable just installing and aiming the camera and focusing from my desk.

 

None of this exists on cameras with fixed focal length lenses, those usually come pre-focused from the factory and in a few cases I had to manually focus them.

 

Common focusing problems are;

1. focus with iris not fully open, causes blurry images at night.

2. focus on distant objects to make a pretty picture, but close in objects are out of focus. Important to understand the prime objective, to get a clear image of any activity that affects you, not the house across the street.

3. cheap or defective optics. Sometimes some cameras just can't be focused perfectly. I've spent days trying to get perfect focus with tech support on an $1,100 camera that just couldn't be focused to my tastes.

[thewireguys 3]

Delete

[coyoteknee 0]

Autofocus (to an extent) is a common thing that are installed in most types of cameras nowadays.

[shockwave199 0]

This will work for you if I understand you correctly-

 

http://www.dahuasecurity.com/products/ipc-hdbw32003202-220.html

 

That's assuming you're really talking about varifocal, as mentioned above. I installed this camera recently and if you do need a varifocal camera, motorized auto focus is nice. It can be done at the camera with the toggle, or via the web interface. I did it via the toggle on the camera and it worked well. It's not entirely easy though. Why the hell so many products come with black writing on a black surface still boggles my mind. If you have directional writing for the zooming feature for gods sake- make the writing white. Couple that with looking at it in a rather awkward position and it becomes a pain. So there's a ringing endocement for using the feature via the web interface. But dialing in the fov and then letting the camera digest that and auto focus is very handy, regardless. I still think it'll look like crap with IR on in darkness though. Mine stays in day/color all the time being in a lighted room. Good luck.