What F-stop lens is recommended?

[foreverjne 0]

I'm planning to put a camera near the front door of my house and would like to get a good picture of people standing at the door and the view of the front yard.

 

What lens should I use to get objects in good focus at 5 feet and decent focus to 25 feet? From reading about lenses, I understand that the lower the f-stop, the better the low light performance. However, lower f-stop decreases range of in-focus distance.

 

I've learned a lot through reading this forum, but I haven't been able to find much information regarding this matter.

 

Your help is greatly appreciated.

[dusan 0]

first you will need auto lens dc or ai

lens at nite is max open (f0.75) at day is max closed (~f22) for good image

so depth of focus at ~f6 and up is good

and a lens is minimum of your problem

get a best hi res ( 400-520 line wdr ) camera you can

problem is a sun washing you image out if you have big diffrence in brightnes

even the best camera will wash out so at 25ft on in sun you will not see any

detail if sun is hit it you object

 

if you want to see some samples i can send you link of my test of wdr hyperd1

and its still wash out by sun and i use f0.75 on one and f1.4 on hyperd3

and f1.0 on bw sony ex 324 0.05lx at nite

 

dusan

[rory 0]

1 word: Wide Dynmamic Camera

 

 

ok, 400TVl is not high res, 480+ is.

 

What level of low light are your trying to get?

Lower F-stop with the apprpriate camera will give yiu a low lux level, depends on the camera.

[dusan 0]

looking for 0.001lux for start in Wide Dynmamic Camera so it can work at any light and get some image in star or moon light

 

and at the moment hyperd or ge ultra are not at 480 res

even if the manual is saying as it is 480h x 400v

 

it do not look to me

will need to get some res charts to test and low cost (~$150 range ) lux meter

 

dusan

[AVCONSULTING 0]

Perhaps a camera with built in IR illumination would work best. Depending on your budget you can go for a low cost system or up to the Extreme CCTV. Here are a couple of links to check out.

 

http://www.at-fairfax.com/Camera/Infrared.htm

 

http://www.extremecctv.com/products/index.cfm?fam=3

[foreverjne 0]

Thanks for the tips.

 

OK, f-6 would give me good focus from 5 feet and beyond.

 

I do intend to get a DC auto iris lens, so the f-number of the AI lens is really when it's fully open?

 

Let's say the AI lens I use is f-1.0 and I set the AI lens to focus at 5 feet, When it's fully opened at night, would objects 25 feet way be extremely out-of-focus?

 

The WDR camera I'm trying to get some information and pricing is the Toshiba IK-65WDA. It's supposed to be both WD and DN.

 

Is there a particular brand of lens that I should use or avoid?

[rory 0]

looking for 0.001lux for start in Wide Dynmamic Camera so it can work at any light and get some image in star or moon light

 

and at the moment hyperd or ge ultra are not at 480 res

even if the manual is saying as it is 480h x 400v

 

it do not look to me

will need to get some res charts to test and low cost (~$150 range ) lux meter

 

dusan

 

Yeah havent seen any very low lux WD cameras yet either.

The Ultraview picture elements are 720H x 540V where their Exview camera is 811H x 508V.

 

As for using in star or moonlight, try a day night, best of both worlds. If you really must have a wide dynamic, Panasonic has a range of day/night wide dynamic cameras. Pretty pricey though on the lowe lux models. If you need to see in very low lighting, use Infrared from Extreme CCTV.

 

As for a camera outside your front door, is this your house? You can simply buy a mini dome or bullet camera, if you have enough lighting, just get an exview color and it will work fine, I have a 1 lux color dome and with car park lighting it works fine, the B/W Bullet from provideo I have is great, no real lighting issues at all. It cost me $137. You dont need to break the bank just to see who is outside your door.

 

Rory

[dusan 0]

Thanks for the tips.

 

OK, f-6 would give me good focus from 5 feet and beyond.

 

I do intend to get a DC auto iris lens, so the f-number of the AI lens is really when it's fully open?

 

Let's say the AI lens I use is f-1.0 and I set the AI lens to focus at 5 feet, When it's fully opened at night, would objects 25 feet way be extremely out-of-focus?

 

The WDR camera I'm trying to get some information and pricing is the Toshiba IK-65WDA. It's supposed to be both WD and DN.

 

Is there a particular brand of lens that I should use or avoid?

 

it depends on the framing of a view how wide angle do you need

this is good start for thoshiba ik65wda camera or mintron 63w1 1/3" ccd

http://www.rmassa.com/manu/tamron.htm

13VM308ASIR-SQ 3-8mm F1.0 IR w/ 4-pin square connector DC $92.00

this tamron looks best i seen so far for your app if view is matching your rq

 

or in ~3 - 13 mm range as long you can get better than f1.0

http://www.rmassa.com/manu/computar.htm

so far i have some computar lenses and it ok not as good as ir tamron f1.0

 

dusan

[AVCONSULTING 0]

Most likely it will be out of focus. During the day when the iris is stopped down you will get a very wide depth of field but at night it narrows down a lot. Not much you can do about it so choose what is best with the lens fully open.

[dusan 0]

Thanks for the tips.

 

OK, f-6 would give me good focus from 5 feet and beyond.

 

I do intend to get a DC auto iris lens, so the f-number of the AI lens is really when it's fully open?

 

Let's say the AI lens I use is f-1.0 and I set the AI lens to focus at 5 feet, When it's fully opened at night, would objects 25 feet way be extremely out-of-focus?

 

The WDR camera I'm trying to get some information and pricing is the Toshiba IK-65WDA. It's supposed to be both WD and DN.

 

Is there a particular brand of lens that I should use or avoid?

 

it depends on the framing of a view how wide angle do you need

this is good start for thoshiba ik65wda camera or mintron 63w1 1/3" ccd

http://www.rmassa.com/manu/tamron.htm

13VM308ASIR-SQ 3-8mm F1.0 IR w/ 4-pin square connector DC $92.00

this tamron looks best i seen so far for your app if view is matching your rq

 

or in ~3 - 13 mm range as long you can get better than f1.0

http://www.rmassa.com/manu/computar.htm

so far i have some computar lenses and it ok not as good as ir tamron f1.0

 

dusan

 

*Note: IR lenses are specifically designed for day/night cameras to be IR corrected when

camera goes into "Night" mode and maintain focus. IR lenses may also be used with standard

cameras.

 

dusan

[Cooperman 0]

As dusan has pointed out, the key to the 'depth of field' issue, is going to be the angle of coverage, or more specifically, the focal length of lens used.

 

If an ultra wide lens were used, the depth of field would probably be adequate to provide sharp-ish images over the 5 - 25 feet distance (and well beyond), even at maximum aperture.

 

If a much narrower coverage lens is adopted (i.e. the focal length becomes longer), then the depth of field will decrease, at any relative aperture.

 

If sufficient lighting is available at night to allow a lens iris to close down one or two 'stops', the trick would be to focus on an object around 12' away, and then the entire zone should be in focus (i.e. 1/3rd in front, and 2/3rds behind target point).

 

Quite frankly, if you are simply looking at a front door and front yard (i.e. a non critical application), if you get the lighting sorted out, and you use a half decent 1/3" CS mount camera, you could probably get away with using a manual iris lens stopped down a couple of f stops, and the camera set to Electronic Iris function.

As Rory suggested, you don't need to spend a fortune ...

[cctv_down_under 0]

Boy oh Boy.. just how good has this forum become.. i rememeber when people in here didnt even know what Wide Dynamic was... it is about time to say thanks to the wonderfull efforts of the provider of this site!

 

Excellent Job and Excellent Answers

[dusan 0]

Thanks for the tips.

 

OK, f-6 would give me good focus from 5 feet and beyond.

 

I do intend to get a DC auto iris lens, so the f-number of the AI lens is really when it's fully open?

 

Let's say the AI lens I use is f-1.0 and I set the AI lens to focus at 5 feet, When it's fully opened at night, would objects 25 feet way be extremely out-of-focus?

 

The WDR camera I'm trying to get some information and pricing is the Toshiba IK-65WDA. It's supposed to be both WD and DN.

 

Is there a particular brand of lens that I should use or avoid?

 

hi

you did not order anyting yet teke a look at this new model

everfocus eq600 WDII and that 3-8mm f1.0 ir tamron lens

http://www.dvrsecuritysystems.com/professional_cameras.htm

looks like it will do what you need

 

dusan

[rory 0]

for $60 more you can get a ge kalatel ultraview, personally ill never use any everfocus or jvc cameras anymore.

 

Panasonic, Ganz, GE from reading people's feedback, and these are high end brands and all have a Wide Dynamic, Everfocus, JVC, etc, not really high end, well JVC maybe but Ive used their cameras in the past and they were not great. But if you do get the everfocus, capture some images and let us see them, you just never know, technology and all that...

[foreverjne 0]

Thanks again for all the great suggestions.

 

I understand that for my application, I probably don't need the latest and greatest components and spend a fortune. However, without any experience with CCTV, it's riskier to try to save some money by using components that require the experience to adjust them to work properly. The other option then is to hire a good installer. Since I haven't had good experience with anyone I contracted to do work on my house, I've decided to do this myself. To avoid having to buy just the right components and not able to adjust them correctly, I'd be willing to spend a little more to get more flexible components that's more automatic.

 

Right now I'm leaning toward the toshiba because it's their second generation wide dynamic day/night camera and they have a 3 year warranty.

[rory 0]

personally, I love high quality cameras from well known brands, but to give you an idea I have Provideo Bullet Cameras outside my house, its all you need for a normal home and I have no lighting issues at all.

 

Dont forget for the Toshiba you will also need an outdoor housing.

 

Rory