aace 0 Posted October 15, 2007 I am trying to get a view of this gate day and night. Distance is about 200' So far I've tried a 1/3" Color Day/Night 480 lines .01 lux(doubtful), and an old 1/3 BW. With an Auto Iris lens's both cameras drift out of focus as it gets darker. Different AI lenses. With varifocal lens's both slowly go to black as the sun goes down. This is a shot from a PTZ we have about 500'. Same camera specs as the color cam. Of course they can't cut down the trees... From what I've read on here it would be to far to use IR unless it was lit from the side, possibly form the chiller on the right in the second pic. I'd like to stay < $500 Thanks Mike... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kiwi 0 Posted October 15, 2007 What type of activities and level of detail are you expecting to observe with this camera? Can you use the corner of the cooling tower to mount a camera, or run a wire to one of the gate posts? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
aace 0 Posted October 15, 2007 What type of activities and level of detail are you expecting to observe with this camera? Can you use the corner of the cooling tower to mount a camera, or run a wire to one of the gate posts? Mainly if the gate is open, closed, or blocked. Not a lot of detail like license plates or driver really. Can't put a cam on the chiller. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CCTV_Suppliers 0 Posted October 15, 2007 Which cameras and lenses are you using currently? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CameraGimp 0 Posted October 15, 2007 I'd suggest the reason the cameras go out of focus at night will be down to depth of field reducing as the lens iris opens. This is normal. You should always focus a camera with a motorized iris with the iris fully open. You can do this in two ways. Focus the camera at night or use put a filter over the lens to reduce the light reaching the lens and then focus the lens. A third method which I hesitate to recommend is to turn electronic iris on and then focus the lens. If you are lucky EI will cut in at a lower video level than the level that the lens is set to. If this is the case the lens will open fully and the EI will crank right up. One way to check this is to turn EI on, give it 10 seconds to settle and the lens to adjust then turn it off. If the picture whites out for a second then the iris was open. If you use this method it isn't in any of the text books but it can work. Don't forget to turn EI off after setting the focus or you'll waste that expensive lens. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
aace 0 Posted October 15, 2007 Which cameras and lenses are you using currently? The color camera is a PC33CDN-4G Day/Night Color Surveillance Camera. I'm off today so I don't have the lens and b/w camera inoformation with me right now. The PTZ is an ACD-1500. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CCTV_Suppliers 0 Posted October 15, 2007 Which cameras and lenses are you using currently? The color camera is a PC33CDN-4G Day/Night Color Surveillance Camera. I'm off today so I don't have the lens and b/w camera inoformation with me right now. The PTZ is an ACD-1500. I am not familiar either of the cameras... Seems like you have plenty of light at night and if you camera have the actual specs as noted in their spec sheets (which I read), then you should get much better images than what we see... I can not tell you exactly where the problems are... rather I will suggest you to revisit on both of your cameras and why they do not perform as advertised. Cameras from Sanyo, Panasonic (specially) and few others can solve this issue... coupled with decent AI lens... you will achieve an exceptional picture quality. Just curious - which DVR are you using? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
aace 0 Posted October 15, 2007 Just curious - which DVR are you using? The third picture cam from a GEN IV. I had the gate camera connected to a Dedicated Micros but was getting quite a bit of loss through it so I connected it directly to a Pelco CM6800 matrix. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
survtech 0 Posted October 15, 2007 A Really Simple Solution: Go to a welding supply store and get a piece of #5 welding glass. Focus the camera through that in daylight with the iris all the way open. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
aace 0 Posted October 15, 2007 If I focus it for night, it's out of focus during the day. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
survtech 0 Posted October 15, 2007 If I focus it for night, it's out of focus during the day. Are you certain it is a focus issue? Focus is very non-critical when an iris is closed. It is only critical when the iris is open. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
aace 0 Posted October 15, 2007 If I focus it for night, it's out of focus during the day. Are you certain it is a focus issue? Focus is very non-critical when an iris is closed. It is only critical when the iris is open. I'll give it another try but i won't get a chance till Thursday night. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
