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adamant

Not happy with the field of view with my cameras

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You can't do both!

 

As you increase the angle of view that your security camera gives, you decrease the distance you can see with it. Or more accurately, you decrease the identification distance of your camera.

 

This is because you are spreading pixels so thinly across the area of view that you don't have enough definition to identify a person. You may recognize someone you know (from their build/clothes/gait etc) however if you produce an image and give it to the cops, you won't be able to identify them.

 

If you just want an idea of what is going on in an area, wide angle lenses are fine (smaller number of mm). If you want to identify people then you're going to need a more telephoto lens.

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As above said, you cant have both. Its either width or depth. Most homeowners are going to pick width. May use depth on a driveway to try and pick up license plates. The camera you linked to has 2.8mm lens, so it already has a very wide field of view, 110 deg. If you need 180 view, use 2 cameras side by side. Also, that camera is only 2mp. If you got a 4mp camera (twice as many pixels) you could zoom in with more detail.

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Just one thing to add to mattaggie's post:

 

Don't make the mistake of thinking that doubling the number of megapixels allows you to identify at twice the distance. Because the pixels are increased in both the horizontal AND vertical directions, the approximate increased identification distance is the square root of 2 (or approx 1.4 times the distance).

 

If you just want to see what is going on, a 2.8mm lens is great. Identification, not so much. For optimum results, use a wide angle camera such as that to see what's going on and a more telephoto camera to identify.

 

In the example mattaggie used, have a telephoto view at the entrance of the drive (1st camera) and a general overview of what's going on on the drive (2nd camera). You'll be able to identify the person or vehicle from the 1st camera and see what happens on the 2nd camera. Think of the situation of parking your car on the drive. You come back and there's damage. With only the wide angle camera (2nd camera) you'll be able to see what happens but being very unlikely to identify the person or vehicle that did the damage. That's where the 1st camera comes into play in identifying the person. Unfortunately, most elements of security camera systems is a compromise so the belt and braces approach is to run 2 cameras.

 

We have images on our website explaining this in more detail.

 

Good luck!

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