What specification lens ?

I just bought a camera for my driveway to cover the car. It hasn't arrived yet and I'm looking for a lens. The camera is a Vista 1/2" HyperHad CCD Day/Night(second hand). It has 480 Lines resolution in colour and 580 in mono. IR cut filter, IR sensitive, AI/DD/EI lens drives (whatever that means !), C/CS mount. By my calculations I need a 4.5mm lens with auto iris but I'm sure it can't be as simple as that. Is there anything else I should look for in a lens to match this camera ?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2989979690&category=3204&sspagename=STRK%3AMEBWN%3AIT&rd=1

Thanks

Steve

Use this to figure the focal length best suited to your camera.

http://www.supercircuits.com/store/lenscalc.asp

Thats the one I used to come up with the 4.5mm. Basically, the 4.5 mm will give me the ideal FOV that I need. It's the rest of the lens characteristics which baffle me. I know I need auto-iris for outdoors but I don't know for example which is the maximum f-stop I can get away with, or whether there are better lenses for use with IR lighting, or what AI/DD/EI lens drive means. 1/2 lenses seem to be fairly expensive and I don't want to waste my money on something unsuitable.

Steve

1/2" lenses are more expensive since they require more glass. Best bet is to look for a 1/2" vari-focal auto iris lens so you have some leeway in what focal length you have available. You'll want a DC auto iris lens, since the video drive auto iris lenses are older technology and more expensive. I'd suggest getting a Computar lens if possible since they are of the highest quality.

http://www.cbcamerica.com/cctvprod/computar/vari/vari_pdf/HG2Z4516FCS-2.PDF

Thanks, I've found the Computar lens you suggest. It's going to cost around £90 which doesn't seem too bad I suppose, as long as it does the job. It's basically going to be used to watch over my car. It will be around 2m above the ground at the front of the car. The front doors are around 7 ft from the camera. At the moment I'm using a 1/3" CCD bullet cam with a 4.3mm lens which seems to be about right but the FOV could be a couple of feet higher and wider to be perfect.

Steve

I don't know what that translates into U.S. dollars, but I think that lens is around $150 here. Make sure you can return it if needed in case it isn't wide enough. The 6mm setting is more equivalent to your bullet camera FOV right now. Too bad your camera is 1/2". 1/3" lenses are much less expensive, about 1/2 the price. Sometimes you can get away with a 1/3" varifocal on a 1/2" camera so if the place you are buying the lens from allows returns you might want to try the Computar 1/3" varifocal first.

http://www.cbcamerica.com/cctvprod/computar/vari/vari_pdf/TG2Z3514FCS-2.PDF

It's about $160. I didn't realise the 1/2" lenses were so much more expensive but I saw the camera for sale on Ebay and it seemed a very good deal - £73 for a nearly new current model as opposed to around £350 for a similar-spec new one. I'm hoping to get very good performance from the 1/2" and I can always park the car a yard or so further back if the FOV is not wide enough.

I didnt see any improvement with a 1/2 inch lens camera over a 1/3 inch, which i ended up switching the camera to. I used a 1/3 inch lens on the 1/2 inch camera and it looked the same quality as with a 1/2" lens on the 1/2" camera, except the focal lenghts were different, you could not get a wide angle without a peephole type of image.

Well I've received the lens - a computar 3.6mm Direct drive - and fitted it, but there's a problem. The image is completely out of focus and won't adjust. The model number is : HG3616FCS-3. It's set up as camera two at :

http://81.86.129.112/. Is there something I'm not doing ? There doesn't appear to be a switch on the camera to select whether or not it's a Direct drive lens.

whats the password & username

also there should be a setting on the camera to set it to DD.

Also, does the camera have a manual online that we can look at to see the settings?

Rory

Sorry, just leave username & password blank. I've looked at the dip switches and none of them is marked DD. There is a link to a spec sheet here : http://www.norbain.com/products//ref:0038790/. Mine is the VPCMH/LV Model.

Sorry everyone - I've sorted it now. There is a small black screw on the side without any markings. I had a fiddle with it and the image is now in focus,

camera 2 looks ok, except its looking at the TV )

cant see the settings in the datasheet, as the image is too small when you enlarge the PDF, and manuals anywhere, I looked but havent found it.

ok yep, i see.

by the way, its 6am here, im logging off to get some sleep!

good luck with it, looks fine now.

thanks rory - catch you soon.

Also, i was just looking at the vista Columbus series DVRs, notice they are exactly the same as the Kalatel DVRs, in looks anyway, even the single channel DVR is identical to the Kalatel VDR! Except they have blue buttons on them, are they related to GE? OR maybe the lease the technology out or from GE (kalatel) in the US?

they even have the WaveReader software!

http://www.vista-cctv.com/index.html

Norbain seems to own the Vista brand. I would guess that a lot of the Vista stuff is simply re-badged. I have been told that the Vista camera that I've just bought is a re-badged Baxall so I wouldn't be surprised if they are re-badging Kalatels. At least they're using good kit though........