CCTV Lens Calculator For a quick 1/3" CCD Camera you can work out the lens required using this simple method: Distance from object multiplied by 4.8, divided by horizontal or vertical area equals the lens required. d x 4.8 / A = L e.g. To focus on an area 5m wide from a camera installed 20m away would be: 20 x 4.8 / 5 = 19.2 So you would need a lens with a focal length of 19.2 What is CCD? In cameras, CCD is an acronym for charge-couple device, which is a silicon chip that converts light into a digital signal. In the past, cameras would focus the light from the lens to create an image on film. Modern cameras use CCD chips to convert focused light captured by the lens to the digital world. History The CCD chip's underlying technology converts photons into electrons, this creates a digital signal the computer can read (Einstein's photoelectric effect). This computer memory chip became a reality in the 1960s and continues to evolve. Significance Sufficient light must hit the CCD chip in order to produce a charge. The number of pixels will represent at how many points your chip can convert light photons into electrons. Lens Info CCTV Lens LUX Chart CCTV Visual Lens Comparison Chart CCTV Technical Lens Comparison Chart 35 to CCTV Focal Length Conversion Chart How to select a proper security camera lens in 3 easy steps and save money doing it? 1. Should I use Manual Iris, Auto Iris or DC lens? You can save money and use manual iris lens only when scene illumination never changes. Example: illuminated store or office.
If the light changes a lot it is recoended using auto-iris 2. What focal length lens do I need? Guide: smaller the focal length number => wider is field of view. If you have securit camera in the office or warehouse and you want to see as much as you can, you should go for 2.8 or 4 lens (makes wide, somewhat distant view) If you want to observe limited area, like entrance you should go for 8 or (makes narrow view and objects are closer). Give us a call and we can help you determine what security camera lens will best suit your location. Use varifocal lenses to get flexibility for choosing best field of view. The CCTV security camera lens chartand field-of-view diagrams are designed to assist you in selecting the right lens size for your application. Please contact us if you require additional information or assistance. Keep in mind all of the security cameras we sell come equipped with lenses that will achieve 95% of your surveillance applications. CCTV Lens LUX Chart Lux and low lighting chart Condition Illumination Details (FTCD) (LUX) Sunlight Full Daylight Overcast Day Very Dark Day Twilight Deep Twilight 10,000 1,000 100 10 1.1 107,527 10,752.7 1,075.3 107.53 10.75 1.08 Daylight Range Full Moon Quarter Moon Starlight Overcast Night.01.001.0001.00001.108.0108.0011.0001 Low Light Level Range During the day the amount of illumination reaching a scene depends on the time of day and atmospheric conditions. Direct sunlight produces the highest-contrast scene, allowing maximum identification of objects. On a cloudy or overcast day, less light is received by the objects in the scene, resulting in less contrast. To produce an optimum camera picture under the wide variation in light level (such as occurs when the sun is obscured by clouds),
an automatic-iris camera system is required. Typically, scene illumination measured in foot-candles (ftcd) can vary over a range of 10,000 to 1 (or more), which exceeds the operating range of most cameras for producing good quality video /images. The chart above suarizes the light levels occurring under daylight and these low light level conditions. The equivalent metric measure of light level (lux) compared with the English (ftcd) is given. CCTV Visual Lens Comparison Chart The following chart displays the comparision of CCTV lens with the regular 135 film camera lens. CCTV lens 135 lens Focal AngleAngle Focal Length Length 2.5 120 114 14 3.6 92 94 20 4.3 78 75 28
45 6.0 53 51 Standard lens for 135 camera Regular angle of our eyes vision 12 25 24 100 25 18 18 135 CCTV Technical Lens Comparison Chart Indicates total viewable area (WxH) at a given distance based on focal length used Focal Length 5' (WxH) 10' (WxH) 20' (WxH) 40' (WxH) 50' (WxH) 100' (WxH) 2.5 2.9 3.6 4.0 4.3 9.4x7.1 19x14 38x28 75x57 94x71 188x142 8.6x6.4 17x13 34x26 69x51 86x64 171x129 6.9x5.1 14x10 27x21 55x41 69x51 137x103 6.0x4.5 12x9 24x18 48x36 60x45 120x90 5.7x4.3 11x8.6 23x17 46x34 57x43 114x86
5.5 6.0 8.0 12.0 4.5x3.4 9x6.8 18x14 36x27 45x34 90x68 2.0x1.5 4x3 8x6 16x12 20x15 40x30 1.5x1.1 3x2.3 6x4.5 12x9 15x11 30x22 1.0x0.7 2x1.4 3.8x3 7.7x6 9.6x7 19x14 Use your 35 camera and this chart to help make your lens decision. 35 to CCTV Focal Length Conversion Chart 35 1/4" 1/3" 1/2" 2/3" 1" Angle 10 0.9 1.4 1.8 2.5 3.7 120.6 35 3.2 4.8 6.4 8.8 12.8 53.2 60 5.5 8.2 11.0 15.1 22 32.6 85 7.7 11.6 15.6 21.3 31.1 23.3 110 10.0 15.1 20.1 27.6 40.3 18.1 135 12.3 18.5 24.7 33.9 49.4 14.8 160 14.6 21.9 29.3 40.2 58.6 12.5 185 16.8 25.3 33.9 46.4 67.7 10.8 210 19.1 28.8 38.4 52.7 76.9 9.5 235 21.4 32.2 43.0 59.0 86.0 8.5 260 23.7 35.6 47.6 65.3 95.2 7.7 CCTV focal length numbers shown converted from a 35 camera zoom lens. View Our Lens Products Camera view angle / lens chart Lens model With 1/3" CCD With 1/4" CCD difference 2.8 89.9 75.6 14.3 3.6 75.7 62.2 13.5 4 69.9 57.0 12.9 6 50.0 39.8 10.2 8 38.5 30.4 8.1 12 26.2 20.5 5.7 16 19.8 15.4 4.4 25 10.6 8.3 2.3
60 5.3 4.1 1.2 1/3" CCD with following lens area coverage: Lens model At 5m At 10m At 15m At 20m At 30m 2.8 13 9.8m 26 19.5 m 39 29.3 m 52 39 m 78 58.5 m 3.6 8.5 6.4 m 17 12.8 m 25.5 19 m 34 25.5 m 51 38.3 m 4 8 6 m 16 12 m 24 18 m 32 24 m 48 36 m 6 5.5 4.1 m 11 8.3 m 16.5 12.4 m 22 16.5 m 33 24.8 m 8 3.5 2.6 m 7 5.3 m 10.5 7.9 m 14 10.5 m 21 15.8 m 12 2 1.5 m 4 3 m 6 4.5 m 8 6 m 12 9 m 16 1.5 1.1 m 3 2.3 m 4.5 3.4 m 6 4.5 m 9 6.8 m 25 1.3 1 m 2.5 1.9 m 3.8 2.9 m 5 3.8 m 7.5 5.6 m 60 0.5 0.4 m 1 0.75 m 1.5 1.1 m 2 1.5 m 3 2.3 m NOTE: view angle of 1/4" CCD will be 22% smaller than 1/3 CCD. 1/4" CCD with following lens area coverage: Lens model At 5m At 10m At 15m At 20m At 30m 2.8 10.6 8 m 21 16 m 32 24 m 42.6 32 m 64 48 m 3.6 7 5.2 m 14 10.5 m 21 15.6 m 27.8 21 m 41.8 31..4 m 4 6.5 4.9 m 13.1 9.8 m 19.7 14.7 m 26.2 19.7 m 39.3 29.5 m 6 4.5 3.4 m 9 6.8 m 13.5 10.1 m 18 13.5 m 27 20.3 m 8 2.9 2.1 m 5.7 4.3 m 8.5 6.5 m 11.5 8.6 m 17.2 13 m 12 1.6 1.2 m 3.3 2.4v 4.9 3.7 m 6.5 4.9 m 9.8 7.4 m 16 1.2 0.9 m 2.4 1.9 m 3.7 2.8 m 4.9 3.7 m 7.4 5.6 m 25 60 SECURITY CAMERA LENS ANGLE OF VIEW CHART 1.2 lens has approximate 185 degree field of view 1.7 lens has approximate 170 degree field of view 2.1 lens has approximate 158 degree field of view
2.5 lens has approximate 147 degree field of view 2.8 lens has approximate 130 degree field of view NATURAL HUMAN EYE 2.97 MM 3.0 lens has approximate 127 degree field of view 3.6 lens has approximate 92 degree field of view 4.0 lens has approximate 88 degree field of view 6/0 lens has approximate 78 degree field of view 8.0 lens has approximate 58 degree field of view 12 lens has approximate 28 degree field of view 16 lens has approximate 19 degree field of view 25 lens has approximate 13 degree field of view 50 lens has approximate 8 degree field of view What is a CCD Sensor? Most CCTV cameras are now almost exclusively 'CCD' sensor type. CCD stands for Charge-Coupled Devices. These are light-sensitive chips, the sensitive area being split into a large number of individual pixels (Small dots on the chip). An image from a scene is focused through a lens onto the chip surface and charge is built up in each pixel proportional to the intensity of the light falling on it, hence an electrical representation of the optical image is formed. Typical active pixel counts for CCD sensors are between 250,000 and 500,000 pixels. Cameras are available in both monochrome and color types. Lenses Note: WECU Surveillance supplies cameras without lenses filled. This is because there are many different types of cameras and even more types of
lenses and so it would be impractical, and very expensive, to stock all possible permutations and combinations, to meet each application. Please - REMEMBER THE LENS! Camera Performance The main criteria of a camera's performance are its sensitivity and resolution. Sensitivity is a measure of the minimum amount of light required by the camera to give a 'useable' Image. Resolution defines the amount of picture detail in the image produced by the camera. Sensitivity The CCTV industry has many ways of stating an individual cameras sensitivity performance. Most coon is minimum scene illumination required to give useable picture at a particular lens aperture. This is inherently subjective. Another, more objective definition is the minimum scene illumination required by the camera to give full video output I.e. 1v peak to peak. Few manufacturers use this definition! Most manufactures provide a figure in LUX which is actually a light level the figures quoted are often like this 0.1 LUX. The problem with this is that to get a true representation of the actual sensitivity of the camera the lens apertures must also be compared. Lens apertures, i.e. the size of hole that light can pass through in the lens, must be compared in order to get a true comparison of performance. Camera 1 requires a minimum scene illumination of 0.1 lux at a lens aperture of fi.4 to give a useable image. Camera 2 requires a minimum scene illumination of 0.05 lux at f 1.0 to give a useable image. This appears to say that camera 2 is twice as sensitive as camera 1 because it needs half the light to give a useable picture. In fact the cameras have equal sensitivities because the aperture through which light is allowed to fall on the sensor of camera 2 is twice the area of that for camera 1. Typical sensitivities (defined as minimum scene illumination required for useable picture with lens aperture at fi.4) for current CCD cameras are as follows:
Medium Performance (General purpose) Monochrome 0.5-0.25 lux High Performance (Low-Light/Outdoor) Monochrome <0.20 lux Medium Performance (General purpose) Color 3.0 lux High Performance (Low-Light) Color < 2.5 lux Note: Monochrome CCD cameras are still approx. 5 times more sensitive than equivalent color cameras. Typical light levels 1. Full Suer Sunlight: 50,000 Lux 2. Dull Daylight: 10,000 Lux 3. Shop/Office environment: 500 Lux 4. Dawn/Dusk: 1-10 Lux 5. Main Street Lighting: 30 Lux 6. Side Street Lighting: 0.5-3 Lux Choosing the correct camera to operate in the ambient light conditions is possibly the most important although most tricky specification to understand. Light levels are usually measured in Lux. This is a measure of the light energy arriving on an area 1m2 of surface per second. Typical light levels are: The golden rule when deciding which camera to use for a given lighting condition is not to choose one that will only just give a picture; Try to give the camera approximately 10 times its quoted minimum scene illumination. Most cameras will be able to cope with excess light. The major problem is when they do not have enough light to produce a picture. The sensitivity of covert cameras with pin-hole lenses are often quoted as 0.1Lux @f1.4. This seems to indicate that the camera will work in ¼ moonlight. Actually the pin-hole lens will have an aperture ratio of something like f4 and so the camera will need approximately 1 Lux to produce a picture. Unless your house is directly under main-street lighting the light level is probably less than 1 Lux at the front and even lower at the back. Bright security flood lights in theory help but often produce dark shadows a short distance from the house. A monochrome camera rated at 0.05 Lux will produce reasonable results. Color needs a little more. However, color cameras achieve good night-time vision by switching to a monochrome mode. You will never get good night-
time color pictures without huge amounts of additional lighting. So think carefully about the added cost of color over monochrome cameras. As most people are used to color television it sets a standard so it is very coon to still select a color camera knowing it will switch to monochrome mode at night. Monochrome cameras respond well to additional IR (infra red) lighting. With this in mind true night-vision cameras include a ring of IR LEDs. Color cameras also offer IR illumination but as stated previously will switch to monochrome at night even with the IR LEDs turned on. These are true night-vision cameras and are rate at 0 Lux. During the day the amount of illumination reaching a scene depends on the time of day and atmospheric conditions. Direct sunlight produces the highest-contrast scene, allowing maximum identification of objects. On a cloudy or overcast day, less light is received by the objects in the scene, resulting in less contrast. The field of view (FOV) How much will the security camera see? The field of view (FOV) is based on the camera & lens. WECU Surveillance.com has many different types of Lenses to suite any and all of your CCTV security camera needs. Wide angle lenses are suitable for most applications due to their ability to view a large area. A 4 wide angle lens will be able to view an area 20' high x 26' wide at 21' away. As an example, a 15' x 15' room is shown in the diagram below. Observe that the 4 lens (green arrows) allows better wide angle viewing coverage than the 12 lens (red arrows). In applications where a closer view is needed (such as above a cash register or over a greater distance), an 8 or 12 may be desired. The same camera (above) at 21 away with a 8 lens will have a 10' vertical x 13' horizontal FOV. At 21' with a 12 lens, the FOV will be approx 6' vertical x 9' horizontal. Increasing the focal length of the lens decreases the perceived distance to the viewing area. See the FOV diagram below for approximate views with different focal length lenses.
Resolution Resolution is measured in lines and normally only horizontal resolution is quoted. Vertical resolution of a camera is of little interest because pictures are generally speaking limited by the scanning system used to produce the image. In the UK and Europe this is the CCIR system, which defines that a picture is built-up from 625 lines across the screen. Of more interest in measuring camera performance is horizontal resolution. This is the maximum number of black or white areas that can be identified across the picture. This is always specified per monitor height. A typical general purpose monochrome camera has a horizontal resolution of 380 lines. This means that it should be possible to resolve 380 x 1.33 i.e.. 505 individual actual lines of black, white or grey along any one line of a CCTV picture image. (The factor of 1.33 comes from the fact that a TV picture has an aspect ratio of 4 : 3). Typical resolution performances for CCD cameras are as follows: Medium Performance (General purpose) Monochrome 380 lines Medium Performance (General purpose) Color 380 lines High Resolution Monochrome 600 lines High Resolution Color 480 lines. Camera Formats Cameras will be quoted as 1/2", 1/3" or occasionally as 2/3". Newer
cameras will be referred to as 1/4". This refers to the format of the camera and defines the size light-sensitive area of the imaging device used in the camera. In itself it gives no measure of a cameras performance although generally the smaller the format size, the smaller the light gathering area of the sensor. It is provided for information to enable the installer to match the camera to the correct lens. Camera formats are getting smaller in order to reduce the costs of the imaging devices and hence the cameras themselves as well as the lenses put onto them. IMPORTANT: The format size of a lens must be equal to or greater than the format size of the camera it is being used on. If the lens is of smaller format size than the camera then the corners of the scene being viewed will be cut-off (vignetting).