CCTV Cameras From Scratch : Security Camera System

Determine appropriate surveillance devices by aligning image quality with objectives: detection, observation, recognition, and identification. Transition from analog, percentage-based sizing to pixel-based Dori for modern network cameras.

Apply the DORI distance to choose focal length, field of view, and resolution to meet detection, observation, recognition, and identification requirements, with ppm targets from en-50132-7.

Review camera components by comparing the camera to human eyes, and cover lens, iris, and sensor, explaining lens focus, iris light control, and sensor color filtering.

Explore light sensitivity and minimum illumination for CCTV cameras, understanding lux and illuminance, factors affecting image quality, and why manufacturer comparisons vary due to methods.

Harness infrared illumination to improve night surveillance with day and night cameras and near-infrared light, reducing noise and lowering bandwidth, including in smoke, haze, or dust, and with thermal options.

Explore how field of view, measured in millimetres, defines camera coverage and detail via focal length and sensor size, and calculate it with a mathematical formula or IPVM.

Explore how iris control optimizes image quality by regulating light and depth of field. Compare fixed, manual, and auto iris types (DC iris and video iris) and their control locations.

Explore how depth of field affects a CCTV camera's ability to identify objects by adjusting focal length, iris diameter, distance to the subject, and f-stop values.

Understand fixed, varifocal, and zoom lenses for CCTV cameras; fixed provide one focal length, varifocal allows manual FOV adjustment with refocus, and zoom enables easy FOV changes with no refocus.

In this exercise, evaluate outdoor parking lot surveillance at day and night; correct options are C and D, zoom or varifocal lenses with DC-iris control.

Assess a second floor restaurant camera setup for day and night viewing at the entrance. Compare fixed, manual, zoom, and varifocal lenses with dc-iris control, favoring fixed for cost efficiency.

Choose a zoom lens with DC-iris control or a varifocal lens with DC-iris control for an airport entrance camera, to handle day and night light and window reflections.

Identify CS-mount and C-mount standards, noting the 12.5 mm vs 17.526 mm lens-to-sensor distance, and avoid sensor damage or warranty denial by using the correct mount.

See how light hits a lens, reaches the image sensor, and yields electrons. Compare ccd and cmos sensors: ccds have better low-light sensitivity; cmos offers cheaper and faster readout.

Match the lens to the sensor size to avoid black corners and limited field of view. Use a lens equal to the sensor inches to fully use the sensor.

Explore dynamic noise reduction like Zipstream and XDNR to cut bandwidth while preserving detail, and understand wide dynamic range, auto tracking, and intelligent video analytics.

Identify how bandwidth influences storage and costs in a CCTV system. Examine how video resolution, compression type, images per second, scenery, and number of cameras with recording mode affect bandwidth.

Understand how video resolution, defined as horizontal by vertical pixels, affects bandwidth, using 1280 by 720 as an example, and learn how lowering the full stream optimizes storage recording.

Analyze how video compression reduces bandwidth and storage by comparing codecs like mjpeg, mpeg4, h.264, and h.265, including i-frames, p-frames, and gop, with h.264 delivering 75% lower bandwidth for surveillance.

Explore how image per second (ips) drives bandwidth in cctv systems, with higher ips increasing bandwidth and shorter group of pictures, and lower ips reducing bandwidth.

The field of view and activity level influence bandwidth. More cameras increase system bandwidth, as shown by 2 cameras at 4 Mb/s and 6 cameras at 12 Mb/s.

Recording mode keeps the camera always recording with no trigger and does not affect retention time. Alarm-based recording captures events like motion or perimeter detection, triggered by a pre-configured alarm.

Discover technologies that reduce bandwidth, including dynamic noise reduction and auto exposure, and learn how these features enhance CCTV camera performance.

Explore retention time for CCTV systems, showing how storage limits decide footage duration and summarizing rules from 7–30 days under R82 and APSAD, France 30 days and Netherlands 28 days.

Explore storage types for security systems, including direct attached storage, storage area network with iSCSI, and indirect attached storage like NAS and USB DAS, highlighting RAID for reliability and redundancy.

Explore raid storage techniques, including striping, mirroring, and parity, and compare RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID 5 for speed, redundancy, and capacity.

Practice RAID fundamentals for CCTV storage by matching data stripping, data mirroring, and parity bit to RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID 5.

Define surveillance objectives, conduct a site survey to plan camera placement and FoV, and prepare a concise statement of work for deployment.