There was a break-in at your warehouse, but, you were prepared. Last month you installed a complete IP camera system. Now you have evidence you can share with the police.
Uh oh! You can’t identify their faces. There are two people in the warehouse, but you can’t tell who they are. Ugh! What did you do wrong? You have just discovered that having a surveillance camera, is not enough. You have to have the right resolution camera and the right lens.
This article reviews what you need to assure you meet your security objective.
Interview with Todd Vohs of Holstein AG Services About IP Camera with WDR
by Virginia Fair
In our thirty years of being, Kintronics has had the pleasure of doing business with the armed forces, the education sector, library systems, and businesses of every stripe and niche, not to mention quite a few enterprising individuals intent on monitoring such natural phenomena as:
salmon swimming upstream
seals in underground caves
eagles nesting in trees
Hawks perched in New York City’s famed Washington Square.
However, we rarely get a chance to see any of our IP cameras in action once they leave Kintronics. That was, until we had the pleasure of doing business with Todd Vohs of Holstein AG Services. He’d consulted with Keaton Baker, one of our sales engineers, in February, for suggestions about a camera that would help him overcome lighting problems he was encountering in monitoring his warehouse out in Iowa. Keaton recommended an IQ862, a camera with Wide Dynamic Range.
How the University of Montana College of Forestry uses the IP camera systemby Virginia Fair
When a customer calls Kintronics seeking information about IP cameras, our sales engineers ask questions such as “What are your objectives? What do you want to monitor?” And “In what type of environment will you be mounting the camera?”
They are accustomed to hearing answers like parking areas, corridors, storerooms, entry areas, rear exits, elevators and so on. But every once in a while, the answer is unique and intriguing.
Very low light optical cameras, IR illumination, and thermal cameras are options for seeing in the dark.
It was a dark night with just a small sliver of the moon shining through the trees. The mouse nosed its way through the underbrush using its nose to find small nuts and berries. Unknown to the mouse there was something watching from a tree limb high above. The owl was able to see the mouse clearly even though there was hardly any light. Poor mouse. He had no idea he was in trouble.
How does the owl see in the dark? This article describes the various ways that animals, and more importantly, video cameras can see in the dark. We discuss how cameras make use of the limited light available, IP cameras that use IR illumination and thermal cameras that use thermal imaging technologies.
The latest IP cameras have much better video quality than the early analog CCTV cameras. Even though they both capture video, IP cameras do it dramatically better. The reason; they contain high performance digital processing computers. The computers provide reduced noise, improved wide dynamic range, reduced smearing, and enhanced low light performance.
This article reviews how these processors work and why they are important to the total IP camera system performance.
Do you want to be able to read a license plate over a mile away? You can do it with the latest very long range PTZ IP camera systems. There are long range camera systems that are best for daytime operation and others that can be used day or night.
Be careful about low priced systems that claim long range capability. They don’t have the high quality zoom lenses or laser illuminators that are used in professional camera systems.
In our previous article How Far Can We See with the PTZ IP Camera, we reviewed the difference between detecting a person or vehicle, recognizing the type of object, or identifying who the person is. Each criteria requires a different amount of resolution on the target.
This article reviews the components that make up a long range camera system, and shows how total system performance determines the price.
How do you select the right equipment for your IP camera system? The surveillance system is more than just the IP camera. It also includes the video recording system, lens, lighting, camera enclosures, network switches, and mounting brackets. Everything has to work together so you get the security system you expected.
Selecting the right equipment for your security system can be quite complicated. Sometimes it’s like putting together a puzzle. We need to make sure we have the right camera, but does the camera work with all the other equipment?
We would like to be notified of alarm conditions, but does the video recording system provide alarm notification? We would like to mount the camera on a pole, but does the camera include image stabilization? As we decide on one thing, it can affect other parts of the system.
In this article, we provided a real-life surveillance example and then defined a complete surveillance system.
This article was updated on 4/12/2018 to reflect new IP cameras
IP Camera manufacturers provide product specification sheets that help you select the right camera for your IP security and surveillance system. But, which specifications are important? They include such things as resolution, minimum light sensitivity, lens, WDR, signal to noise, etc. This article reviews the important camera specs, and how to avoid being fooled by specsmanship (from the marketing department).
The importance of each of the camera specifications depends on your objective and application for your IP camera system. For example, if you want to use the camera outdoors where it can get dark, then the low light specification is important.
If you are only using the IP camera indoors, you may be more interested in the how wide a viewing angle you can achieve. Here is a review of the important specifications.
What is the right lens and resolution for your IP camera? When you put together your IP camera system, you want to make sure that the camera you select for each location meets your expectations. It is important to first know the objectives for each area you are viewing. Do you want to identify a person’s face, a license plate, or just detect a person walking far away? In general, the more detail you want, the higher the resolution you need. This article shows you how to determine the viewing area and distance you should expect.
Resolution Required
Note: this article was updated on 8/15/2017 to correct an error in calculation.
An emergency once set in motion, can not be taken back. All we can do is assess the situation, spread the word, then throw roadblocks in its way. No one knows this better than those responsible for school safety.
Whether it’s the principal, vice-principal, or security officer, all he or she can do when an emergency looms is is learn as much as he/she can, and based on the specific situation, alert teachers and students in classrooms – and oh, yes, hope that the countless hours spent in repetitive fire, evacuation, or lock-down drills have taken root.
The good news is that if the school is protected by an IP Physical Security System, they’ll have a head start.
