Recommend me a camera that can zoom

[perfect777]

School has started and the district has moved the bus stop from directly in front of my house to about 100-150 yards away. I have a camera (Loryta IPC-T541IR-AS 6MM) aimed in that direction, but my kids are just a few pixels and my wife has given me the green light to get a better camera to address the issue.

My primary goal is for a camera that has a good zoom that can see this circled area better:


My secondary goal would be a camera that can actually programmatically zoom at select times (during bus pick up / drop off), but act as a regular non-zoom the remainder of the time. It is nice getting a view of the whole street - but we only need the bus stop zoomed in view for a few minutes AM/PM. Does something like this exist?

 

[wittaj]

Ideally it would be a PTZ, but you could use the Z12E that many use for plates, but it isn't good to constantly zoom a varifocal.

This PTZ would work well as long as they are not out in the dark as the IR reach isn't very far

EmpireTech PTZ425DB-AT 1/2.8"CMOS 4MP 25x Starlight IR 5mm–125mm Vari-

4MP, 1/2.8" CMOS 25x optical zoom Starlight technology Max. 25/30fps@4MP IR distance up to 100 m Auto-tracking 1.0 Perimeter protection Face detection SMD 3.0 IP66

empiretech01.com

And then the Z12E

EmpireTech IPC-B52IR-Z12E-S2 1/2.8" CMOS 2MP 5mm–60mm Ultra Low Light

2MP 1/2.8" CMOS image sensor Built-in IR LED, the max. illumination distance is 150 m Deep learning algorithm Built-in MIC IP67 and IK10 protection SMD 3.0

empiretech01.com

Personally I would go with the PTZ to give you more options.

 

[Sybertiger]

PTZ might be what you want.

 

[Ri22o]

I only see a rectangle, no circle.

 

[mat200]

A larger PTZ should work .. good thing for WAF pre-approval

 

[VideoDad]

The problem I see is that area is not in the center of your current view. If all the camera can do is zoom, then you'd need the zoomed in and zoomed out views to have the same center.

So a PTZ instead?

 

[perfect777]

The problem I see is that area is not in the center of your current view. If all the camera can do is zoom, then you'd need the zoomed in and zoomed out views to have the same center.

So a PTZ instead?

Sorry - not sure that I follow?

 

[VideoDad]

Sorry - not sure that I follow?

A camera that only can zoom is always centered on the middle of the view. In your case you want that to be the bus stop which is up and to the left.

If you zoomed the view pictured, you'd be looking at your immediate neighbor's mailbox and driveway.

If you moved the camera so it was centered on the bus stop, when you zoomed out you'd be looking at more sky and less road.

So you either have to give up the idea of the camera doing double duty, or you'd want a camera that can also pan and tilt so it could focus on the bus stop, hence a PTZ recommendation.

 

[Ri22o]

VideoDad is explaining similar to below.

This is the 3X, which has 3 cameras in one housing. They have different focal lengths, but not all with the exact same center to their FOV. You can see the bounding boxes for each view in the first image. If you had one camera, just zooming it in or out, you would not get the same images as below. The boxes, and guy, would be centered in the first image; zooming out would produce more space above him and less below him.

You should keep the camera you have and just add a Z12E to see further down the road.

 

[perfect777]

VideoDad is explaining similar to below.

This is the 3X, which has 3 cameras in one housing. They have different focal lengths, but not all with the exact same center to their FOV. You can see the bounding boxes for each view in the first image. If you had one camera, just zooming it in or out, you would not get the same images as below. The boxes, and guy, would be centered in the first image; zooming out would produce more space above him and less below him.

You should keep the camera you have and just add a Z12E to see further down the road.

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I see! What specific camera is this?

 

[bigredfish]

This one

EmpireTech IPC-B52IR-X3 1/2.8" CMOS 3 × 2 MP Triple-Sight Perimeter Pr

3 × 2MP 1/2.8" CMOS image sensor Built-in 8 IR LEDs, the max. illumination distance is up to 100 m Supports long-range perimeter protection Deep learning algorithm Supports max. 1TB Micro SD card Supports two-way talk ePoE IP67 and IK10 protection

empiretech01.com

Sea wall is about 300+ ft

 

[bigredfish]

But think I’d do a PTZ in this case

 

[Ri22o]

Regardless, you will struggle with throwing IR that far. Hopefully the bus only runs when it's light out. That street light could also complicate things since you're trying to see past it.

Andy has a Z12E refurb for $170 right now. It would definitely get you the distance. I would still suggest running this in parallel to your current camera if you're wanting to also see the whole street.

EmpireTech Refurbished IPC-B52IR-Z12E-S2 1/2.8" CMOS 2MP Ultra Low Lig

2MP 1/2.8" CMOS image sensor Built-in IR LED, the max. illumination distance is 150 m Deep learning algorithm Built-in MIC IP67 and IK10 protection SMD 3.0

empiretech01.com