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CCTV Note – II

Parts Of the Camera

Lens
A camera lens (also known as photographic lens or photographic objective) is an
optical lens or assembly of lenses used in conjunction with a camera body and mechanism to
make images of objects on Sensor.

Fixed Lens Camera

A photographic lens for which the focus is not adjustable is called a fixed-focus lens or
sometimes focus-free. The focus is set at the time of lens design, and remains fixed. ...
Most cameras with focus-free lenses also have a relatively small aperture, which increases the
depth of field.

A fixed or board CCTV camera lens has a set viewing angle. This means the camera
lens cannot be zoomed in or adjusted in any way.

Varifocal Camera
a varifocal lens is a lens that can zoom in and out. You can adjust the lens so that it captures a
wider area or so that it focuses in more detail on a smaller area.

Generally, the smallest aperture size of varifocal lenses used in home security cameras is
2.8-12mm, and the largest is 5-100mm. A larger aperture means that you can zoom in
closer and view images in more details, while a smaller aperture means that you can zoom
out further to see a wider area.
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The Focal length

The focal length (measured in “mm”) of a lens
determines how far the camera can see.  The most
common focal length on security cameras is 3.6mm,
which will allow for roughly a 72 degree field of view
(FOV described below).  This particular focal length
works well for residential or small office surveillance
applications. Focal Length

The focal length of the lens is the distance between the lens and the image sensor when the
subject is in focus, usually stated in millimeters (e.g., 28 mm, 50 mm, or 100 mm). In the case of zoom
lenses, both the minimum and maximum focal lengths are stated, for example 18–55 mm.

Field of View (FOV)

Field of View is the area, in width, that the lens
will allow you to see.  If you hear the term “wide
angle” then it will have a smaller lens, like 2.8mm. 
This means just what it sounds like, the picture will
be wider.  With a smaller focal length details are also
more difficult to see.  If you are capturing video in a
normal sized room, maybe 20x20ft, then a wide
angle lens will work just fine.  If you need to capture
a person’s face, then you’ll want to consider
something with a larger focal length, like 16mm for
example.

Angle of View
Angle of view is a measure of how much of a scene or subject a lens can take in,
expressed in degrees.

Depth of field
The depth of field is the distance within which objects in a picture are in focus. A
large depth of field means almost all objects are in focus whereas a small depth of field
means only a small part of the overall field of view is in focus.
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Sensor
The soul of a digital camera is its sensor—to determine image size, resolution,
low-light performance, depth of field, dynamic range, lenses, and even the camera’s
physical size, the sensor is key.

An image sensor is a solid-state device, the part of the camera’s hardware that
captures light and converts what you see through lens into Signals.

There are two types of Sensors

CCD and CMOS

CCD (Charge-Coupled Device) CMOS(complementary metal-oxide

semiconductor)

Global Shutter Rolling Shutter

Expensive Less Expensive

Low-noise Images (Better Quality) Susceptible to Noise (Lower Quality)

Higher Resolution Lower Resolution

Larger Size Smaller Size

High Power Consumption Low Power Consumption

Chip Output is Analog So need to use Chip Output is Digital So no need to use
A/D Converter A/D Converter
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Image Processing Unit

An image processor is an essential electronic component that is akin to the “brains” of
the camera. It controls the camera to a high degree, from how it functions to how it depicts and
records images.

An image processor, also known as an image processing engine, image processing

unit (IPU), or image signal processor (ISP), is a type of media processor or specialized digital
signal processor (DSP) used for image processing, in digital cameras or other devices.

Resolution
The amount of detail that the camera can capture is called the resolution, and it is
measured in pixels. The more pixels a camera has, the more detail it can capture and
the larger pictures can be without becoming blurry or "grainy."

Term Pixels (W x H) Notes

QCIF 176 x 120 Quarter CIF (half the height and width as CIF)
CIF 352 x 240
2CIF 704 x 240 2 times CIF width
4CIF 704 x 480 2 times CIF width and 2 times CIF height
D1 720 x 480 aka "Full D1"
720p HD 1280 x 720 720p High Definitionaka "HD-SDI"
960p HD 1280 x 960 960p High Definition - a Sony specific HD
standard
1.3 MP 1280 x 1024 aka "1 Megapixel" or "1MP"
2 MP 1600 x 1200 2 Megapixel
1080p HD 1920 x 1080 1080p High Definition (approx. equal to 2.1MP)
3 MP 2048 x 1536 3 Megapixel
4 MP 2688 x 1520 4 Megapixel
5 MP 2592 x 1944 5 Megapixel
6 MP 3072 x 2048 6 Megapixel
8 MP / 4K 3840 x 2160 8 Megapixel
(Coax)
12 MP / 4K (IP) 4000 x 3000 12 egapixel
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Iris
 An iris is an opening or aperture  that controls the level of light that travels through the lens.

 The more open the iris is, the brighter the image will be.

 Control of the iris is important in increasing the quality of the image.

 The iris ensures an optimal light level to the CCD image sensor so that images are clear, sharp
and have good resolution and contrast.

Fixed Vs Manuel Iris

This is very similar to the choice between Monofocal and Varifocal, in that one is fixed and the
other “varies”, and thus, is more expensive.  The iris has to do with how much light is allowed to filter in
through the lens.  A manual or “fixed” iris lens is one you’d use if you are in an area where the lighting
does not change, like an office.  An auto iris lens will automatically adjust for light variations.  You’ll
probably need an auto-iris lens for outdoor surveillance.

Compression Techniques

In signal processing, data compression, source coding, or bit-rate reduction is the process of

encoding information using fewer bits than the original representation. Any
particular compression is either lossy or lossless. Lossless compression reduces bits by
identifying and eliminating statistical redundancy.

Especially in CCTV Compressing data is very crucial in order to save the storage space and
data traffic. In signal processing, data compression, source coding, or bit-rate reduction is the
process of encoding information using fewer bits than the original representation. Any
particular compression is either lossy or lossless. Lossless compression reduces bits by
identifying and eliminating statistical redundancy.
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 MJPEG compression – also called motion JPEG, works by evaluating each frame of the
video, compressing them, and sending them as individual JPEG images
 MPEG4 compression – this is an older style of video compression, and has largely been
replaced by H.264
 H.264 compression –This was introduced in 2003 when recording in HD quality was a
requirement and was the most efficient video compression codec, and it works by taking small
groups of frames and evaluating them together as a series to eliminate duplicate content that
appears in each frame without changing
H.265 compression –H.265 (also known as High Efficiency Video Coding, or HEVC, Like its predecessor,
H.264, was initially developed for the broadcast industry.
However, as good as H.264 is for SD and HD resolutions, its ability to evolve to handle the
demands of the latest high-resolution imaging formats, such as 4K, is limited since 4K stored in H.264
creates a proportionally larger file. H.265 expands on the efficiencies of the H.264 compression standard
by generating the highest-quality images in the smallest video file possible.
H.265 essentially offers the same level of picture quality as H.264, but with more efficient codec,
so there's less data to manage. H.265 uses only half the bit rate of H.264. It significantly reduces
bandwidth and storage requirements which effectively lowers infrastructure costs and ultimately makes
high-resolution surveillance systems more affordable. Decoding H.265 streams requires more
computational power when viewing. However, most VMS systems easily leverage GPU accelerated
decoding power available from off-the-shelf video cards to achieve the required performance at little to
no extra cost. When recording H.265, the NVR simply sees a smaller file to be stored since no decoding
is necessary until playback is required.
H265+ compression –An intelligent algorithm self-developed by Hikvision that can
greatly decrease the bitrate of video based on a standard H.265 codec. Hikvision's H.265+ is
such an optimized video encoding technology based on the standard H.265/ High efficiency
Video Coding (HEVC) format. 
With H.265+, video quality nearly matches that of H.265/HEVC but reduces the transmission
bandwidth and storage capacity required, due to three key technologies — prediction encoding,
noise suppression, and flexible bitrate control.

It demonstrates incredible improvements in bandwidth reduction, data storage efficiency, and

video content analyses. 

Storage Comparison

Four 4MP Cameras 2TB = 23days

H264 H265+/Ucode Advanced

2TB =11Days 2TB = 47 days

H265
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Four 4K Cameras H265

H264 2TB = 11 days

2TB = 5 Days H265+/Ucode Advanced

2TB = 23 days