The Ari Calculator Feature Is Live

JH
John Honovich
Oct 17, 2014
IPVM

Last month, Ari Erenthal asked for "a way to add a button that will spit out some verbiage about the camera's capabilities.... so I can punch my numbers into the calculator, and then paste the exact expected performance into my proposal or quote."

It's a good idea so we've just added it.

In the calculator embedded below, notice the new section at the bottom. It automatically updates anytime a change in calculation is made and lets you copy and paste it.

Try it out:

The text also changes depending on whether one is doing a general calculation or specific ones for fixed focal or varifocal lenses.

Check it out. Let us know what you think.

(2)
Avatar
Robert Baxter
Oct 17, 2014

John

I like the concept.

Any thought to how to demonstrate with IR wattages, distance and beam angle the night time visibility of the person in the lower right box with (no ambient lighting except:(i) new moon and cloud cover, (ii) clear sky with full moon)?

JH
John Honovich
Oct 17, 2014
IPVM

Manufacturers don't specify IR power output. They list maximum distances, but that is subjective and hard to trust. If they did specify IR power output we could project using the inverse square law for projected distances. Unfortunately, they don't.

There are definitely things we are considering to adjust projected low light scenes but there's some constraints in what specifications are available and trust worthy.

Avatar
Robert Baxter
Oct 18, 2014
I see you are thinking of cameras with integral IR. I usually use seperate illuminators. I specify the power (9, 12, 18, 25, 33 and 44 W) and the angle (15, 30, 45, 60, 90 degree).
JH
John Honovich
Oct 18, 2014
IPVM

The most common use case is cameras with integrated IR, now that there are hundreds of models with them. In those cases, IR power output is not specified.

Also, even with external illuminators, what you are listing is power consumption, correct? We would need to know IR light output for each illuminator and add that into the database and then let users pair external illuminators with camera models.

SL
Shane Lott
Oct 18, 2014
IPVMU Certified

Awesome addition IPVM!........

I am wondering how difficult it would be to add you own camera specs to the database/calculator and add your own narrative????

Regards,

Shane

JH
John Honovich
Oct 18, 2014
IPVM

Shane,

Thanks.

Right now, we are adding a way to save calculations. We could add a description field, where you could enter in whatever details or comments related to that camera / scene. Would that meet what you are looking for?

Avatar
Ari Erenthal
Oct 19, 2014
Chesapeake & Midlantic

Awesome! Best birthday present ever.

GW
George Whittaker
Oct 19, 2014

you my friend are a capital G Geek!

not to be out-geeked, i've already told my family for my birthday i want "software mods only", the looks i got were priceless

MB
Mark Bottomley
Oct 21, 2014

It might be useful to create a "standard picture" to use that has distance signs at common distances like 20', 50', 100', 150', 200', etc. (like a golf driving range) that are sized for readability at a certain ppf. You can still use your standard human target in there holding his favorite license plate in the picture!

Just a suggestion.

Mark...

JH
John Honovich
Oct 21, 2014
IPVM

Mark, can you clarify? At what AoV would this be?

For example, at 200' distance, if the AoV is 45°, the PPF and readability are going to be much different than at 90°, even if everything else is equal.

Can you clarify?

MB
Mark Bottomley
Oct 21, 2014

The images of the parking lot, hallway, and the intersection combined with the person+license plate give a good feel for recognition capabilities, a photo containing calibrated and marked distances would possibly give a better feel to the user as to distance estimates. It would relate the range to target on the left to the range from the camera in the image on the right.

Mark...

JH
John Honovich
Oct 23, 2014
IPVM

Mark,

Do you mean something like this?

That would show the distance on the FoV preview.

We recognize that we need to better connect the PPF and FoV previews and having a distance indicator on the FoV preview would help this. Our idea is to programmatically put overlays on the image, dynamically updating as inputs are changed and reflecting metric vs imperial units.

Let me know what you think and if this makes sense to you.

MB
Mark Bottomley
Oct 23, 2014

Hi John,

I was thinking physical signs in the image, however that wouldn't work for third party photos. For your suggestion, I would put indicators more like a Google map pins that would identify the range to a specific pixel (the range could be hover enabled - keeping the pins small). Example attached of pins with details. The numbers need not be round numbers e.g. the car license plate might be 87 feet. The locations should be unambiguous like the lamp post, the car bumper, the street name sign, etc.

Mark...

JH
John Honovich
Oct 23, 2014
IPVM

Virtual overlay signs will be better than physical ones as they will be clear and can dynamically be added / hidden / displayed.

As for uploading third party scenes, our plan is to let users drop distance pins on their images, so they can include that info (the entrance is 20 feet away, etc.). With that, we then can dynamically calculate and display results for specific key points that the user defines.

MB
Mark Bottomley
Oct 23, 2014

Sounds great! Mark...

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