Subscriber Discussion

View Width In Relation To Resolution And Imager Size.

EA
Emad Allam
Sep 15, 2016
IPVMU Certified

Is there any relation between the resolution or imager size and the view width of the camera.

In other words is using a bigger imager or higher resolution imager will provide a wider view.

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Brian Rhodes
Sep 15, 2016
IPVMU Certified

Yes, but the lens focal length is a much bigger/ main factor.

From Surveillance Camera Imager Tutorial:

Imager Size vs FoV Width

Imager size has a modest impact on FoV width. The primary determinant of FoV is lens length (e.g., 3mm, 10mm, 30mm, etc.).

However, the larger the imager, everything else equal, the larger the FoV.

On the other hand, imager sizes in surveillance do not vary that much, so even with notably different imager sizes, the FoV only changes moderately. For example:

As such, it generally is not a major concern, but is worth being aware of.

(1)
U
Undisclosed #1
Sep 15, 2016
IPVMU Certified

Is there any relation between the resolution or imager size and the view width of the camera.

No direct relation with resolution, although more pixels correlate generally with larger imagers, e.g. there are few if any 4k imagers that are 1/4", and only a handful that are only 1/3".

Between imager size and view, there is a direct proportional relationship. Twice the imager size and you would get twice the view size.

As Brian points out however, security imagers don't typically vary that much, although we are seeing some larger formats more and more, from Sony, Axis and Hik et al. Still these are somewhat niche and expensive cameras.

Except I noticed you asked about view width specifically.

Imager widths can and do vary more than the overall size, even when the overall size remains the same.

For instance, two 1/3" inch (a diagonal measurement approximation) sensors may be of different native aspect ratios, one 4:3 and one 16:9. The one that is 16:9 will have a 33% greater view width, at the expense of view height.

More and more sensors are coming in native wide formats, so this is something to be on the lookout for.

Manufacturers don't often give their sensors native width and height, so a estimate may be made by taking the highest resolution supported by the imager and deriving thr ratio. Barring non-square or non-functional pixels this should be reasonably close.

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