How can I estimate what a 4K security camera will see before installing it?
Asked 1/20/2023
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I want to preview how much detail a 4K home security camera would capture in my yard before I install one. I can take test photos from the planned mounting position with my phone (Pixel 6a), but I’m unsure how to compare that to a security camera spec like 3840×2160 resolution and viewing angles such as 40°–110° or 113°.
Is resizing a phone photo to 3840×2160 a reasonable way to approximate a 4K security camera, or is matching the field of view more important? What’s the best practical way to estimate how much of the yard will be visible and how much detail I’ll get, especially if I’m deciding between mounting the camera higher or lower?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
3y ago
2 Answers
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Your Pixel6A has an ultrawide lens that gives a 114 degree field of view and a main lens that gives a 77 degree field of view. As the number of pixels across the field is close between the cameras you should get similar resolution to a security camera with the same field of view, assuming the security camera is as good a camera as your phone. That is a big assumption because the phones have worked very hard on their cameras and the software to process the images. You can just take pictures with the phone from where you want to place the camera to assess both the field of view and the resolution. You may be disappointed because the phones have software to combine exposures to provide better low light performance. I don't know whether the security cameras do, or they just rely on high ISO which will make the images noisier.
As Tetsujin points out the security camera has a different aspect ratio than your phone. Assuming you put both the phone and camera in landscape orientation the vertical field of view of the camera is about 2/3 of the phone. You can mask off some of the phone image at the top and bottom to simulate this. About 1/6 of the frame top and bottom will be close.
Originally by user14486. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user14486
3y ago
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Matching field of view matters more than simply resizing to 3840×2160.
A practical test is to take photos from the exact planned mounting spot using a lens/FOV on your phone that is close to the security camera’s advertised viewing angle. If the phone image covers about the same angle and has a similar number of pixels across that view, it gives a reasonable preview of framing and daytime detail.
Resizing your phone image to 4K alone won’t tell you much unless the field of view also matches. A wider view spreads the same pixels over more of the yard, so detail per subject decreases.
Your phone may actually look better than the security camera, especially in low light, because phones use strong image processing and exposure stacking. Many security cameras do less sophisticated processing and may rely more on high ISO/noise reduction, so nighttime results can be worse than your phone test suggests.
So: use your phone mainly to simulate the camera’s viewing angle from the intended height, then judge whether important subjects occupy enough of the frame. If identification detail is critical, a narrower view or a lower mounting position will usually give more usable detail on subjects.
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