The Right-Size Camera Plan
The RepLock plan for choosing the lens, the resolution and the recorder drive for each camera on your own property, from the job the camera has to do
RepLock's Camera Lens Coverage Calculator ends with a warning that a wider lens shrinks faces at distance, and never asks how many pixels the camera has, so it cannot say when a face gets too small to identify. The Security Camera Storage Calculator asks for the resolution and only prices it in terabytes. The two never meet, and resolution gets picked by guesswork. The Right-Size Camera Plan joins them. Each spot gets a job (Detect, Observe, Recognize or Identify, the DORI pixel densities of IEC 62676-4), measured where the person will stand; then the narrowest lens that still covers it and the lowest resolution that puts enough pixels on a face. On an example house with four spots, 1080p behind a 2.8 mm lens everywhere fails 3 of the 4 jobs, 4K everywhere does all four at 64 Mbps (20.74 TB a month, a 24 TB drive with a tenth kept free), and the plan does all four at 20 Mbps (6.48 TB, an 8 TB drive holding 33 days). Part 2 adds the streams you chose and sizes the drive in decimal terabytes, the units drives are sold in. Every worked figure is an example computed from the site's own calculators, and the plan recommends no camera, recorder or brand. It covers cameras on your own property; recording beyond it, or audio, can be regulated, so check local privacy and recording laws (this is not legal advice). Included: 23 printable pages with seven steps, a spot survey, a storage sheet with a one-week check, an installation-day check, a reach table and a quickstart, plus a personalised sheet worked on the numbers you entered in the calculator you came from.
Look inside
Two full pages from the plan, exactly as printed. Click either to read it at full size before you decide.
What is in it
- A job for every spot: the four DORI pixel densities of IEC 62676-4, and the widest scene 1080p and 4K can cover at each
- Measured where the person stands: the distance and width that decide everything, and how steeply a camera may look down at a face
- The narrowest lens that still covers: scene width for 2.8 to 12 mm lenses at every spot
- Pixels on target, not megapixels: the lowest resolution that reaches each job, and what to do when none does
- The two shortcuts checked: 1080p behind a wide lens everywhere, and 4K everywhere, against the plan
- The streams added, not the camera count times the biggest one, with H.265, motion recording and frame rate in their place
- The drive in decimal terabytes with a tenth kept free, days of footage on each size, and the recorder checks before you pay
- A spot survey, a storage sheet with a one-week check, and an installation-day check with the privacy questions
- Reference tables: how far each lens reaches for each job, and GB a day by resolution
- A personalised sheet: pixels on a person at your distance and the lens each job needs, or your drive and the days it holds
- ✓ 23 printable pages
- ✓ 10 sections, worksheets and templates
- ✓ A second PDF worked out from the numbers you enter
- ✓ No account needed, just an email address
- ✓ Instant download; link valid 7 days
Price includes any taxes. Sold by GrabURL, who handle checkout and support. The charge appears on your statement as GrabURL.
The plan picks up where the free Camera Lens Coverage Calculator and Security Camera Storage Calculator leave off. The lens tool gives the scene width and never asks for the resolution; the storage tool asks for the resolution and only prices it. The plan joins them: pixels per meter where the person stands, checked against the DORI levels of IEC 62676-4, so each camera gets the narrowest lens that covers its spot and the lowest resolution that does its job, and the drive is sized for the streams you chose. For cameras on your own property; the worked figures are examples. Recording beyond your property or recording audio can be regulated, so check local privacy and recording laws. Not legal advice, and no camera or brand is recommended.