RunRyder - Appropriate Field-of-View for Aerial Video

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Aerial Photography and Video > Appropriate Field-of-View for Aerial Video

JKos
Elite Veteran
Location: City of California in the state of Maryland

Hello,
I'm just curious approximately what field-of-view I should be looking for while looking at miniature video cameras for aerial video work. I'm currently looking at a Sony KPC650 camera and the available lenses are 12 mm (~23 deg), 8 mm (~33 deg), 6 mm (~44 deg), 4 mm (~62 deg), and 3.6 mm (~68 deg).

What is too wide for quality video and what is too narrow for "easy" use? I realize it can vary with the intended application, but I'm just looking for a good guideline for general video work.

To give a few more details... It will be a wireless video setup with a pan/tilt mechanism and someone else operating the camera.

Another little camera with 460 lines of resolution I was looking at for $89 comes with a lens which gives it a 70 deg FOV. How would that be? Seems perhaps a bit wide.

Thanks,
John

06-13-2004 Over year old.

yb2normal
Senior Heliman
Location: Broomfield, CO

In my opinion FOV is mostly a matter of personal taste but you might have specific reasons to choose one lense over another.

For example, wider angle lenses will make you look higher than you actually are. Also, small vibrations in your platform are less apparent with a wider angle lense.

At around $25 a pop for C-mount lenses for the the KPC650, it might be worth picking up a couple to see what you like.

Supercircuits has a very liberal return policy, so buy four lenses of varying FOV and try them all out.

Hope that helps,
Bill

06-14-2004 Over year old.

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RC-CAM
Senior Heliman
Location: USA

As Yb2normal says, it is all personal taste. I like the lenses that are around 50-60 degrees. They seem to give a good pilot's eye sort of view. Much more than that and you get too much distortion (curved horizons).

06-14-2004 Over year old.

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JKos
Elite Veteran
Location: City of California in the state of Maryland

Thanks for the responses. I figured it was pretty much personal preference.

After realizing that a miniDV camcorder is only a few more dollars than the KPC650, I've decided to go that route. Plus I get variable zoom up to 20x.

- John

06-15-2004 Over year old.

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Aerial Photography and Video > Appropriate Field-of-View for Aerial Video

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