The Complete Handbook of Surveillance Camera Lenses
A practical reference for selecting, installing, and maintaining fixed-focal, varifocal, and zoom surveillance lenses
by Alumigogo Books
non-fiction
Master the numbers, mounts, and trade-offs behind every surveillance lens. Select, install, and troubleshoot with confidence.
About this book
A camera body is just a light-tight box with a sensor. The lens is what decides if you get a clear license plate at 30 meters or a useless gray blob. This handbook cuts through the marketing and explains exactly how focal length, sensor format, aperture, and IR correction work together, so you can buy and mount the right lens the first time.
The book walks you through the full process: understanding the physics in practical terms, decoding spec sheets, choosing between fixed and varifocal with concrete field-of-view calculations, and avoiding common mistakes like using a non-IR corrected lens on a night camera. Installation chapters cover back-focus adjustment, flange depth, and aiming techniques for real-world scenes like parking lots and store entrances.
This is not a brand catalog. It includes vendor-neutral guidance on mount standards (C/CS, M12, board lens), selecting a lens for 1/2.7-inch sensors versus 1/1.8-inch sensors, and when to invest in auto-iris over fixed iris. For those who build systems for others, there is also practical coverage of servicing, troubleshooting, and the economics of lens selection for contractors.
Reader Reviews
Brian Thomas
★★★★★I was hoping this would be a quick read on picking a lens, and it kind of is, but it goes deeper into the optics than I expected. It does do a good job explaining why the same 6mm lens looks different on a 1/3-inch sensor versus a 1/1.8-inch. But I felt like it dragged a little in the maintenance chapter. Also, I noticed the book mentions one specific brand a few times in passing. It wasn't shilling or anything, just seemed a bit inconsistent with the vendor-neutral claim. Overall, it taught me what I needed to know, and I'll keep it as a reference, but I didn't love the writing style.
George Torres
★★★★★As an integrator, I've been burned by buying a varifocal lens without doing the field-of-view math first. This handbook is the first thing I've read that put the formula into practical terms that I can actually use on site. The chapter on back-focus adjustment alone was worth the price because I used to eyeball it and hope for the best. I would have liked to see more on specific brand comparisons, but I get that the point is to teach you how to evaluate any lens. It's not a page-turner, it's a tool, and it is a good one.
Kimberly Lopez
★★★★★It's a solid reference for amateurs like me who are setting up a home security system and want to get it right, but it's not for absolute beginners. If you don't know your F-number from your focal length, you might get lost in the first chapter. The explanations are accurate and the examples are realistic, the part about aiming a lens at a store entrance and accounting for the distance to the street was really useful. But the tone is a bit dry, and it assumes you are already comfortable with basic camera concepts. Useful, but keep a glossary handy.