CCTV Planning Tool · 03 of 10

Lens Focal Length Selector

You already know where the camera will sit and what you want it to see. We'll tell you exactly which lens to order — no guesswork, no overspending.

The lens decides what your camera can do

Every camera comes with a lens — and the lens is what decides whether you'll see a wide area or get close-up detail. You can't have both.

A wide-angle lens (small mm value, like 2.8 mm) covers a lot of ground but spreads pixels thin, so distant faces look blurry. A telephoto lens (large mm value, like 16 mm) zooms in tight — perfect for number plates at the gate — but only covers a narrow slice of the scene.

The trick is matching the lens to your specific job: how far away the subject will be, and what you want to do with the footage. That's exactly what this tool figures out for you.

A real example: Mounting a 4 MP camera 10 m from your front gate to identify visitors.

• A 4 mm wide lens delivers only ~200 PPM — below the 250 PPM Identify target. Faces will be too blurry to use as evidence.
• A 6 mm lens delivers ~300 PPM with 8.5 m of coverage — comfortably above Identify and with room for context around the visitor.
• A 12 mm telephoto lens delivers 600 PPM but only 4.3 m wide — quality overkill at the cost of missing everything around the gate.

The right answer is 6 mm. This tool finds the equivalent for your setup in one click.
2.8 – 4 mm
Wide angle
Sees a lot of area. Best for indoor general surveillance, small rooms, retail floors, lifts.
6 – 8 mm
Standard
Balanced view and detail. Best for office entrances, reception areas, mid-range corridors.
12 – 25 mm
Telephoto
Long range, narrow view. Best for parking entrances (LPR), perimeter fences, distant subjects.

Find your lens

Four simple choices, one clear answer.
Identification: identify a stranger from CCTV alone. Court-admissible.
How far the subject (face, person, plate) is from where the camera will mount.
— mm
Recommended lens for your setup
Coverage width— m
Achieved quality— PPM
Headroom over target—
—
Top-down view at —

Compare all standard lenses

LENS
QUALITY (PPM)
WIDTH OF VIEW
STATUS

Get this recommendation as a PDF

A clean, branded report with your setup, the recommended lens, and the full comparison table. Useful for sharing with your installer or procurement team.