LUX and FOV – What you and your customers should know about these hidden camera specifications

Take every opportunity to shed some light on product details to your customers.

A little known light measurement called LUX rating is important when selecting the right hidden camera. A higher LUX rating is actually a poorer quality camera. Simply stated, the LUX is the metric unit for measuring the amount of light that falls on an object. A camera with a 1-LUX rating claims to be able to produce an image by the light of one candle that is about three feet away from the subject. Many cameras on the market today can do just that. The problem is that the resulting image may be of very poor quality. A grainy, monochrome image is probably not what your customers wanted when they purchased their “low light” hidden camera. Your customers will appreciate your expertise when you advise them on LUX ratings. Let them know that they should select a camera with a rating of .01 or lower to achieve a high quality image especially in average household lighting. SleuthGear hidden cameras sport a LUX rating of .01 to .0001.

The average consumer knows a camera's resolution affects image quality but many are not aware of another factor: field of view (FOV). It is the area of the inspection captured on the camera’s imager. The size of the field of view and the size of the camera’s imager directly affect the image resolution (one determining factor in accuracy). Working distance is the distance between the back of the lens and the target object. A camera with a wide FOV is more likely to capture an accurate image. Consider that a bird has an almost 360 degree field of view and humans, almost 180 degree. If a customer purchases a hidden camera with a 70 degree FOV (which is fairly standard for many hidden cameras) they should expect the FOV to be extremely narrow. KJB’s standards are above average in the industry. That is why many of our hidden cameras have an FOV of 92 degrees – the highest standard for pinhole cameras.