Rob Thompson

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High Resolution Security Cameras

Living in Detroit, Michigan can be a trial at times. Don't get me wrong, I love this city, it is a great place to live and more exciting than most places I have been. However, one of the mainstays of Detroit residential life is petty crime, lots of little annoying stuff. I have been the victim of petty crime on numerous occasions, including (but not limited to) garage break-ins, UPS package theft, screen-door capers and more. Sometimes, I even catch the crazy perps in the act.

One of the small things that I do to put my mind at ease and to pretend like I'm some sort bad-ass cop is adding video surveillance to my home. However, by far, the most frustrating thing about video surveillance has to do with picture quality. What good is a blurry indistinguishable image of a criminal? Here are images I caught last year of some guy that broke into my friends car while he was over. This guy stole a very nice digital camera (Nikon D90) and a few other things after smashing out the window of my friends Subaru.

Thief Montage

But, what good is this? Ok, I can tell that he has on a dark jacket with some sort of a light collar but that's about it. Definitely nothing about these images could be posted on the FBI Worlds-Worst-Criminals site or showcased on Americas Most Wanted!

It's not as if I'm not using a nice camera. The camera that I used for the above picture is a very high quality 1/3 CCD Sony camera salvaged from police cars themselves. These cameras were purchased at the Dayton, OH Hamvention for a few around $30 each, but probably worth much more. The issue I've had has more to do with resolution and light sensitivity. For petty crime scenes that happen at night, it does no good to take a dazzling image of nothing and for images during the day, what good does it do if the image of your crazed crack-head is 2x2 pixels?

So, I set out to find a solution to my crime-fighting dream. A security imaging system that will capture, in gory detail, the very essence of the criminal element. The first thought I had was that I wanted image quality. Most IP video cameras have sub-megapixel quality. This is largely because they all attempt to capture full-motion video. However, I don't need video, only a single good shot with detail. I needed a true high-resolution digital camera for my CrimStopping© system.

Canon digital cameras have the ability to be controlled and used almost completely via USB. The key factor that Canon has over many manufacturers is that they provide a "preview" or digital LCD image of the what the viewfinder is displaying, which is accessible over USB.

Having been an avid fan of Canon cameras, even before my recent fascination with the Detroit criminal element, I happened to have had a number of Canon cameras laying around. The next order of business was to find some software to control these bad-boys. I immediately came around a good piece of software for the PC called "PS Remote" by Breeze Systems. This software will remotely control your Canon camera and offers an interface to work with another piece of motion detecting software by Zone Trigger. This turned out to be the Eureka of high-quality security footage. Here is an image of BreezeSys PSRemote and ZoneTrigger working in tandem to do motion detection using the live viewfinder from a Canon digital camera and capturing high-resolution images.

Criminals

The quality coming from your best digital camera can't be beat. Here is an image during the day, reduce from 5 megapixels, from my brand-new security setup.

So here is a picture captured by ZoneTrigger of someone. Ok, so maybe he was here to read my electrical meter, but you never can be sure! (I think the DTE Energy jacket gave him away)

So, when the next crack-head comes along, I'll be sure to post a nice high-resolution image of their mug-shot here for everyone to see. Not actually too sure what good it will do still, but I hope that at least I'll be able to see their face. Just in case I see them in my neighborhood again and feel like starting something =)

11/23/2007 08:08pm

Phil Davis on 01/13/2008 06:46pm

I've wished for the product/solution you describe for many moons. I applaud you for working through it all. This adds a new much needed dimension to home/et al security. A comment. Time link your canon still photo to real time video. That way the high res still shows who and the full motion shows what. Time link shows when. The merge of information should ice the perp with the event. I'm sure once I delve into this it will become more clear but do you keep still camera always "on" to avoid delay in being ready to shoot? Great posting. Thank you, Phil

Rob Thompson on 01/13/2008 07:14pm

Hi Phil, thanks for the comments. The camera stays on all the time. Once the motion detection in ZoneTrigger finds an event, it performs an action. The ZoneTrigger software allows you to setup both video and image capture. I'll setup some video captures and see if I can get some more footage ;)

Thanks,
-Rob

Mike Whitton on 05/13/2008 07:49pm

Hi Rob, how did you mount the camera to prevent it from being stolen?

Christina on 05/26/2008 12:13pm

Hello Rob,

Thank you for posting your security camera solution. It’s exactly what I’ve been trying to find for exactly the reasons you mention…..I need to be able to clearly identify the “intruder”.

I’m not a tech person, so I’m trying to grasp the ins and outs of setting up your system. If you have time, some questions please:

1.I’ll need to purchase a camera. Would a Canon 10 megapixel with 5x optical and 4x digital zoom be sufficient?
2.I would I like to mount the camera inside the house and shoot through a window and window screen. Similar to your entry photo, my intruder would be about 10-12 feet from the camera. Do you think shooting through the window and screen would work?
3.How did you mount your camera?
4.In reading via the Zonetrigger link you provided, is your solution, taking a “still” photograph, considered a “USB camera (webcams)” application?

Any input you may provide would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Christina

Rob on 06/08/2008 03:10pm

Hi Christina,

Here are some answers to your questsions:

> 1.I’ll need to purchase a camera. Would a Canon 10 megapixel with 5x optical and 4x digital zoom be sufficient?

More than enough. If you are at the same range as the DTE energy person in the image above, a 4 or 5 megapixel Canon will work well too. High resolution images from digital cameras need to be compared with the ~0.3 megapixel quality available by most security cameras.

> 2.I would I like to mount the camera inside the house and shoot through a window and window screen. Similar to your entry photo, my intruder would be about 10-12 feet from the camera. Do you think shooting through the window and screen would work?

Yes, the pictures above were taken while mounted inside through a window.

> 3.How did you mount your camera?

I mounted the camera with an adjustable articulated arm, normally used for ham radios in cars. I've found these at ham radio swaps for around $15 each, but don't know if there is a source for them online.

> 4.In reading via the Zonetrigger link you provided, is your solution, taking a “still” photograph, considered a “USB camera (webcams)” application?

Kinda, but the ZoneTrigger software is primarily marketed at users of "USB webcams", ZoneTrigger interfaces specifically with PSRemote for use with full-fledged Canon digital cameras.

-Rob

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