advice for very short range lenses (Beehive security ;-) )

[Pieter-Jan Jordens]

helo,

i have not checked the entire forum if my quention has been asked before but since it is quite unique i feel confident to post it right away:

as the "young guy" from the office, i got appointed the resposibility to find a camera that would be best suited for filming the entrance of a beehive, capturing the bees arriving with fresh pollen on their feet and parting to go find some more.( beehive located outside, 30+ m from the nearby building where a router would be. this footage would be linked to the website so that people could see the benefits of this ecological project.) these bees should be captured as sharp and large as possible. I was thinking of mounting a ipcamera at a 10-30cm distance from the entrance hole.

I'm sure most camera's are not designed for this distance, so i was wondering which lens range i should look for so that the focus is optimal. zooming is no requirement. If this is somehow a specific range, specific brands and series suggestions would be very much appreciated!

greetings,
Pieter-Jan

 

[alastairstevenson]

I was thinking of mounting a ipcamera at a 10-30cm distance from the entrance hole.

How large is the entrance hole?
That measurement, together with the distance that you have quoted, will provide the FOV (field of view), which will then guide what the ideal lens focal distance will be.
Even given a suitable choice of field of view, the actual focus point may have to be optimally adjusted for that range, which is possible on a fixed-focus lens after some disassembly, but easier on a varifocal lens, manual or electronically adjusted.

 

[Pieter-Jan Jordens]

the entrance holes are 2cm large, but lets say we could capture 2 holes that are 10cm appart, that would make the total range that should be captured 15cm.

now that i think of it, it is not important either that the result is in landscape or portrait mode. Landscape would be easier since then the image should not be turned for website viewing...


thanks!