Telephoto (long) lens - for greater reach

[Cantab]

My contention: The 130° angle of view (aka field of view) of the Arlo Q is great for most situations. But there is occassionally a need to zoom in on a particular area, say a gate located at the end of a driveway. This calls for a longer (telephoto) lens.

Proposal: Design and sell a lens adapter which extends the reach of the lens, in the same way that there are lens adapters for smartphones which increase the effective focal length of the lens. Or better, have interchangable lenses.

Evaluation of my idea: 

1. A high-quality lens adapter could be expensive
2. There may be little demand for a longer lens
3. The lens adapter has to be very large in order to ensure a good effective f-stop number and thus maintain good low-light recording capabilities
4. IR recording may no longer be possible, necessitating the use of security lights
5. With a telephoto lens, the Arlo Q could be deployed in a sheltered area of the house which would previously have required an Arlo Wire Free to cover the same area. 

Alas, my suggestion may, as usual, gain no viewship or support. Here's hoping that will change. If not, I shall not waste my time here. I'll let the community decide using the "Kudos" button.

[mrr714]

I need this as well. Our car was broken into - the images from our Arlo Ultra were pretty much useless because the camera has such a wide angle. Even though it is 4K, when cropped on a 27" iMac with retina, you could not make out the face. Moving the camera closer is not an option. I would suggest Arlo make cameras with different focal lengths for different uses, 

[Cantab]

Bump

[s020822]

I so need this. My Arlo Go is located a bit away from what it is monitoring and since the zoom is digital I can in no way identifify anyone or anything. I don't think this exists - an optical zoom lens for the Arlo Go - would a generic version exist and have any of you experiences with it?

[StephenB]

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@Cantab wrote:

Evaluation of my idea: 

1. A high-quality lens adapter could be expensive
2. There may be little demand for a longer lens
3. The lens adapter has to be very large in order to ensure a good effective f-stop number and thus maintain good low-light recording capabilities
4. IR recording may no longer be possible, necessitating the use of security lights
5. With a telephoto lens, the Arlo Q could be deployed in a sheltered area of the house which would previously have required an Arlo Wire Free to cover the same area. 

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6.  The camera with the lens adapter still would have the same motion detection range of 20-25 feet, since that range is limited by the PIR sensors, and not the video.

[jah07]

I have been waiting for an Arlo telephoto camera way too long.  Just had an intruder in bright sunlight.  I could not read the license plat in any snapshots, even with photo shop.  Just cannot get the resolution.   Please, please make a telephoto camera that is POE!!!!!!!!  Thank you.

[jah07]

  Arlo   May 14, 2020, 6:27 AM (3 days ago)   Features superior brightness and 2K HDR video in a Wire-Free design. Superior brightness. 100% Wire-Free. Illuminate your property like never before with our aw    

John Harrington May 15, 2020, 2:00 PM (2 days ago)      

to Arlo  

          Who cares, another wide angle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Where is the desperately needed Arlo Q Plus POE telephoto camera?????????????????????????????

[GW89]

A clip on telephoto lens (like those available for many phone models) for long narrow areas/pathways. These are difficult areas to monitor efficiently.

[TomMac]

Prob not going to happen...

Yes it may "see" better down a long narrow area, BUT the PIR will not change any so max detection is still 25 ft for people.

What has helped some people with this problem is that a few users have mounted the camera on it's side ( tho picture is 90d off )

[A-A-ron]

I've had Arlo for a little over 2 years and while there are some things I wish were improved, the absolute biggest request I would have is to offer an Arlo camera with a manual zoom lens for aiming at distant locations or specific objects, (such as where license plates may come into view).

I understand most people want a lot of coverage so the wide angle helps with that, but I'd absolutely love at least one bullet camera aimed a bit off in the distance to capture cars or people going by. In 4k of course!

My biggest gripe is how pixelated the video gets for anything beyond 20 feet on the Ultra 4k videos. I'd like one to get better details I can send to the police when something stupid happens - and we've been having a lot of stupid stuff happen lately!!

[jah07]

I have been asking Arlo development now for 2 years.  I am about to pull the plug and go to another vendor to get a telephoto system.  It will cost much more and the software does not look as mature as the Arlo offering.  If anybody at Arlo is "truly" listening, I will be spending more on a telephoto lens then my current 4 Arlo Q-plus camera system.  If Arlo wants to stay mediocre, then continue to ignore this growing market segment.  The current Arlo camera offerings cannot capture license plates.  I had a burglary attempt at 2:00 AM last summer.  I need a telephoto to zoom in on a small area (say the width of grill) from say 30 feet.  Hello, anybody home there at Arlo development????