BeginnerDCS Setup

When it comes to image quality, different FPV camera lenses are really “apples and oranges”. It’s impossible to tell which is best until you try it yourself and look at the images in your own FPV goggles.

First open a web browser and navigate to your home router page (10.0.0.1 in my case, probably 192.168.1.1 for you). If you're not sure what your routers IP address is, you can usually find it by opening Command Prompt and typing "ipconfig". Your router's IP is usually listed under Default Gatway.

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However there are some guidelines you can follow. For example, a 2.8mm lens will have a narrower field of view, while a 2.1mm lens will have a wider FOV but with a stronger fisheye effect and more distorted image.

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For FPV, I recommend a focal length between 2.1mm and 2.5mm. The wider FOV gives more peripheral vision in the goggles and makes it easier to tell where you are in relation to the proximity around you. Basically you can see the obstacles coming earlier and react sooner.

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M8 is used in most micro cameras, and M12 is used in Mini and Standard sizes cameras. Some newer Micro cameras are beginning to use the larger M12 lens too for the better image quality.

Some times the Tacview settings is missing - if this happens you can add in the settings manually but more than likely you have a corrupt installation and will need to reinstall from scratch.

Keep in mind all you really need is the DCS Server and a Windows computer and you can skip the other files if you'd like. However, below are the tools that I will be installing and configuring and what I recommend you use.

Now we need to configure your network firewall to pass the traffic on the ports above to our new DCS server. Unfortunately this isn't something that I can script for you because every home router will be different and have a different interface, but I will show you the steps and basics principals to follow in a home network.

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Launch the DCS World OpenBeta Dedicated Server, and log in to your https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/ user account, then close the dedicated server as we still need to configure our firewalls to accept DCS client connections.

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While we at Server Academy mostly create content based around administrating the Windows Server operating system, we also love to game! One of our favorite games is DCS World, a flight simulator with highly detailed fighter jets and realistic flight models and combat systems.

Is there any fundamental difference between a lens made for a CMOS and one made for a CCD I have a RunCam Eagle 2. I don’t like the fish eye effect of the factory 2.5 lens and wanted something closer to 2.8 or 3.6 but when I emailed RunCam to see if I could put a Swift 2.8 or 3.6 mm lens the just told me they were not compatible. I see lenses for sale on other sites but don’t know how to check compatibility other then 12mm thread.

When choosing a new lens for your camera, you have to make sure it fits. This is determined by the thread diameter of the lens.

Perhaps that’s why we begin to see more and more Micro FPV cameras using larger size lens again, such as the Micro Eagle and Micro Swift 3. The M8 threaded lens is replaced by the M12 that is normally used on standard size cameras. M12 lenses obviously can house a much larger lens element while they can have the same aperture and FOV to a much smaller M8 size lens.

What if both cam and lens have ir filter? I like to run 1.8mm lens and run into this problem often… My view is all tan and almost colorless. Can I remove the filter on the lens or will that wreck the lens?

I need a night vision set up. Want a field of view as close to the human eye as possible. Basically flip my goggles up and down and I would see the same size image either through the goggles or without them. I’ve heard the night eagle with 0.00001 lux is good. But which lens set up?

A larger lens diameter might have the same FOV (focal length) and max aperture as a smaller one, but it’s bigger just purely because it’s using a larger lens elements. This could have advantages with regard to image sharpness and the way light is let into the image sensor.

Generally speaking, shorter focal length gives you a wider FOV, however focal length of the lens does not equate to FOV.

Another advantage of having larger FOV is that you need less camera up-tilt angle because you can see more above and below the horizon. Making it easier to land and manage your throttle level.

At this point let's make sure that the outside world can see our ports. Double-click the DCS World OpenBeta Dedicated Server shortcut on your desktop (shown in screenshot above). Once the server is above, use a port tool to see if the ports we opened above are visible (the server must be turned on first):

When you click the Simple Radio Standalone link above, you need to scroll to the bottom of the page and located the "Assets" section. Click the DCS-SimpleRadioStandalone-x.x.x.x.zip file to download the installer.

You want to be sure that you have configured your DCS Server with a static IP address (instructions here). In my scenario, my gaming server's static internal IP address is 10.2.0.2.

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Focal lengths range from about 2.8mm to 1.8mm. I find it easier to choose when the manufacturer tells me what the FOV is for the different lenses they offer, otherwise it’s more or less a guessing game even if I know the focal length. I do find it a bit annoying and strange that they seem to always tell you the focal length of the lens and not always the FOV.

CheapDCS setup

Let's open Windows PowerShell by clicking the Windows button, searching for "PowerShell", right-clicking and choosing Run as administrator.

If your sensor doesn’t have the IR filter, and you use a new FPV camera lens that also doesn’t have it, your image will look pink.

See how the image is all blurry? Because the lens is out of focus. Here is a guide on how to adjust the focus of your FPV camera lens.

SRS is hosted on GitHub which among other things is a way for developers to collaborate on software. The process for downloading and installing something from GitHub could be a little different than what you're used to so I will cover the steps below:

In this tutorial, we are going to cover the steps require to build a DCS World server on Windows Server 2016. While this involves gaming, what you learn in this tutorial like port forwarding, firewall configuration and scheduled PowerShell scripts will in your IT career.

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Just extract that zip file and run the Installer inside of the folder with the default settings to complete the installation.

The lens compatibility also depends on the size of image sensor, while the eagle xx has 1/1,8 size the swift has a 1/3 size. some (or all of them? all my lenses from 1/3cams doesnt) lenses doesent fit with the 1/1,8 factor, you will see a black lens-ring in the picture and it destroy the „dynamic range“ work of the cam, the arent usable. i destroyed my eagle 2 lens, made the mistake, only have a look at 12mm, bought a swift lens (cause this lens is always availabel and i d like to try another fov) and add a ir filter sadly they dont give a description about the sensor capilitys of the lenses, i still dont now which lenses are well for my eagle2. the recomended lenses from runcam arent availabel normaly (probably the popular micro eagle change the availability already) add this information to prevent before the same mistake would be nice. a list of lenses which fit on my 1/1,8 eagle2 would be very nice. to solve the broken lens temporary, i take the broken frontglass from my eagle (it was a makro cam after :-) and at the moment i fly my eagle with adding a front glass to the lens from a camvtx aio with a 1/4 image sensor, it work :-) for the moment.

If the object I’m viewing is for example 1/3 of the size I require with a 2.5mm lens would using an 8mm bring the size of the viewer object closer to the required size?

Next you need to edit your Tacview configuration. I am going to use NotePad++ to edit my config but you use whatever you prefer.

Once I navigate to 10.0.0.1 I get redirected to the ASUS login page. The default login is usually admin / admin (username / password).

IR (infrared) filter is there to block light of certain wavelength, it’s sometimes referred to as IR block. In your FPV camera, you can usually find a filter on either your FPV camera lens or sensor – a layer of coating that reflects red/pink light.

Inside of this configuration file you should find a section called "TacView" directly under Plugins as shown in the screenshot below:

FPV Camera Lens makes a huge difference to image quality. This article covers some of the most significant aspects of FPV camera lenses when it comes to maintaining and choosing one.