What MTBF Really Means for Industrial Camera Reliability
Published on October 23, 2025 by TIS Marketing.
Understanding MTBF: What It Really Says About Camera Reliability
In industrial automation, every minute of uptime counts. Recently, our Senior Product Manager, Momchil Binev, shared that The Imaging Source's industrial cameras achieve an MTBF of over 200 years.
You read that correctly: 200 years!
But what exactly does that number mean?
What MTBF Really Means
MTBF stands for Mean Time Between Failures and is a recognized benchmark used to quantify electronic reliability. It represents the average operational time between random failures across a large population of identical devices, assuming continuous 24/7 operation.
In other words: it's not a guarantee of how long a single camera will last, but how rarely a failure can be expected across many deployed units.
The calculation typically follows well-established industry standards which use electronic component reliability data to estimate failure rates under defined conditions.
Putting "200 Years" Into Perspective
An MTBF of 200 years equals roughly 1.75 million hours of operation. Statistically, that translates to only a tiny fraction of units experiencing a random failure during a typical service life. In practical terms, a high MTBF means a low failure rate, and low failure rates mean less downtime, lower maintenance costs, and a reduced total cost of ownership.
How We Achieve It
With more than 35 years of experience in industrial camera design and manufacturing, The Imaging Source engineers reliability into every stage of development. Each camera is built for continuous operation using industrial-grade components, optimized thermal management to ensure stable performance, and rigorous validation and stress testing under real-world conditions.
Why It Matters
MTBF isn't just a statistic. For engineers and integrators, a proven MTBF provides predictability and design confidence. It means fewer unknowns, simpler maintenance planning, and assurance that every component will perform consistently.
Industrial cameras from The Imaging Source deliver when reliability defines performance.