Focus on cameras

The SF310 offers a high resolution of 420 TV lines with light sensitivity of 0.5 lux. With an electronic shutter speed of 1/50 (1/60) to 1/100,000 sec, the incoming light level of TeleEye SF310 can always be adjusted properly.

Other features include auto iris, electronic shutter control and back light compensation.
Reader Service No 140

No special plugs
Samsung Techwin has produced a high-resolution camera with a built-in 2.5x varifocal lens. The SOC-4020 includes backlight compensation, sharpness control, flickerless control and white balance and can capture good images at light levels down to 0.5 lux at F1.2.

UK sales manager Simon Shawley said: "This attractively designed camera is ideal for use in environments such as banks, casinos, hotels and department stores where aesthetics are important.

"With the built-in lens there is no need for unsightly cables when a varifocal lens is added to a standard camera. There is also no need to make any special plugs and so installation is much easier."
Reader Service No 141

Zoom lens combo
Vaulted Image Technologies Ltd has launched a range of specially designed and manufactured kits allowing for high-resolution colour or ultra low light cameras to be combined with high-quality optics.

Designed specifically for the professional surveillance market, the new VIT-2050 and VIT-6-100 zoom lens/camera combination units are rugged, portable and offer performance derived from years of extensive military development.

The result is a camera and lens combination capable of offering crisp clear images at magnifications of up to 100 times zoom, with all images optically produced.

These kits provide evidential images of people and vehicles at distances up to 3km. Being an optical zoom lens, they can also be used at short distances down to 20m or over longer distances of up to 10km for longer-range surveillance. They can also be fitted with infrared lighting or laser illuminators to allow surveillance up to 100m in total darkness.
Reader Service No 142

Needle sharp picture
Videcon extended its Concept Pro range with the launch of the VCP501 1/4-inch day/night camera. With a built-in 22x optical and 10x digital zoom lens, the VCP 501 is said to offer versatile installa-tion options at a reduced cost.

Equipped with the most up-to-date Sony Super HAD CCD pick-up chip, Advanced DSP and fuzzy pic-ture control, the VCP501 gives a 470 TVL high-resolution colour picture.

Available as 12v DC, the VCP501 can be controlled and set up either by the on-screen display, using the buttons on the rear of the camera, or by the set up keypad (VCP501KEY).

The OSD allows you to select the necessary camera function, including white balance control, shutter speed, day/night function, BLC and DSS.

Bench Tested last December, our verdict was: "Picture quality is very good, thanks in part to the big bright lens and some well-judged signal processing. Installation couldn't be much simpler and we can't fault the standard of construction.

"The zoom works brilliantly but it is sadly wasted as a set-and-forget installation facility. Hopefully a properly configured remotely controllable PTZ model will soon be in the pipeline."
Reader Service No 143

Round the clock
The Ikegami ICD-848 from Gardiner Security is a multi-functional camera that can switch between colour and mono images according to changes in illumination. It is suited to use in round-the-clock surveillance such as city centre applications. It achieves a minimum subject illumination of 0.15 lux/F1.4 in colour and 0.015 lux/F1.4 in mono.

The switching can be set for Auto Mode for automatic switching, Remote Mode for switching in response to an extraneous control signal or Manual Mode for manual switching.

The camera features a high-sensitivity on-chip lens CCD to provide a smear level of –126dB. Appropriate video can be attained even when, for example, a car headlight is directly captured at night.

Last November Security Installer put the camera through its paces and the Bench Test concluded: "We are generally impressed with the range of functions and although the OSD system is a mite fiddly to use, especially in a confined space, it shouldn't pose too many problems in a one-off installation."
Reader Service No 144

Hyper sensitive
Baxall's Hyper-D chipset technology, which has been incorporated into its new breed of cameras, provides pictures in a wider range of conditions than before. Hyper-D processes images "radically", resulting in near film-quality pictures.

The sensor in Hyper-D cameras digitises the image immediately at the pixel level. This is achieved by incorporating an analogue to digital converter on each pixel. Every pixel is then individually exposed for the optimum amount of time.

These images are then combined to create a high quality video frame/picture and a dynamic range said to be superior to other cameras. Greater dynamic range significantly improves image quality in scenes consisting of both bright and dark areas, making it more like the human eye when viewing surveillance images.

At the same time the low light performance has not been sacrificed so the performance is suitable for high-end colour cameras.
Reader Service No 145

Under tough conditions
GE Security says its UltraView wide dynamic range camera captures clear detailed images under the toughest conditions. With an innovative Xposure technology to process each individual pixel of each frame independently, the UltraView is said to offer the best possible picture, even with difficult lighting.

The Xposure technology increases exposure in shadowed areas and decreases exposure in bright areas, delivering a light-corrected image that shows crucial details clearly. It even adjusts for different lighting conditions within the same image.

When installed in an office lobby, users can see clear images of people's faces as they enter the building, even if the sun or bright reflections shine right into the camera. In addition, users can view the cars and objects outside.

Other features include a five-button on-screen display interface that makes configuration easy, a thumbwheel backfocus for precise set up, auto-tracking white balance and a dynamic range of 95 – 120dB.
Reader Service No 146

Advanced PCB
Stortech Electronics has added a high-resolution colour PCB camera module to its extensive range of Pecan cameras.

   Based around a 1/3-inch CCD, the compact CB60HAI has an aperture of F1.5 and is supplied with an integrated varifocal lens with a focal length between 4 – 9mm.

   Incorporating a DC-controlled auto iris, the device has a horizontal picture resolution of 450 TVL and delivers high quality images over a wide range of light levels, down to a minimum illumination of 1 lux (at scene).

Cameras are supplied with a five-inch, three-wire lead which delivers power, ground and video signal connections. Audio equipped models have a four-wire lead.
Reader Service No 148

Built to last
JVC's first twisted pair camera, model TK-C720TPE, boasts a 1/3-inch high resolution CCD with special built-in output for connect-ing to a twisted pair cable, where video images are able to be trans-mitted over distances of 900m+.

The added feature is an in-built transmission facility. Conventionally the transmitter is an add-on to the rear of the cameras, increasing the housing space.

As a result of improvements in tech-nology and reduction in market prices, increasingly more dealers and installers are specifying twisted pair for the entire cabling systems, say JVC.

The use of balanced video over UTP cable is less susceptible to environmental, electrical interference and earth potential problems, therefore the image quality is maintained over short or long distances.

The verdict of our Bench Testers last September was: "The twisted pair video output is likely to be a big selling point, particularly in applications where longer cable runs are required or the limitations of coaxial cabling pose a problem.

"In normal ambient light the camera performs very well and picture quality is excellent. Above all, it is a tough little customer."
Reader Service No 149

Price pledge
Ademco Video offered a global pledge of best price performance when it launched its Systems range last August. The range, comprising six units, was said to offer a level of features and specification unheard of in their price category.

Most of the units offer the group's "NVT Onboard" facility, enabling them to link directly with UTP cabling. DIP switches allow easy configuration.

Backlight compensation comes in four or eight windows for maximum image quality in difficult lighting conditions while its DCT (discreet cosine transfer) feature reduces image data in low light conditions. This gives more efficient use of space on the digital recorder's hard drive, allowing longer recording times.
Reader Service No 150

Hidden talents
A range of cameras from Siemens was manufactured using the latest in camera production technology, with high performing electronics, a wide-ranging feature set, high quality professional images and ease of operation as the foundation of the concept. Additionally, the cameras were designed to look good wherever they are positioned.

The CCBC1325-MP is one of eight cameras packed with usable installation features for some of the most demanding light conditions: adjustable electronic shutter, programmable backlight compensation, colour/mono switching, gamma/pedestal correction and auto/manual white balance adjustment as standard.

The conclusion of our Bench Testers last May: "Installation shouldn't pose too many problems and there is little to do apart from mount it and connect the cables.

"But it has hidden talents and on the set-up menus you will find an unusually sophisticated range of adjustments that allow it to operate in seriously difficult conditions."
Reader Service No 151

Lighting the way
The EX82DXL is a powerful integration of two sensors and 84 LEDs. The day-time colour picture is complemented with 40m infrared surveillance in total darkness. Integrated into a single housing, the IDN camera from Extreme CCTV will create, capture and control the light to ensure a high signal/low light picture under all-day and all-night conditions.

The EX82DXL is targeted at applications ranging 0 – 40m under any lighting condition. The integrated day and night design ensures high-quality day-time images and zero lux mono night-time images.

The achievable distance covers the perimeter of many residential and industrial applications where traditionally separate combinations of camera, lens, housing, bracketry and illumination are installed.

"The traditional options are to illuminate the scene or use specialist cameras that inevitably involve some sort of trade-off," wrote our Bench Testers in April last year.

"The EX82DXL is a genuinely innovative approach and provides installers and end users with a useful one-box alternative to conventional solutions."
Reader Service No 152

Get the bullet
From Silent Witness come two tamper-resistant 'bullet' cameras which capture images in total darkness. The SWX81 and SWX82 Night Hawk cameras offer 24/7 operation with the combination of their built-in infrared LED illuminators and true day/night camera board.

The smaller of the two housings, the SWX81 comes with 12 LEDs, while the larger of the two comes with 48 LEDs.

When ambient light drops below a certain point, a mechanical filter within the camera automatically switches from colour to black and white and turns on the LEDs, making it possible to see in the dark.

Parking lots, playgrounds, schools, universities, banks, stores, offices and restaurants are just some of the establishments that can benefit from this technology.
Reader Service No 153

Ultra compact
From JVC comes the ultra compact and ergonomically designed TK-WD310E. The camera has 480 TV lines of horizontal resolution and incorporates the latest in the newly-developed 1/3-inch Wide Dynamic CMOS chips.

   The TK-WD310E has innovative 14-bit processing that enables "the perfect delivery of full colour", says JVC, adding "it is the ultimate choice for capturing clear colour images under extreme lighting conditions".

   The camera performs high speed WdDr (Wide Dynamic Range) with automatic five-level exposure control for each pixel. It incorporates a wide dynamic chipset, which delivers an extremely wide lighting range. This is because within its five ranges, the camera can be set for either external or internal applications or a combination of the two. This enables both internal and external areas to be seen simultaneously on the same screen.

   It also conveys no blooming of car headlights and can view an object in colour, both inside and outside an area where a wide dynamic light range is present. For example, when looking at the detail of someone's shirt inside while simultaneously looking at the detail of a person outside in a car in now "very easily achievable", says JVC.

   The built-in programmable menu with joystick operation and 12-character camera title, enables ease of operation for security operators.
Reader Service No 154

Radical cosmetics
Sony's SSC-CX18VP is one of four in a range of units which have a smart modern design and are easy to install, partly due to a high quality varifocal lens which assists in a speedy set-up.

   With no need to fit and back-focus a separate lens, an installer just needs to make two simple adjustments to focus and focal length to suit the field of view and distance from the scene being surveyed.

   For extra flexibility, mounting holes on both sides of the body allow easy installation on a tripod bracket either from above or below.

   The models feature a 1/4-inch Super HAD CCD sensor which assures imaging quality.

   When Security Installer Bench Tested this camera, the conclusion was: "Cameras with integrated lenses are not a new idea but video performance is very good indeed and the combination of flexible optics and a responsive exposure system means it can provide a one-box solution for the vast majority of non-specialist surveillance jobs.
Reader Service No 155