By: Arthur Cooper
Submitted: 2010-07-29 09:42:55 | Word Count: 664
A low light in wall surveillance video camera has a multitude of uses. It can be used to monitor your children to ensure their safety and well being; it can be used to monitor an office,; it can be used as a nanny cam to monitor your nanny and child when you are not present; it can be used to monitor individuals that work in your home; or it can simply be used to keep a watchful eye on your important property.
What exactly is a low light in wall surveillance video camera? There are several different cameras that can be classified as in wall cameras. Generally speaking, an in wall surveillance video camera is any digital video camera that is mounted such that it is either flush with the wall (inside the wall) or is mounted on the wall in such a way that its presence is normally disguised. So basically there are two types of in wall video cameras, unconcealed and covert.
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Both types of cameras work the same way, the difference lies in how they are mounted on or within the wall. In addition, a low light digital video camera can capture full color high quality video using very little available visible light. Let’s take a look at how these special low light cameras operate first, and then we’ll discuss the different examples of in wall surveillance cameras.
Contemporary digital video cameras work by converting light energy into electrical energy that can be measured to produce a digital video signal. Digital video cameras do this by using one of two different electronic light sensing chips. One chip is called a Charged Coupled Device or CCD and the other is called a Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor or CMOS.
These electronic chips are sensitive to light. The lens of the camera focuses the image on these chips which then convert the light energy into electrical energy and produce a digital video image. These chips can be manufactured to be very sensitive e to light; so sensitive in fact that they can produce high quality video footage in very low light conditions. These types of cameras are often called day/night vision cameras. Their sensitivity to light, that is, the lowest level of light that they can produce a clear image, is normally rated in Lux.
Lux is a unit of measurement of the intensity of light. Some low light or day/night cameras can produce images with as little as .002 Lux of light. That’s about the same amount of light available in the sky on a moonless, clear night.
Other low light in wall surveillance video cameras may actually be night vision infrared cameras. These cameras produce a high quality color video image in visible light conditions and use infrared light in low light or total darkness. These camera’s sensors are also sensitive to infrared light and usually use infrared Light Emitting Diodes to illuminate the target area. Although the camera’s sensor can see the infrared light, human eyes cannot making them excellent choices for covert low light monitoring.
There are several different examples or designs of low light in wall surveillance video cameras. Unconcealed types are normally installed flush with the wall, the majority of the camera and housing occupying the space behind the wall. The camera normally has a protective face plate that is somewhat flush with the wall and that covers the camera lens. There are even corner mount low light in wall surveillance cameras that can be installed in the corners of a room.
Covert low light in wall surveillance video cameras normally disguise the look of the camera or hide it all together. One examples of a covert in wall surveillance camera includes the wall clock camera. This camera looks like a typical office wall clock, and functions like one too. However, hidden within the face of the clock is an opening for the lens of a camera that is mounted inside the clock body.
Other examples of disguised in wall cameras include heating and air conditioning thermostat cameras, electrical face plate cameras, exit sign cameras, and smoke detector cameras. Thanks to modern technology digital video cameras can be manufactured so small they can be concealed in just about anything.
So if you need to keep an eye on some property, a room, an area, or an office that may not always be brightly lit, and you don’t want the camera to be obvious, consider purchasing a low light in wall surveillance video camera.
