Info on camera I saw while in England

[jeromephone 6]

I was fortunate to be able to go the Reading last week for a little R and R as my daughter was working over there. On the streets they had some large dome enclosures with 4 PTZ cams in one housing Does anyone know who makes these units and any specks? I also noted that the license plate capture should be easier as all cars have front and rear plates and 3 inch block black letters and numbers.

[kensplace 0]

Sounds interesting, they are not something I am familiar with, where abouts did you see them?

 

Usually on the streets (sides of tall buildings) they either have the large type old school pan-tilt-zooms, with a large pan/tilt head holding a big exernal housing for the camera, often with a couple of dennard IR lamps bolted on the sides, or they have either a dennard dome or the newer dome cameras (a bit like the forward vision metal mickey cameras).

 

Cant say I have ever seen a large dome enclosure containing 4 ptz cams (where they dome cams inside the enclosure, or where they pan/tilt heads with camera inside the enclosure)

 

 

I have seen a large dome enclosure with about 4 lenses in the past a long time ago, but that was in a shop, never seen one outside. Could you describe it a bit more?

[jeromephone 6]

They were on poles on the street corners the dome enclosure was probably 20 in in diameter. everythin was inside the dome. I saw them on the streets or Reading and in and around London. I should have a picture, hopefully today as my son will post all his pics and I had him take a picture of the units.

[CameraGimp 0]

I've not seen four PTZ cameras in one housing either. I have seen one ptz camera in a large dome style housing with an insert that tries to look like three dummy lenses, each at 90 degrees to the real camera. When the one camera turns the other three rotate. I think Photo Scan used them.

 

Could this be what you are saw? How big were the cameras and lenses and how big was the housing?

[kensplace 0]

Cool, will be interesting to see the pic!

[jeromephone 6]

camera gimp could be that hopefully I will get pics soon

[jeromephone 6]

attached photo

[rory 0]

doesnt look like they can pantilt too much .. maybe its an IP Camera setup .. perhaps MegaPixel?

 

PS. Blue Sky in the UK .. wow!

[ezCCTV 0]

The wonders of Photoshop!!!

[Rebco 0]

could it be a 360° Panoramic Ultra-Wide CCTV Mega Pixel Camera? something like

 

http://www.aventuratechnologies.com/products/product_detail.asp?clProdID=275

[CameraGimp 0]

I can't see a link. Am I going mad?

 

Rebco - I've worked with the guys who designed that 360 fisheye camera. That was a cool product, the design house is in the UK, called Grandeye. I can't see that working outdoor though. It was good but it had its limits.

[kensplace 0]

The pic looks a bit like one of these, but different?

 

http://www.arecontvision.com/products_8360.html

 

It could also be as mentioned earlier, one like photoscan used to use, they used to do similar ones for boots the chemist, but indoor models, with fake lenses that rotated with the real one.

 

I also saw one on ebay once, that looked similar, it had a real pan tilt inside with extra lenses on the dome, but it was not the one in the pic, similar but quite different if you know what I mean...

[CameraGimp 0]

Seen the picture now. My Internet must be going slow. It looks like a conventional box camera with ptz with an insert that makes it look like there are four cameras. If I am right I bet the everything moved together.

 

If you look carefully you can see a cross in the dome. This is going to be hard to describe! The camera is probably looking to the left, 9 o'clock as we look at the image and it can be tilted down to 6 (looking straight down). It will also be able to rotate 360. Basically it is a conventional camera on a ptz inside a large dome housing. The lens pokes through a plastic insert. The insert has a channel so that it can tilt from horizontal to vertical. As the camera turns the whole insert turns, as the lens pokes through the insert and pushes it round. There are dummy lenses moulded into the insert at 45 degrees to the camera.

 

I am pretty sure Photoscan used them. I managed to lose my spleen whilst repairing one once. My memory of the day is not the best as I'm sure you can imagine but that is what it looks like, and Photoscan did a lot of city centres in the UK so it seems to fit.

[kensplace 0]

Rebco - I've worked with the guys who designed that 360 fisheye camera. That was a cool product, the design house is in the UK, called Grandeye. I can't see that working outdoor though. It was good but it had its limits.

 

Just drooled over the thought of their 38 mega pixel camera, then nearly had a heart attack when I saw the price elsewhere.....

[CameraGimp 0]

38M pixels?? Not in the Grandeye camera unless I've been frozen for 10 years. It just isn't possible with todays technology.

 

They were about 2MP when I saw them and 5MP today which will make somethings better and somethings worse.

 

If you are planning on going to Ifsec go over and have a look. It is fun.

[kensplace 0]

Part Number Description

IVACS360-C-3MP I.V.A.C.S 360 Camera (3 Mega Pixel Model)

IVACS360-C-9.9MP I.V.A.C.S 360 Camera (9.9 Mega Pixel)

IVACS360-C-21MP I.V.A.C.S 360 Camera (21 Mega Pixel)

IVACS360-C-38MP I.V.A.C.S 360 Camera (38 Mega Pixel)

IVACS360-R I.V.A.C.S 360 Recorder (Time Machine)

IVACS360-VA I.V.A.C.S 360 Video Analytic Modules (Object Tracking, Museum Mode, Left Luggage)

 

I have no idea how they can get 38 mega pixel working for cctv, but its there along with 9.9 mega, and 21 mega pixel as options for the camera on the link from earlier in this thread

 

http://www.aventuratechnologies.com/products/product_detail.asp?clProdID=275

 

Mind you, I could buy a house for the price of it.......

[atropine 0]

yeah it's 1 real camera and 3 fakes, so anyone watching the lens cant' tell where it's pointed. It's the equivalent of tinting a dome to mask where it's pointed, but you don't lose any light sensitivity with the clear dome/fake lens approach.

 

I've got video of one of those cameras moving, and they look pretty cool.

[CameraGimp 0]

I think those mega pixel numbers are inaccurate. The camera is definitely the Grandeye Halocam (aka Vista Halocam). It looks identical and uses the same marketing literature. Seeing as the manufacturer is only quoting 5MP I do not know how an OEM can claim 38MP.

 

Any way it just isn't practical. To get 1 lux sensitivity the imager would have to be the size of a playing card and you wouldn't be able to clock that many pixels out and get a frame rate needed for video.

[rory 0]

 

I have no idea how they can get 38 mega pixel working for cctv, but its there along with 9.9 mega, and 21 mega pixel as options for the camera on the link from earlier in this thread

 

http://www.aventuratechnologies.com/products/product_detail.asp?clProdID=275

 

Mind you, I could buy a house for the price of it.......

 

seen that 360 degree camera a few years ago ... it wasnt 38 MP though!

[Rebco 0]

38 mega pixel

 

Ye, Imagine the file size on that it would bring a whole new meaning to remotely view?

[rory 0]

http://www.grandeye.com/products_IP.html

[rory 0]

I think those mega pixel numbers are inaccurate. The camera is definitely the Grandeye Halocam (aka Vista Halocam). It looks identical and uses the same marketing literature. Seeing as the manufacturer is only quoting 5MP I do not know how an OEM can claim 38MP.

 

Any way it just isn't practical. To get 1 lux sensitivity the imager would have to be the size of a playing card and you wouldn't be able to clock that many pixels out and get a frame rate needed for video.

 

specially since the manufacturer (if grandeye is that) says its an analog camera

[CameraGimp 0]

They do analogue and IP cameras and a recorder. I was involved when they only had the analogue camera in production and the DVR in pre-production so I can't really comment on the IP camera or the DVR in detail.

 

The analogue camera is exactly that, an analogue (composite) video out camera although the electronics made it extremely digital inside. The camera was designed so that you could fit it anywhere you had a standard fixed camera and it would give you 360 vision about that point. The camera has two video outputs each addressable via RS485 (Pelco D and other protocols).

 

The camera supported 8 virtual cameras. You PTZ anywhere in the 360 scene and it looks like you are controlling a real PTZ (albeit without a massive zoom). You could have two operators controlling individual Vcams at the same time on the two video outputs. Or you could switch the output to quad and position four vcams to look at four different views. It was very configurable but the resolution was just a touch too low in my opinion. That was with a 2MP imager.

[kensplace 0]

If its like the commandview dome I just picked up, which is also a 2MP imager, the resolution is even lower than figured it would be.

 

The imager is 2 megapixel, but its imaging a fisheye image, so only the 'circle' produced by the fisheye is usd by the imager, the corners are wasted.

 

This means the 2MP imager is really only using around 1.3ish Megapixels, as the rest of it is not getting any image to work with!

 

Im tempted to see what its like if I stick a normal lens on, I would lose the IPIX effect, but at least I would be getting the full 2MP....

[CameraGimp 0]

I did exactly that with a Grandeye camera (put a none fisheye lens on it). To do it right you need a mega pixel lens or you'll not get the full resolution.

 

You will also need to be able to output the whole image, I'm not sure if Ipix supports that. If you get it working let me know.

 

I was thinking of offering the 2MP camera as front of house in banks. Put a few of those in and record the full resolution and you'd be able to get some good close ups after the event but it never happened.