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Guide to Closed Circuit TV (CCTV)

CCTV Camera Operation - in a little more detail

Compact CCTV Cameras - PCB type (continued)

Most PCB cameras operate from a decent regulated 12v DC power supply unit or battery, although a limited number of very small units can be powered for short periods by inexpensive PP'x' type batteries.

All the miniature components are normally mounted on a single Printed Circuit Board, with some older or more advanced models requiring one or two additional 'daughter' boards which may be sandwiched against the 'mother' board.

The Monochrome models offer general purpose resolutions (380 - 420 lines), and high resolution (560 - 600 lines) ; Colour is basic (300 - 330 lines) or high resolution (400 - 480 lines), with most of the better quality units built around a 1/3" CCD imager (the general purpose models are often 1/4" CCD).

The vast majority have fixed miniature no iris 'barrel' type lenses, or alternatively flat or conical 'pinhole' lenses, which are often less than ideal for some critical applications.

Some manufacturers do provide interchangeable barrel lenses, and a few also provide the option of interchangeable 'CS' mount optics, which obviously provides an almost unlimited choice of lenses, particularly for more demanding covert applications.

Although PCB cameras are generally the smallest widely available option for discreet or covert operations, there are a limited number of tiny, "camera on a chip" designs, which whilst often based on 'MOS' imagers with basic performance fixed lenses, are rarely used in anything other than the most basic "visual verification" role,.

A peanut sized camera or a camera disguised as a pen are just two of the more amusing varients available, with further development of much higher performance models, currently in the R & D stages.

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