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Low Light Monitoring

In places that are video-monitored, the risk is usually greater when there is very little light. Criminals make use of the the cover of darkness and dangerous situations are more difficult to detect if lighting conditions are bad. Twilight and difficult light conditions represent a special challenge for video surveillance technology, because light is an essential element of every video picture. As the light diminishes, there is an increasing amount of picture noise and thus less details can be recognized in the picture. Longer exposure times of the camera at dusk will also result in motion blur in the image. If there is no light at all, the camera does not provide an image because no light falls on the chip of the camera and no signal is generated. In the case of complete darkness, there is usually no other option than using illumination. In this case, mostly IR-illumination is used which is imperceptible to the human eye.

Surveillance without illumination
The installation of lighting is complex and expensive. In addition, color noise and color distortions may occur during the transition from day to night illumination. The picture at night with IR illumination is only black and white and therefore without color information. In addition, it is not possible to illuminate the monitored area uniformly with IR light. The effect is that some areas of the image appear to be under-exposed or over-exposed. IR spotlights also have the disadvantage that they can be viewed with any near infrared viewfinder or with cheap digital cameras that do not have an infrared filter. That is why special low light cameras are used for military and police operations in gloomy, weak light, which do not require additional IR lighting.

Bright color images at night
With the SC200PK1C a camera, Kowa offers a solution with one of the most advanced technologies on the market. Conventional day/night cameras switch to black and white images in the dark. In contrast, the Kowa low light camera shows a good color image at 0.005 lux due to its high-sensitivity sensor. This allows for better detection and identification of suspicious objects. The 2/3" CMOS 2MP (1080p/30f - HDTV) color camera has a 16x picture memory, 3D noise reduction and a day/night changeover. The large sensor allows for short exposure times, which results in less motion blur and less smear and blooming effects. In addition, the camera offers 24-bit color space with 16 million colors, whereas normal CCTV cameras capture only 1024 colors. Thus, the image of the Kowa Low Light camera is ideal for evaluation by forensics software.

Aspheric optics for a lighter image
To match the camera, Kowa offers aspherical, very bright, high-resolution lenses (F0.8 / F0.85) with the focal lengths of 60mm, 35mm and 25mm, these lenses are very compact. In addition, Kowa‘s motorized C-mount zoom lenses can be used with the camera for monitoring objects at extremly great distances. Kowa’s portfolio includes a variety of focal lengths such as 12-360mm, 20-550mm and 20-750mm for this purpose. Police, military and border guards of different countries prefer to use Kowa‘s Low light camera in combination with the Kowa lenses for demanding surveillance tasks. When it is very dark, weak city lights far away are enough for the low light camera to work. The impressive performance of the Kowa low light Kamers SC200PK1C can be seen in the following videos:

 

In places that are video-monitored, the risk is usually greater when there is very little light. Criminals make use of the the cover of darkness and dangerous situations are more difficult to... read more »
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Low Light Monitoring Lenses

In places that are video-monitored, the risk is usually greater when there is very little light. Criminals make use of the the cover of darkness and dangerous situations are more difficult to detect if lighting conditions are bad. Twilight and difficult light conditions represent a special challenge for video surveillance technology, because light is an essential element of every video picture. As the light diminishes, there is an increasing amount of picture noise and thus less details can be recognized in the picture. Longer exposure times of the camera at dusk will also result in motion blur in the image. If there is no light at all, the camera does not provide an image because no light falls on the chip of the camera and no signal is generated. In the case of complete darkness, there is usually no other option than using illumination. In this case, mostly IR-illumination is used which is imperceptible to the human eye.

Surveillance without illumination
The installation of lighting is complex and expensive. In addition, color noise and color distortions may occur during the transition from day to night illumination. The picture at night with IR illumination is only black and white and therefore without color information. In addition, it is not possible to illuminate the monitored area uniformly with IR light. The effect is that some areas of the image appear to be under-exposed or over-exposed. IR spotlights also have the disadvantage that they can be viewed with any near infrared viewfinder or with cheap digital cameras that do not have an infrared filter. That is why special low light cameras are used for military and police operations in gloomy, weak light, which do not require additional IR lighting.

Bright color images at night
With the SC200PK1C a camera, Kowa offers a solution with one of the most advanced technologies on the market. Conventional day/night cameras switch to black and white images in the dark. In contrast, the Kowa low light camera shows a good color image at 0.005 lux due to its high-sensitivity sensor. This allows for better detection and identification of suspicious objects. The 2/3" CMOS 2MP (1080p/30f - HDTV) color camera has a 16x picture memory, 3D noise reduction and a day/night changeover. The large sensor allows for short exposure times, which results in less motion blur and less smear and blooming effects. In addition, the camera offers 24-bit color space with 16 million colors, whereas normal CCTV cameras capture only 1024 colors. Thus, the image of the Kowa Low Light camera is ideal for evaluation by forensics software.

Aspheric optics for a lighter image
To match the camera, Kowa offers aspherical, very bright, high-resolution lenses (F0.8 / F0.85) with the focal lengths of 60mm, 35mm and 25mm, these lenses are very compact. In addition, Kowa‘s motorized C-mount zoom lenses can be used with the camera for monitoring objects at extremly great distances. Kowa’s portfolio includes a variety of focal lengths such as 12-360mm, 20-550mm and 20-750mm for this purpose. Police, military and border guards of different countries prefer to use Kowa‘s Low light camera in combination with the Kowa lenses for demanding surveillance tasks. When it is very dark, weak city lights far away are enough for the low light camera to work. The impressive performance of the Kowa low light Kamers SC200PK1C can be seen in the following videos:

 

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LM60JS5MA | 1" 60mm F0.8 5MP CCTV Lens LM60JS5MA | 1" 60mm F0.8 5MP CCTV Lens
Sensor Size: 1"
Focal Length (mm): 60
Iris Range (F-Stop): 0,8 - 360
Mount: CS-mount
€ 1,320.00 *
LMZ25300AMPDC-IR | 1" 25-300mm/F2.8 5MP C-Mount Lens LMZ25300AMPDC-IR | 1" 25-300mm/F2.8 5MP C-Mount...
Sensor Size: 1"
Focal Length (mm): 25-300
Iris Range (F-Stop): 2,8 - 61
Mount: C-mount
Price on demand
LMZ20750AMPDC-XF | 1/1.8" 20-750mm/F4.6 2MP C-Mount Lens LMZ20750AMPDC-XF | 1/1.8" 20-750mm/F4.6 2MP...
Sensor Size: 1/1.8"
Focal Length (mm): 20-750
Iris Range (F-Stop): 4,6 - 110
Mount: C-mount
Price on demand
LM25JS5MA | 1" 25mm F0.85 5MP CCTV Lens LM25JS5MA | 1" 25mm F0.85 5MP CCTV Lens
Sensor Size: 1"
Focal Length (mm): 25
Iris Range (F-Stop): 0,85 - 360
Mount: CS-mount
€ 1,500.00 *
LM35JS5MA | 1" 35mm F0.85 5MP CCTV Lens LM35JS5MA | 1" 35mm F0.85 5MP CCTV Lens
Sensor Size: 1"
Focal Length (mm): 35
Iris Range (F-Stop): 0,85 - 360
Mount: CS-mount
€ 1,750.00 *