What are board cameras? These tiny but very useful cameras may just be your key to designing and building your very own home or office surveillance system. They're very affordable and easy to mount. There are also several models with nifty features to choose from, which helps expand their usability. If the possibility of working on an easy but practical project appeals to your tinkering soul, here are some usage tips regarding the board camera:
What are board cameras?
Board cameras are just that – cameras. More specifically, they are made of fixed lenses that are mounted onto circuit boards. A board camera is a basic component of a camera surveillance system, which means you'll have to buy it as a part that you could assemble to create another device, such as a dome camera or a hidden mini camera. You buy board cameras as is.
Usage tips
Board cameras have a variety of uses, depending on your wants and needs. In most cases, though, they are mounted in order to work as spy or hidden cameras. As long as you know exactly what to do with a board camera, you'll be able to choose one (or a few) that has the features that will work best for you.
The most basic thing you should consider regarding a board camera or any camera for that matter is the lens. The lens is pre-mounted on a board camera and the iris is usually fixed. That means you cannot zoom in or out without an additional device or accessory. Lenses can also be pinhole type or full.
Pinholes, like their name suggests, are small lenses and are perfect for use as spy cameras. You can mount these on a table clock, a lamp, a baseball cap or even a teddy bear. Full lenses are bigger and will work well on dome or mini cameras to complete your surveillance system.
If you plan to use a board camera for surveillance, you have an option as to whether you prefer to view activities in black and white or color. There are also lenses that afford you low-light viewing, usually indicated as a low Lux count. A good Lux count would be at least 0.05, although there are others that can go as low as 0.0003. The low number means that the board camera lens will still work in near total darkness. Resolution is also a key feature to look into when considering board camera usage. Videos of activities are much easier to view if the images are crisp and sharp.
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