Small Block Cameras Tackle Tough Tasks

Jo Ann Vozeh

They go where humans can't. Sometimes they go where no camera has gone before. Often they go where they can't be seen. And what they see (and enable us to see) is revolutionizing the use of video cameras in the industrial, law enforcement, scientific, recreational and related environments.

They are block video cameras -- so named because, in essence, they're the blocklike guts of a camcorder, minus VCR, viewfinder, housing and battery. Block video cameras include a built-in lens with autofocus, zoom and auto-iris features. They evolved from camcorder technology as a way to give maximum flexibility to manufacturers who were integrating video cameras into different applications and solutions. Today they're used in surveillance, inspection, law enforcement, robotics, dome security -- even photo sticker machines in retail stores. . . .