Mini Spy Camera - Smaller Can be Better

We buy mansions with rooms that we never enter. We buy SUVs that guzzle more fuel than an armored tank. We buy pizzas big enough for use as manhole covers. But if you think bigger is always better, think again.

In the field of technology, bigger is seldom better. In fact, modern production has focused on miniaturization. Where the first computers once filled up a room, today's versions have shrunk to the size of a matchbox. While telephones were once machines that included two lengthy horns and a large box, today's cell phones fit into pockets. Clearly, technology is one area where smaller is better. Enter the mini spy camera.

How Small Is Mini?

Once upon a time, spy cameras were as big as bags. They had to be to fit the right components for certain features. Today, however, more features are being crammed into tinier phones. The "mini" in mini spy camera refers to a small security camera, which includes several hidden camera types, such as covert, pinhole, or spy. "Mini" does not stand for a particular size standard, however. As a matter of fact, today's cameras are shrinking year after year, innovation by innovation. So the mini spy camera may range in size from a handbag to a wallet.

Fine Or Fineable?

Before you start shopping for a mini spy camera, find out whether or not it is legal to use one in the place you want to put it up on. The general principal is that in areas where the public expects privacy, filming is not permitted. To avoid legal problems, do your homework. to learn if your proposed filming area is good to go, legally speaking.

A Mini for You

It is always a good idea to familiarize yourself with the endless mini spy cameras that various companies manufacture. These cameras are frequently used as a nanny cam, or for hidden surveillance in a home or retail store. The functions of the cameras are often for hidden or covert surveillance using video, with their size being ideal for such applications. To find the right camera for yourself, make a list of features that you need. Some questions you could ask yourself include:

* Do you need to make adjustment to the camera from a remote location?


* Do you require a wireless camera?


* Do you want to use the Internet to watch the recorded video?

From Theory to Practice

After determining what type of mini spy camera you need, think of how you want your camera to look. Your options are limitless!

Wearable Sunglasses Camera: What you see is what you record with these high-tech shades with UV protection. A tiny camera in the sunglasses records what you view.

Cigarette Lighter Spy Camera: Do you want to play James Bond for a day? This mini spy camera may look like a cigarette lighter, but it's as covert a means for video surveillance as they come. It is so small it fits into a purse or pocket. The camera can store over 100 standard-sized pictures, which can be downloaded to your PC.

CCD Button Lens Camera Set: Spy in style with this mini spy camera that fits into a button the size of a quarter! The features of this model include adjustable focus, low consumption of power, and a 92 degree field of view. If you lose this button, fear not because five replacements are included.

Mini spy cameras are revolutionizing the way we gather information covertly, and if there's anything these mini spy cameras prove, it's this: sometimes, the smaller, the better.

Digital Surveillance Cameras What Are They Good For

Almost daily we are reminded of the usefulness of Digital Surveillance Cameras. There are whole shows on television, some are a hour or more in length showing police car chases, robberies in progress, sporting events gone wrong and ordinary people in unusual situations. Just last night I watched a program on police video camera evidence where actual footage was explained by real police officers, and how criminals were convicted without a word from the crooks defense attorney once the footage of the crime was shown in court.

Actual Case in progress

Dateline: March of 2007 - Chicago. Illinois

By this time millions of U.S. citizens have heard about the Highly-inebriated off-duty policeman who weighed 230 lbs. and stood 6 feet I inches tall who kicked the living day lights out of a 115 lb. female bartender to prove that "nobody tells me what to do."
Why did he do this? She refused him one more drink-e-poo.
The defenseless female bartender had a right to deny the 230 pounder another drink because of his condition and to protect the bar from a lawsuit in case he injured or killed himself in his sodden state.

The 115 lb. badly bruised female can thank the owner of Jesse's for one thing; the assault was recorded on Surveillance camera video. The video surfaced a month after the incident, which forced the head of the Chicago police department to prosecute after at least one other officer had attempted a cover-up.
Thank God that most law enforcement officers are sober, honest upstanding citizens.

The benefits of surveillance cameras and recorders to prevent as well as catch crime when it's happening have been well documented. Surveillance cameras are used universally at bank ATM machines to capture the image of possible thieves who tamper with the cash distributors. Security camera systems are also widely used to observe factories, high-tech installations casinos and airports.

As we look around us we find that the surveillance systems seem to be a necessary part of our everyday lives. In the great metropolitan cities there
are camera systems set-ups in high crime areas known to the local residents as "the eye in the sky"

No Security Camera Here

Here's a case where surveillance cameras could have prevented the robbery of an unarmed security guard.

As reported in the April, 2007 edition of the Chicago Journal newspaper an armed robbery occurred in the 2000 West Ferdinand St. at 2:30 a.m. on February 27th of this year.

A security guard working for a pallet manufacturing company was walking in an alley near Ferdinand Street when he noticed a man standing on a stack of wooden pallets (materials are stacked on them to allow transporting by fork lifts). When the guard announced that he was a guard for the Pallet Company the armed man jumped down from the pile of wooden pallets pulled out he blue steel handgun and yelled for the security guard to give him his wallet. The startled guard was forced to hand over his wallet and cell phone. The police had not found the robber as on April 3, 2007.

How could Surveillance Cameras have prevented this robbery?

With the proper Surveillance camera system connected to a video recorder, computer and monitor the security guard would have been able to view the perpetrator, record his activity, and report him to the police without leaving the safety of the building or a security vehicle.

To conclude, Surveillance cameras are being employed across the U.S. and around the world for the prevention of crime and the identification and apprehension of criminals. Computer software such as VISEC has been developed to allow remote viewing of businesses, homes, schools and hospitals
by business owners, home owners, parents and administrators from anywhere in the world with a computer and an internet connection. The advent of the computer and the surveillance camera system has been a blessing for the good guys and a curse for the bad ones.

UPDATE:
The off-duty Police officer and his Lawyer entered a plea of Not Guilty as of
June 22, 2007.

Introduction to Digital Cameras - What to Look for When Purchasing a Digital Camera

We have entered the digital age. Digital cameras are a growing part of the online experience. It is perfectly normal for soldiers and policemen to have a digital camera as part of the normal kit, and the advantages of traditional film cameras over digitals are gone or shrinking.

Digital cameras produce digital pictures that are easy to load onto a computer and email around the world. Digital pictures are also easy to check and delete. So if it is obvious that a picture is hopeless it can be easily deleted rather than wasting film, which cannot be reused. Without the film, which can go bad with age, a digital camera that you keep handy in case of need is far more reasonable.

One way to characterize digital cameras is by image size. The pictures are made up of tiny dots of color, called pixels. This is expressed as a pair of numbers, height and width. An example would be 320x480. These numbers would then be multiplied together, and larger numbers are more detailed, but typically are on more expensive cameras.

At this point, two megapixels, essentially two million pixels, is on the low end and might result in noticeable defects when pictures are enlarged. Five megapixels is a robust picture that can usually handle enlargement well.

Another consideration is zooming. Optical zoom adjusts the actual light as it enters the camera to make the scene appear closer. Digital zoom adjusts the picture after it has been digitized to simulate a closer appearance. While both can produce acceptable results, optical zoom is preferred.

Digital cameras come with some internal storage. This is almost always too small. Thus the type of add-on storage the camera allows is important. In some cases you might possess other equipment that uses the same sort of gear, and compatibility is helpful. While there are several choices, this additional storage is typically a chip about the size of a thumbnail, allowing several to be conveniently carried if needed.

It is important to pay attention to the battery. Some cameras will use standard sizes, others will use proprietary or less common sizes. Some are better able to hold a charge, some cameras are power hogs, and some systems are rechargeable.

This brings us to the preview screen. This is an LCD screen that shows what the camera would see at any point, should you desire a picture. In this mode, the screen is active whenever you are considering a picture, which tends to consume batteries at an alarming rate.

Even digital cameras also come with an optical viewfinder that consumes no power. There are circumstances that make this superior, such as waiting for the correct moment to shoot, and circumstances that require the preview screen, such as composing a picture at a very awkward angle. The screen also allows you to preview the saved pictures and delete any that are unusable to clear storage space.

Hidden And Watching

Sometimes the constraints of security in a business place give rise to the use of hidden cameras, still or video, to record the activities of individuals without their knowledge. So that the subject is not aware that he's on camera, the apparatus may either be concealed or disguised as an object of art or placed behind an object so that it could not be detected while it's whirring.

Concealed or spy cameras have turned into a commonly used device even for surveillance to keep up the security of a household. If they have to be kept concealed, so that a burglar breaking in may not see it and destroy it first, they are carved into objects of day to day use such as clock radios, plants, cell phones, or integrated with such as smoke detectors. The use of hidden cameras is as wide commercially and industrially to strengthen the security network.

Wired or wireless a hidden camera can be installed suited to one's requirement. In their wired state, the hidden camera is often to an electrical appliance such as the television. On the other hand, a wireless hidden camera is capable of transmitting signals to a receiver within a small radius so it could be placed anywhere and doesn't have to be connected to any appliance.

Besides fighting crime, hidden cameras are also put to efficient use in a place of work to nail down a person being disloyal to the organization. In such cases a hidden camera is discreetly planted in his area of work, cabin etc and footage taken there could incriminate in case he is caught red-handed.

Hidden cameras are not too big in size and so it is never too big a problem where to install them. They could be tucked in easily even in a pen stand, a clock on the wall, beneath the curtain rod. The important thing is to install it in such a way that from the given angle it is able to record the scenario in its entirety.

While installing hidden cameras in a place of work, pragmatism must be exercised and it should not be an objectionable or obscene intrusion of an employee's privacy in the name of security concern.

Installing A Hidden Security Camera - Is It What You Need?

There is no doubt that installing a hidden security camera gives the business owner or homeowner many advantages, but is it right for your needs? Here's a rundown on the benefits, as well as the possible problems that a hidden security camera brings to the table.

The first thing you want to ask yourself is whether a hidden camera system is really what you need. This type of camera will not deter a crime. No one can see the camera. Why is this an issue? Because many times, if a would-be criminal sees a security camera looking down at them, they will many times think twice about it. This kind of deterrent is not available with a camera that is hidden.

On the flipside, a hidden camera has many benefits over one that is exposed.

With a criminal that is bent on committing a crime, they will not be aware that they are being seen. They will not be able to disable it since they are unaware of its presence.

In addition, the criminal will be easier to spot for law enforcement since they are not trying to avoid being seen by the camera.

Hidden security cameras are generally used with around the clock monitoring. You'll immediately know a crime is being committed and have time to alert the police.

One of the biggest drawbacks to installing these types of security cameras is the cost. These systems can be very expensive. This is why you'll usually only find them in very large companies, or in the homes of wealthy individuals. For these situations though, they work great.

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Kodak C743 Digital Camera Review

Kodak strikes back with its new conception, the Kodak C743 which is a great camera and setting new standards in the camera industry! It was unveiled in the US on the 08/8/06. The C743 gets a maximum resolution of 3072 x 2304. It also supports a lower resolution of 2304 x 1728, 1600 x 1200, 1024 x 768. The ratio of the image (w/h) on the Kodak C743 has been set at 4:3, 3:2, making a total of 7.1 mega pixels. The sensor on the C743 is a CCD measuring only 1/2.5 " and uses a RGB color filter. Kodak added a digital zoom on its C743 with an internal flash being very common in new cameras .

The normal focus range between the camera and the object is 60 cm. The minimum shutter speed (min. exposition to light) on the C743 was set at 4 seconds and the maximum shutter is 1/1400 seconds. Movie clips are also supported in this model being a very useful function. The Kodak C743 has an internal storage space of 32 mb and can be extended with SD/MMC card + Internal. The LCD screen of the C743 diagonally measures 2.4 ". A video output is available making it handy to watch pictures on your television. Connection to a computer is available through USB.

To summarize, DoCameras.com really believe that the Kodak C743 makes a great camera and we recommend our readers to consider this great camera.

See Picture of the Kodak C743 here.