KT&C DNR700 camera test video

As promised a short video with a box around the fireball.  It's about the brightest I captured on video with ~4 seconds frame integration at the camera level.  The same integration level used in other for sale all sky camera units you've seen advertised in some websites and reviewed in several popular astronomy magazines in the past year.  The fov is approximately 70 degrees and as you can see there are over a dozen hot pixels, just like in the units sold by others online - however - this can be gotten around using some very good astronomy ccd programs available on the internet. 

The video isn't that great, but I'll have better still images as time permits during the build.  But what can you say for free online video hosting in a blog? :)

-Enjoy

December Update - Meteors - Workbenches - Misc.

Been nearly a month since the last update.  Slowly making headway on the mini-lath setup, but first I needed a place to install it on.  Plus the Geminids 2009 are in full swing and I am trying a rather selective approach to capturing meteors using the KT&C/Supercircuits color ccd ExView camera and my NUUO cctv security capture card and a 5-50mm f1.3 varifocal lens set at approximately 40-45mm in a very limited field of view (less than 10 degrees across) this year.  Managed to capture on meteor on a very cloud covered night.  However, the forecast for my area is clouds clouds clouds - go figure - typical Nebraska weather per usual.

Project Updates:

All-Sky Camera using the Stellacam/Watec 120N with computer control is still on hold until after the holidays.  I'm still working on ideas for camera controll, but at the moment I don't have any time to work on it.  However, after the first of the year I'll be devoting more of my time back to it.

Meteor Capture Software using the NUUO SCB-5008 seems like it is on permanent hold until quite a few other projects are finish.  However, it's still on the list of things to do.  Just not a priority right now, but sometime in 2010 if time permits I'll start working on the customized meteor capture software.

Metal Mini-Lathe setup and mounting project.  This project is coming along nicely, but not at the speed that I wish it would.  I went to the big box store and picked up a piece of 5/8ths inch laminated mdf board to mount on top of the new workbench for my micro-shop area.  I have cut it to fit, but I need to create foot pockets yet for the rubber chip tray and lathe mounting on top of the new workbench.  The workbench is a customized BigBox store all metal screwless/hardware construction that is a 5 shelf or workbench and 3 storage shelf combination setup.  I am using one part of the unit as a 3 shelf workbench for the metal mini-lathe and the other 2 shelf unit for my wife's plants/storage for related indoors garden accessories in the basement.

I customized the workbench by adding #10-24 screws to the bottom rails to hold the rails in place to keep the "workbench" from coming apart due to the particle board bottom that mounts the 4 caster wheels to the workbench.  Then had to customize the mounting bolts for the caster/wheels onto the bottom shelf and mount the bottom shelf and particle boards together for more rigid frame stability so the workbench can be made.  Below are some pictures detailing some of my ideas on making a cheap, but functional workbench for the mini-lathe.

The original workbench here getting it's caster/wheels installed.  Notice the particle board bottom.  Then bolts are used the firmly mount the casters to the bottom of the workbench.  I guess technically it could be called a cart, but it's my shop and I get the option to call it whatever I wish huh?  :)

Another shot of the original workbench with the caster/wheels mounted to the bottom on the particle board.  I would have preferred to use plywood, but an 4'x8' sheet of 5/8th or 3/4 inches plywood was just too costly to justify the expense.  The tight construction is the only thing hold the middle shelf on.  If you haven't guess the workbench is upside down.

Here is the original workbench that has my Craftsman table top drill, and what I use as a milling machine.  Of course it is for rough milling only, since the spindle isn't as beefy as a real hobby milling machine.  However, it works just fine as long as you don't expect perfection.  The cross slide milling vise is normally mounted to the left drill/mill and bolted down.

Here is a picture of the new workbench under construction.  Notice the four 1/4" bolt heads on each corner area where the casters/wheels mount through the shelf board and particle board assembly.  Also a liberal amount of #10 and #8 1&1/2" long wood screws and Elmers wood glue between the shelving board and particle board to lock this in place.  Over engineered, but it will be holding over 60 pounds of metal lathe and assorted equipment as well.

Here is a shot of the casters/wheels mounted on the bottom of the new workbench.  You can see the #10 bolts on the frames corners about 2-3 inches above where the frame would normally rest above the floor.

Here is a closeup of each caster/wheel bolted to the bottom on each corner of the workbench.  You can also see the #10-24 bolts on the workbench frame.  In order to cut down on snags and accidental "gotchya's" from the protruding bolts I used a heavy duty reinforced Dremel cutting wheel tool and ground those nasty snags that could possibly rip skin, clothing, or anything else that could rip easily.  The caster/wheel on the workbench and previous workbench are of different brands, but they are 3 inches in size and do have locking brakes.

Here is the nearly finished new workbench in the upright position.  I found that mounting 4 swivel caster/wheels on the other workbench wasn't too good of an idea.  So the new workbench seen here has 2 swivel caster/wheels mount on one side and to non-swivel caster/wheels mounted on the other.  I find this setup moves easier and isn't so crazy to control.  As one can surmise from the photos, the shop area is very small.  With the ability to move these workbenches I have the ability to control the amount of available space for various projects.

That's it for now.

KT and C Miniature Box Camera Review Part 5

Picture Time!

Initially I tried using the 3.6mm micro for both daylight and night time viewing for both the Super HAD and ExView versions of the cameras. Daytime and indoor use proved more than adequate, actually quite well. The ExView images were just about 1.5 times brighter than the Super HAD.

Of the two cameras daytime outdoor lighting with natural sunlight in full sunlight and partial sunlight conditions during mid-day provide the more pleasing images. However, both cameras would provide excellent views.

The 3.6mm micro lens provides a 92 degree field of view and for daylight security purposes outside or indoors with normal lighting proved quite well. However, the big downside is the resolution of the images. Everything was just too small to provide adequate recognitions beyond trees, cars, and larger objects. Small object like people, animals, or objects less than a small dog proves nearly useless for outdoor evidence.

Indoors using normal lighting and the 3.6mm lens would provide adequate resolution for objects such as people and personal property, but good face recognition beyond 10 feet of the camera does not provide adequate detail.

Unless if a person is going to be adequately close to the camera in normal lighting conditions indoors or outdoors I would recommend against the standard 3.6mm lens that ships with the cameras.

If a person needs greater than a 70 degree field of view, especially for outdoor conditions under no light or low light conditions I would recommend using at least a 6mm lens.

I am not going to include 3.6mm lens images since they prove to be adequate for anyone unless if they want to see a large field and need to see objects moving, but no details. Also, IR illumination or large amounts of outdoor lighting would prove useful at this lens size as well. What I mean by large amounts, I am talking more than 150 watts of power using fluorescent or incandescent lighting. IR illumination would require using lighting that would encompass an area for say a front yard, illumination of floodlighting in excess of reach of 150 feet with at least 2-3 IR illuminators.

The image using the shipped 3.6mm lens shows slight curvature at the edges. This is due to the large field of view as you can see. Notice the lack of definition of small object details.





I switched out the 3.6mm lens with the 6.0mm lens, which provides a 53 degree field of view. As you can see the details of the image are much greater by providing finer image resolution. 




As much as I'd like to say that this is the last review for the box cameras, I must lengthen the review by one more installment in order to show night time images.

Sorry about the resolution of the images, but in order to conserve on image space I squashed down the compression to keep image sizes relatively small. Also, since the mini box cameras will allow for swapping out the lenses, I do recommend using some type of magnifying device in order to see what your doing when unscrewing the locking screw. It's very small, and requires using a #2 flat bladed screw driver. Don't remove the screw all the way or you'll end up chasing or losing the small set screw. Once you've backed the locking set screw out, just unscrew the lens and screw in the replacement.

Hopefully, the finally installment will provide several views looking outside a window onto a lighted driveway. Hopefully the results will be better than the initial tests I viewed using the 3.6mm lens. However, I have a feeling that anything requiring critical nighttime viewing with this camera will require using an 8mm lens or illumination with either outdoor or IR lighting. In order to provide less obtrusive lighting, I would recommend IR lighting.

Additional Information: I contact KT&C tech support to see what IR recommendations they have for IR illumination and they provided me with a Sony CCD general specifications document that shows the spectral response as being in the near IR into the bottom end of the IR range. However, tech support did state that 850-900 (nm) wavelength should work more than adequately, KT&C recommended 850-900 wavelength IR.

KT and C Miniature Box Camera Review Part 4

Now that you've read ramblings without very many pictures (actually none). Here's the pretty color pictures showing what's in the box. But first, a few little notes you might want to hear about.

UPS delivered the small 4" x 4" x 6" box on time and surprisingly in excellent conditions. I'm surprised, the box looked as if it was was picked myself instead of having it shipped halfway across the country.

The box arrived and upon opening the contents were packed immaculately. The boxes were placed perfectly in the shipping box and hand packed with biodegradable packaging peanuts. It looks as if the peanuts were placed by hand, and I don't mean just poured in the shipping box in hopes that the contents will "make it there" regardless of the shippers intent. You know what I mean.

Unpacking consisted of removing the three boxes, two camera boxes and one KT&C plain white box containing the additional lenses. Okay, you've waited long enough - here's the pictures!



The two camera boxes








Camera box in comparison to coins











As you can see above the contents of the box contains a small metal mounting bracet and screws for the camera to be mounted nearly anyplace you'd like. The camera power cord and video output cable is in another package. The silvered static wrap contains the camera, as you can see the image of the camera in the static wrap is barely visible due to lighting reflections. Finally, you will also see the single sheet of paper detailing the camera specifications, power consumption, and a brief bit about warranty information.

A closer view of the contents in comparison to some various sized coins. You can see that the cable is going to be the largest item due to its size when you compare the actual mounting bracket and camera to a quarter as seen below.





As you can see the camera is small, but the ccd is 1/3". The ccd sensor is the same size used for the majority of most home and business security cameras.

As you can see the lens protrudes from the "box" and is considered a "micro lens" by most security people. A pinhole lens option is available for this box camera, which reduce the "snout" sticking out by 1/4" to 3/8" of an inch. Pinhole cameras do require more light than a micro lens, but use of an IR light can improve vision seeing.

In the image below you can see the back of the camera and the small clip mount female receptacle for the power and video output. You'll also notice the power requirements, model number, and camera's serial number plainly labeled on the back of the camera.






Spending several minutes becoming acquainted with the camera and it's accessories is to say the least mesmerizing. I have several miniature board cameras which are smaller than the KT&C mini box camera, but they don't quite inspired the eye to their quality. The quality of these components is truly impressive.

You get what you pay for, but these cameras judging by looks alone are a notch above the Chinese "knockoff" mini box cameras that I've seen advertised on the Internet. I'm not saying that Chinese manufactured items are of inferior quality, but sometimes trying to save a dollar will end in little manufacturing imperfections that these cameras do not exhibit. However, image tests have still yet to be done and will describe the end results of their quality.




As you can see from the picture above, the additional lenses are thread mounted and held in place by a set screw on the side of the camera "snout." You cannot see the difference between the two lenses, but the lens at the bottom right of the image is an 8mm lens. The 6mm lens in the upper left of the image shows there is no difference in lens sizes between the two.


The 3.6mm lens that ships with these cameras offers an advertised 92 degree field of view. The 6mm lens is advertised as 53 degrees and the 8mm should provide approximately 40 degree field of view.

KT&C does offer lens options for these box cameras anywhere from 1.78mm at 170 degree field of view all the way up to 25mm lens at 13.8 degree field of view.

Personally, for outdoor premises I find that 40 degrees to 70 degree field of views are those used most for my premises. Oddly enough, the same field of views diagonally are what I use for Meteor astronomy as well. Coincidence, I'm not sure, but I do not that wide sweeping views for security and astronomy don't sit well with me. The main reason is that I like to give up the field of view so I can have larger images. It's the personal and fine balance between seeing what I want with the clarity that I want.

For security purposes, clarity should be the main concern whenever possible. If you cannot see with enough definition the area you are attempting to secure, then you won't be able to determine if anything is "amiss" or "usable" for identifying people doing what they do best - doing wrongful things when they think no one is looking.

What to expect next in the final review of the KT&C KPT-S20B Sony Super HAD and Sony ExView 1/3" low light mini square cameras. Pictures should cover rudimentary indoor and outdoor image tests, plus my final thoughts on both of these cameras and their practical uses.

Of course, I couldn't help but not connect both cameras us to make sure they were working properly. They were and under normal indoor lighting conditions both cameras performed flawlessly. However, I do believe for night time use for outdoor security the use of bright lighting or IR lighting may be required. More on this in the next and final review.

SuperCircuits PA3 Microphone Review

I so seldom use any audio equipment for Astronomy or Security work that I never considered using an microphone. That is until concerns about home property have been discussed in my family. After certain incidents involving less than gracious college age neighbors I have begun looking at the more serious evidence aspects for "helping law enforcement" do their jobs, enforcing the law and making sure the bad guys get caught and justice gets served.

Rather high ideals, but they are something to strive for when dealing with home property and making sure your private property, home, valuables, and heirlooms stays the way you should expect them to be. It also serves as being able to depend on equipment, because some neighbors that you may come in contact would rather turn a blind eye to anything wrong in their neighborhood.

With that in mind I decided I wanted to add some sound to my little hobby of home protection/video surveillance. I figured, it's my front yard, my property, and I'm catching part of the public street and public sidewalk. Since I'm not seeing into anyones windows, I should be good. Don't assume, make sure you're complying with local laws or you'll end up getting yourself in trouble.

However, for "testing" equipment for the larger scheme of things I wanted to see how well the PA3 microphone worked. The specifications are rather spartan, a small microphone and circuit board approximately 1cm X 1cm x 3cm in size. There is a female power plug and male ended rca jack and the over all cord length is 6 feet long. That's all that's needed to give a person sound recording capabilities as long as you have something to record sound to.

The S.C. catalog says that the power acceptable is 12 Volts DC and the current draw is 20ma. The sound increase is supposedly 8db amplification from what is really heard, so it should be louder than what a person hears, but not enough to bias the recording. The signal to noise ratio is rated at > 58db. Since I'm not a sound expert I'll just cover my "user experiences" in how it worked and what I do and don't like about it.

Installation was easy. I setup the microphone between my window and storm window looking out of my breakfast nook facing our street where all the excitement of urban dwelling is. I plugged the power end into a split cabled 12 volt dc 500 ma pulse power supply that only supplies amperage needed based upon consumption. Talk about efficient little coil-less ac to dc power converter! I picked mine up at Jameco Electronics. The ac to dc power "converter" works in my opinion more reliably than the typical wall warts that ship with most security cameras. They have a tendency to go bad and ruin equipment after several years of continuous use.

The rca male end of the mic was plugged into a miniature 2.4 Ghz short range wireless transmitter that also sends video feed to the "command center" located in my living room. That's where I have the receiver and a single channel Sanyo 300 DVR setup that feeds from the dvr into my 29" flatscreen television.

After making the appropriate changes to the dvr's setup to start recording and passing through sound I sat down to wait and to also observe. Being that it's 10 PM at night, the first sounds picked up were the tires echoing off of the interstate located 1/4 mile away from my house.

During the daytime the interstate sound, noticeable, but not too noisy is never enough to cause any problems inside of my house as far as sound intrusion goes. At night when the city quiets down some, the sound is more noticeable, but a person has to be on the side of the house with their ear close to the wall to pick up any noise from the interstate sometimes. If a person has a fan, tv, or some other device running they would never be able to hear anything.

So, what did I hear with the microphone "on." I could clearly make out the interstate noises of passing semi trucks and vehicles passing down my street without any problems at all. I'm not sure about the 8db gain for the mic's amp, but there is enough of a gain that some noises that aren't readily discernable in the background are definitely intelligible.

When a car cruises in front of my house, you can hear the car clearly. Dogs barking in the neighborhood, clear as a bell, as if I was outside and hearing it myself. Does the PA3 microphone work. You betcha it does - no problems at all. Would I recommend it - sure thing - if you need clear sound with a little amplification, then this is the way to go. If you need a microphone that doesn't come amped, then I would suggest finding another microphone to use.

Can this microphone pickup whispered conversations from a block away? No, but it could hear conversations like you were in the same room as the people talking, but just a little louder. Could you pickup some sounds that you might miss, like certain night sounds, I know I have.

Can you use this to spy on your neighbors, yeah, but I do not condone or recommend doing so - so do it at your own risk. If you're planning on catching the "whole scene", video and sound on your property - I recommend calling your local city attorney or police department and ask to talk to someone about what is legal in your town for home video surveillance and audio recording in order to keep from getting on the wrong side of the law.

For $7.95 and about the same for shipping and handling from SC, you're getting a good microphone. It's not weather proof, but a little plastic wrap or shrink wrap will do the trick if you're planning on putting it in direct weather elements. If you're using it in a protected area, a little plastic wrap or cling film as some folks call it should do the trick in keeping moisture out of the little circuitry and microphone.

It's a good micrphone and a fair priced item - definitely a 2 thumbs up item if you're looking at adding sound to any kind of security/astronomy video viewing/recording. I suppose for those folks seeking the outdoors astronomical sensory stimulus with video and with audio, you could be hearing and seeing your favorite astronomical events from inside your own home without having to brave the weather. The next best thing to being there - only without the mosquitoes and pesky bug critters that sometimes drive a person indoors and calling it an early summer night of astronomical enjoyment.

Likes:

Small Size
Easy To Install
Microphone and Circuit Board are shrink tubed

Dislikes:

Very spartan documentation
Not weatherized (i.e. not water proof)