Surveillance cameras that capture 360 degrees are unique. These cameras provide customers with the opportunity to examine the general situation in the territory, as their field of view is much larger than that of cameras with fixed or varifocal lenses. In this article, we will look at how fisheye (fisheye) surveillance cameras with a 360-degree view contribute to improving security in various fields.

Traditional CCTV cameras with a narrow viewing angle that would completely cover the entire protected area should be dispersed throughout the entire area of the facility. This requires significantly higher costs for the construction of infrastructure, as well as for the purchase of a large number of cameras. Standard PTZ (rotary) cameras also allow you to achieve 360 ° view, moreover, they allow you to repeatedly increase the required area, but this is also their minus, because at the same time they can inspect only a small area, leaving blind spots. Without constant operator control, PTZ cameras become ineffective.

Even though the PTZ camera can be programmed to respond to an event trigger, recording will only begin after the trigger fires and the camera rotates in the right direction. However, the camera will not record what happened before the alarm went off, and this information can be very important.

Fisheye cameras with 360 ° viewing angle can provide a solution to this problem. These cameras allow to get the image covering the room completely, from floor to ceiling and create the so-called bubble effect (spherical view). This overview can be reproduced by installing several standard cameras, but using multiple cameras will add both installation cost and complexity when viewing multiple video streams.

Suitable for indoor and outdoor video surveillance

To get the best awareness of the situation on the sote it is recommended that cameras be installed in an open area free of obstructions. When mounted outdoors, fisheye cameras perform well when installed on the parapets and corners of buildings. When placed on the outer corner of the building, the camera will provide a possibility to see the area around the corner. When installed indoors, 360-degree cameras can show all directions in a cross-shaped or T-shaped corridor, and the quality of all directions is equally excellent.

Fisheye 360-degree cameras can also offer several viewing options:

- spherical review,
- dividing the image into four zones (similar to four multidirectional cameras)
- panoramic view, dividing the picture into two with a 180-degree view (for example, to view both sides of the street)
Also, these cameras have several modes for installation:
- ceiling installation (for a full view of the room)
- wall mounting (for panoramic view)
- floor installation

For ceiling installations, fisheye cameras are usually located in the center of the room to maximize the video view of the entire area of the room. Since the camera sees 360 degrees around itself, 100% coverage of the surrounding area occurs, which eliminates the appearance of blind spots.

Maximize your image using megapixel resolution

To get the best 360 degree image, it is important that the camera lens matches the matrix. Currently, 1.3, 2, 4, 5 megapixel fisheye (fisheye) cameras are on the market, which corresponds to a resolution of 1280 x 1024, 1920 x 1080, 2048 x 1944 and 2560 x 1920, respectively. Such a high resolution allows you to get a really high-quality image, which can be brought closer if necessary.

Managing with client software

Using professional software to control camera allows viewing archived records in their initial (spherical) form, and then making changes - dividing the screen into four zones, dividing the screen into two panoramic (180 degree) images, tilting, rotating, tracking and increasing the set Images. Leading manufacturers of this equipment use GPU decoding, which significantly reduces the load on the server processor when processing video.

An additional advantage of using professional video surveillance software is the ability to simultaneously view video for several remote clients, which allows you to simultaneously view the same image from different angles to several users who are in different places.

Mounting and installing a fisheye camera

The biggest problem when installing cameras with a 360-degree view is the problem of lighting and lighting since the camera captures a very large area, usually with different lighting conditions. Very bright light often dazzles or creates a lot of shadow, and many fisheye cameras cannot correctly display the picture, because part of the image is very light and part is very dark. Leading camera manufacturers found a solution to this problem, they began to use WDR (wide dynamic range) technology in these cameras. Fisheye cameras with WDR analyze the image and process bright lights or dark areas and adjust the image so that the output will get the best image without these negative effects.

Technology of Tomorrow

An investigation into the explosions at the Boston marathon revealed the video surveillance factor as one of the main components of security. And the technologies in the field of video surveillance do not stand still, cameras with a 360-degree panoramic view are a relative novelty in the field of security, but they are more and more proven.

Together with professional software that allows you to process both live video and archived recordings, this new product can be an excellent alternative to both conventional analog cameras for video surveillance and megapixel IP cameras with small viewing angles.

Here you can buy and order the installation of any Geovision cameras, as well as get advice on any issues related to security systems.

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