MELVILLE, N.Y., September 2, 2015 - Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, today announced that its parent company, Canon Inc., is developing a high-sensitivity network camera equipped with a fast, high-magnification lens capable of long-range color image capture, even at night, enabling the surveying of subjects that might be hard to see with the naked eye.
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The network camera currently under development
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Comparison of scene viewed with the naked eye (right) and image captured by the network camera (left) (Simulated image)
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Amid ever-increasing safety and security concerns, a growing need for advances in surveillance systems has fueled demand for high-performance network cameras capable of recording clear visual data night and day for such applications as urban surveillance and the monitoring of important infrastructure facilities. Canon is developing a compact high-sensitivity network camera that is designed to enable the clear viewing in color of distant subjects, even under conditions that might prove challenging to the naked eye, such as at night with few ambient light sources. The camera's imaging capabilities will make it ideally suited for such surveillance applications as crime prevention and the monitoring of natural disaster sites, enabling the viewing of scenes during either night or day.
Drawing on a range of optical technologies Canon has refined over the years, the network camera being developed will feature a large-aperture, ultra-telephoto zoom lens with a focal length of more than 600mm (35mm film equivalent) that achieves a bright F-value of 2.4 to allow large amounts of light to enter. The compact lens unit will incorporate aspherical and UD (Ultra Low Dispersion) lens elements that help suppress the incidence of chromatic aberrations, which become more prevalent as a lens's aperture size increases. The combination of the large-aperture lens with a high-sensitivity sensor and high-performance image processor will enable the color recognition of a subject's face at a distance of 100 meters, even in dark environments with a mere 0.08 lux of illumination, roughly equivalent to the illuminance of moonlight. By comparison, conventional nighttime surveillance to date has only been possible within a limited range with the aid of infrared illumination, or by using a night mode that only captures images in black and white.
Through the combination of an electric-drive pan/tilt function that control's the camera's orientation with the ultra-telephoto zoom lens, the network camera is designed to fulfill a wide range of surveillance requirements. In addition to the monitoring of natural disasters involving rivers or bays, for example, the camera will be well-suited for such applications as urban surveillance from the rooftops of buildings and for identifying automobile license plate numbers on roads, not only during the day, but also in settings in which nighttime surveillance is required. Canon aims to offer the new network camera in 2016. Through the enhancement of the Company's network camera lineup, Canon is responding to society's ever-expanding monitoring and surveillance needs.
