Information about Low Light Cameras

Low light cameras are designed for low light applications. They contain sensors that are highly sensitive to light and reduce images to a series of lines. There are two basic types of low light cameras: monochrome and color. Monochrome devices present images in black and white or grayscale. Color devices present images in a range of colors. Several color output methods are available. Some low light cameras transmit red, green and blue (RGB) image components as separate signals over three separate wires. Other low light cameras transmit only two signals, luminance (Y) and color (C), over separate cables. Composite outputs encode or compress red, green and blue components before superimposing them on the luminance of a single signal. The RGB signals are decoded and reconstructed for image display, but the bandwidth limiting of the signal compression limits the subsequent color faithfulness.

Products & Services Related to Low Light Cameras

CCD Cameras

Charge coupled device (CCD) cameras contain light-sensitive silicon chips that detect electrons excited by incoming light. They also contain micro circuitry that transfers a detected signal along a row of discrete picture elements or pixels, scanning the image very rapidly. CCD cameras use two-dimensional CCD arrays with many thousand of pixels.

CMOS Cameras

Complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) cameras use image sensors that operate at lower voltages than charged coupled devices (CCDs), reducing power consumption for portable applications. Each CMOS active pixel sensor cell has its own buffer amplifier, and can be addressed and read individually.

High Speed Cameras

High speed cameras are designed for rapid image acquisition for scientific or industrial analysis of rapidly changing or moving processes.

Video Cameras

Video cameras take continuous pictures and generate signals for display or recording. They capture images by breaking them down into a series of lines. This search form does not include consumer devices such as camcorders.

Vision Sensors

Vision sensors are machine vision video cameras with integrated signal processing and imaging electronics. They typically include program and data interfaces.