Re: kiddie cam

[Ray DuFlon <ray@radius.com>]

>At 5:11 PM 8/8/96, kyle cassidy wrote:

>

>>got my tyco kid cam yesterday, $99.95 at toys r us -- came to $105 w/

>(snip)

>>around 3 feet. one thing that i did notice is that it DOES pick up IR

>>very well, the t.v. remote looks like a flashlight, really brite. for $99

>>it's probably okay, but it's no substitute for a pixelvision.

>

>Yeah, I agree with all of this - the Kid Cam has nowhere near the character

>of our beloved PXL. But at $99 a pop I still think it could be a neat way

>for people to make cheap movies, which is always cool. The IR thing has

>some neat potential, too. If there was any question as whether this thing

>was built out of surveilance cam guts, I think that proves it.

>

>Stephen Marinick Electronic Media   |   stevem@primenet.com

>http://www.txdirect.net/~marinick   |   marinick@txdirect.net

>http://www.primenet.com/~stevem     |   PGP key ID = 35DEE06D



The IR sensitivity is a function of using silicon as an imager - its

response peaks in the infrared.  An IR cut filter (the blue disk that's

behind the lens of a PXL2000, for example) is normally added to the optical

path to prevent saturating the imager when outdoors, and reduce the

shifting of apparent brightness of objects that strongly reflect or absorb

IR.  Lower cost filters don't cutoff as sharply, which may be why the Kid

Cam is especially sensitive to this region.  Surveillance cameras that are

designed to work with IR illumination leave this filter out altogether.



Ray