Premier Electronics has announced its new W series Super-Wide Dynamic Range (SWDR) cameras which can render a clear image of both light and dark objects in the same scene by using double exposure technology to achieve a much wider dynamic range.
Utilising two 16Mb memories, the camera takes a shot with a slow shutter speed to get a clear image of the dark areas of the scene and stores it in the first memory. It then takes a second shot at a higher shutter speed to acquire the bright areas of the picture, which is stored in the second memory. These two images are then processed and merged by the DSP to produce a perfect picture with both the light and dark areas clearly exposed. This process is then repeated 25/30 times a second to create a NTSC/PAL motion picture with a super-wide (280:1) dynamic image. A 154dB super smear rejection feature removes problems with bright lights at night smearing out the rest of the picture. On-screen display functions allow control over camera identity, sensitivity, shutter speeds, BLC, masking, digital zoom and so on. With resolutions of up to 520TVL and a 'Star Light' mode giving sensitivities down to 0.0007Lux in the 0.5in CCD version, Premier Electronics claims that there is not much that this camera will miss.
