April 15, 2007 We firmly believe that recording one’s life is a coming trend and will eventually become pervasive – it’s a big statement but recording digital video is now child’s play and storage is getting cheaper all the time and a 24-7 hi-res recording from your Point-Of-View (POV) sure beats snapshots in a shoebox under the bed. Microsoft is working towards providing wearable camera technology, and a recent concept we saw looks quite viable. If you can’t wait for those advanced concepts, there’s now a reasonably priced, high-resolution head-worn camera.
A new UKP300 (US$455) tactical head camera worn by U.K. police for surveillance operations offers the perfect portable camera device for recording your every move. The 450 TVL resolution kit can be used to record leisure activities, such as skiing, paragliding, mountain biking, paint balling, motorcycling, rock climbing and even strolling down High Street, if you have a silly hat to disguise it or don’t mind looking like a cyborg.
The camera, which clips securely on to the ears, feeding the wires round the back of the head, also has a built-in microphone for audio recording, and a 4.3mm lens, giving an 80° viewing angle.
When connected to a portable recorder, it produces high quality recordings of events, as seen by the individual.
The camera comes with a complete set of power and cable accessories, meaning recordings can be played through a number of different devices. Extra connections also allow it to be used with any recorder that has video and audio phono inputs.
The separate battery box means the camera can be powered directly from a standard square battery, but in some cases, the recorder can power the camera directly, so that extra connections won’t be needed.