Digital cameras come in two broad categories: complementary metal oxide semiconductor or CMOS cameras, and charge-coupled device or CCD cameras. Historically, a CMOS camera has been a more integrated camera—manufacturers can literally make a camera on a chip, which means you get a smaller camera with lower power consumption and less cost to fabricate. The trade-off has been you needed more back-end equipment to make the signals sent from the camera’s pixels more uniform to render an image comparable to what a CCD camera gave you. Manufactures have invested millions in R&D to narrow the gap between CMOS and CCD, so you can use the smaller, lighter camera and still get decent resolution.

Furthermore, splitting the signal processing equipment from the light-gathering end has its advantages, if you use CMOS cameras in one of three ways:

1. Installing nearly invisible CMOS digital cameras for security or surveillance

2. Taking advantage of lighter, smaller color CMOS cameras to record field events

3. Keeping personnel safely distant from the line of fire when testing products or processes in industrial research

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Contact CMOS camera suppliers to keep an eye on your business

Employ these diminutive cameras in remote locations, even using a wireless CMOS camera to broadcast signals to your recording equipment in multi-building campuses. Industries and law enforcement use CMOS cameras in reconnaissance, search and rescue, security and drug interdiction.

I recommend: Photron had its high-speed cameras featured in the Beijing Olympics to record events for slow-motion replay. Link up to four cameras into one recording system. Security Cameras Direct sells a full line of cameras, monitors and recording equipment to set up an entire system from one source.

Record events where they happen with a CMOS digital camera

Use high-speed, high-resolution CMOS cameras to record the action where it occurs, whether in the field or in the lab. Low weight and lower power usage lets you stay on the job longer, whether you're recording a sporting event, studying the effect of vibrations or shock waves on infrastructures or buildings, or monitoring flow rates of gases and liquids.

I recommend: A pioneer in high-speed photography since 1950, Vision Research produces the Phantom line of cameras, plus digital cinema cameras you can rent as well as buy. PixeLINK offers cameras for microscopy applications.

Connect with CMOS camera providers to save money in product development and manufacturing

High-speed photography provides stop-motion visualization of any industrial process, allowing you to stress test new products to judge where they are most likely to break, or determine how and why defects occur to get the process back on line.

I recommend: Aven markets a high resolution CMOS camera to use in quantifying industrial event analysis. Aegis Electronics Group distributes the Toshiba Monochrome camera good for machine vision applications requiring a rugged camera.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Ask where you plan to use a CMOS camera, and what you expect from it, before requesting a quote from CMOS camera distributors. Work out a trade-off grid that includes not only your price budget, but additional criteria such as video resolution, usually quoted in lines (so CMOS camera manufacturers would specify a 640 x 480 image as 480 horizontal lines); frame rate, usually given in frames per second; and shutter speed.