Grundig takes tough, new fisheye dome outdoors

Grundig's new, rugged, outdoor fisheye dome camera, GCI-M1566F, uses a die-cast, aluminum body and polycarbonate, optical lower dome to achieve IK10 vandal-resistance and IP66 environmental rating. It also benefits from a night-time, IR illumination range of 7 meters using four, built-in, high power LEDs.

Separate audio input and output jack sockets not only allow verbal communication with a site but also enable an audio alarm triggered by noise. This and further alarm event triggers, such as motion, tamper, audio detection and network failure, all activate recording, either remotely or on the camera's built-in micro SD memory card. A handy time-lapse option also enables single frame recording at between one and sixty minute intervals.

The outdoor fisheye dome uses a 6-megapixel (3072x2048 pixels), 1/1.8 inch Sony progressive scan CMOS sensor with Ambarella S2 digital signal processor. Fisheye, panoramic settings offer 360- and 180-degree field of views and options of either back-end or front-end de-warping. Front-end de-warping produces a 4-megapixels stream with a 360-degree field of view, presented as an elliptical image, with an additional 2-megapixels quad image where each image can be adjusted and zoomed individually. This is designed for using with VMS and NVR solutions, which do not have their own de-warp functionality. Back-end de-warping provides integrated VMS and NVR solutions, with a 6-megapixels, 360-degree stream and up to four further streams.

The fisheye camera has true day/night functionality, with removable IR-cut filter (ICR), so is ideal for use in dark and poorly lit, outdoor areas. It is powered by 12vDC or PoE, using just 10 watts with its LEDs running. It can be set up by web browser, allowing up to 20 simultaneous clients. Further functionality includes up to five privacy zones, WDR and ATW. At just 42.7mm deep and 117mm in diameter it is both compact and inconspicuous in almost any application.