Airborne cameras: Request for technical information

[Gibbo]

I am looking for some technical information about airborne (primarily helicopter) camera systems.

Can anyone confirm for me please what the operational differnece will be between a day (visual) camera that provides clarity of 700 TV lines and a camera that provides 480 TV lines? Will the users (aircraft crew and ground staff viewing the datalink), notice a differnece?

I have been informed that 700TV lines is broadcast quality and that 480TV lines is acceptible for Law/military roles.

If anyone has some operational experience to relate that would also be very useful.

Thanks to all who can help.

Gibbo

[B Sousa]

Gibbo, you can get opinions here from those who use the systems. Also for comments from law Enforcement types you can go here. www.alea.org
I would suggest you go straight to one of the major companies and ask them if you need accurate numbers. Wescam is widely used in the states. www.wescam.com

Good Luck

[Ascend Charlie]

Gidday Gibbo,

Go back to your old stamping grounds at Granville and see David - he has a couple of stabilised cameras, and Will can give you the number of lines.

How is Greece?

[Gibbo]

Hi AC,

Greece is good mate, very Greek!

Have spent a fair bit of time with DG and flown a few hours with his and Will's kit, mainly on bushfires. Good gear!

My area of interest is a bit more specific. I really only need to know if making a recommendation that 480 TV lines is sufficient for a Law Enforcement job is poor advice.

My guys tell me that the "top" couple of hundred lines will probably be lost in transmission of high clarity anyway.

Regards to all in Aust. Great job on last season's fires!

Gibbo

[HeliMark]

Gibbo, we use the FLIR Ultra 7500 and one of the Wescam's on our ships. They both are the 480 line and the picture for us has been pretty good for daytime use. Night we just use the FLIR.

Both are newer models and have had the usual headaches with software problems, but most have been solved.

Depending on your budget, and size, that many lines should be sufficent for most law enforcement needs.