Covert products gained the most reader service requests from our April edition, showing clear installer interest in this area of surveillance ...
1st
Reap what you sew
The Button Camera from OpTex International has aroused a lot of interest. It is a miniature CCD colour camera with a 3.6mm pinhole lens, built into the back of a real shirt button.

The front aperture of the lens is no more than 1mm in diameter and slips through the button holes of most shirts. Pre-studs are available for sewing onto the shirt, above and below the camera, to keep the front flat. Existing buttons can be replaced with the matching buttons supplied, so they are all the same.

2nd
Performs even in low light
Pecan miniature cameras from Stortech Electronics are the size of a 50 pence coin and can be installed in a number of discreet places such as clock faces, suitcases and book shelves, to provide unobtrusive monitoring, with options of either colour or monochrome. Even at low light levels they still provide excellent quality, claims the supplier.

The mono units, PCAM, UCAM and MCAM can operate at light sensitivities down to 0.1/0.2 lux. Power consumption is between 80 and 135mA, with an electronic iris which adjusts to changing light conditions.

Lens option of 2.0. 3.6, 6.8 and 12mm are available. The lightweight cameras are PCB-based and come with robust cast aluminium housings.

3rd
Makes digital recording easy
Making digital image recording even easier and more compact is the Covert Miniature Black Box Image Recorder, says MEL Secure Systems. It is a small, low cost, self-contained recording device, described as "revolutionary".

The product stores up to 5000 images on one multimedia card and can be deployed discreetly and swiftly, using any CCD camera.

The Image Recorder unit can be programmed to capture images at regular intervals, or the associated PIR can be used to trigger the recording of any movement within the field of view.

The multimedia card can be easily removed from the unit, and viewed on any PC using the card reader. All images are date and time stamped and watermarked.