Superbly-built mechanical components
Over the past few years we have seen several interesting variations on the dome camera theme – one or two verging on the weird and wacky – but we can usually rely on Panasonic not to stray too far from the fold. The WVCS320 is never going to be mistaken for anything other than a very tidy compact dome camera and func-tionally there are few surprises. However, it is an advanced design; the cleverer bits of technology mostly operate behind the scenes so the up-front features list is quite conventional.
The camera is a high performance colour model with a claimed resolution of around 480 lines from its 0.25-inch CCD image sensor (752 x 582 effective pixels). It will operate in lighting levels down to 2 lux and it is fitted with a 10x optical zoom. Pan/tilt speeds are between 1 and 100 degs/sec with 360-degree endless rotation and a 92-degree tilt angle.
'Flip-A-Chip', Panasonic's somewhat bizarre name for auto flip, allows a subject to be followed as it passes beneath the dome, automatically spinning the camera through 180 degrees so that the image will be the right way up.
The camera is mains powered; a low-voltage AC/DC model is also available. Access to most of the camera's exposure controls and higher functions are via a set of menu-driven on-screen displays, and it also generates an ident of up to 16 characters.
When teamed with a suitable controller (we used our sample with the WVCU161) the camera can be assigned up to 10 preset positions. There is an auto pan mode and auto hold, which freezes the image when the camera is moving to a new position.
More on the operational side in a moment but now it is time for the guided tour. There is little to see on the outside, it is housed in a two-piece cast alloy housing, the camera and pan/tilt platform is shrouded, so it's fairly unobtrusive and there are no visible fixings or fittings to attract the attention of vandals.
The simplest mounting option is to use the supplied base plate, which uses a simple twist-fit bayonet arrangement to attach and remove the dome body. Captive cables for the mains supply and video/telemetry emerge from the centre of the base plate, which is locked into place by a single screw which is normally hidden by a decorative bezel.
The base plate has a simple multi-way connector that carries power and the video/telemetry signals; this mates with another connector inside the camera so it can be quickly and easily detached. A spring-loaded anti-drop cable can be fitted if required.
The clear plastic dome screws onto the housing, a rubber O-ring provides good protec-tion from the elements, though this turned out to be one of the very few gripes with this design (see also Performance). The threading on the dome cover comprises a few raised edges that engage with a thread on the inside of the housing and it proved to be incredibly difficult not to cross-thread the cover. It was bad enough on the bench, but overhead in a suspended position we suspect it will be responsible for more than few curses.
The lower section of the housing is held in place with four screws and when removed reveals the pan/tilt mechanism in all of its glory. It's an elegantly simple design with the camera housed inside an almost spherical black case with a miniature cooling fan at one end and the single bearing at the other. Tilting action is driven by a small stepper motor acting through a worm-gear reduction drive on a toothed pulley.
A flat and flexible ribbon cable carries the power and video to the rotating platform below, on which most of the dome's electronic sub systems are mounted. A second stepper motor and pulley drive turns the platform around the central bearing and rotary transformer.
The standard of construction is excellent, a really neat piece of precision engineering. Most of the mechanical components are made from plastic but there's certainly nothing wrong with that. Not only does it help keep the weight down it also reduces noise and overall it looks as though it's built to last.
The pan and tilt actions are very smooth and it's very quiet indeed. Even the fan, which appears to be on continuously, can hardly be heard on the outside of the casing.
Setup & operation
Installation is virtually foolproof since there are only two connections, for the mains supply and the video lead, which also carries telemetry data to and from the controller. When it is powered up it spends a few moments booting up then goes into an auto patrol mode, presumably as a failsafe if there's a power failure.
The camera's setup menu is accessed by holding down a button on the controller for a few seconds. It is divided into three sections. Section 1 deals with the movement side of things with sub-menus for setting home and preset positions. Self Return, Auto Mode, Flip-A-Chip, Cleaning (contact maintenance, when the camera has been running the same position routines for a prolonged period), and Image Hold.
Section 2 is concerned with the camera's systems and this includes setting up the camera ID, auto/manual ALC, Backlight Control with 8 x 6 definable mask and level control, shutter speed (auto or 7-speeds up to 1/10,000th sec), AGC (auto/high/low), sync (auto/line-lock), white balance (auto tracing/manual) and auto focus mode (auto/manual).
The third section, called 'Special' has adjustments for chroma gain, AP gain, pedestal and switches for noise reduction, demo mode (inverts the image) and restoring factory settings.
Performance
Pan and tilt are both silky smooth and can be very finely controlled; motor speed is tied in with the zoom setting for really precise positioning at all magnification settings. It's fast and, because the camera head has comparatively little mass, there's no overshoot and with a steady hand on the joystick it can be set to within a degree or so without any difficulty.
Straight out of the box and operating on factory defaults, the baseline image quality in good natural light is very good – within a whisker of the stated resolution figures – and it has no trouble adjusting to changing lighting conditions. Colours look natural even in mixed lighting but with so many manual adjustments on tap there's no doubt that it can cope with just about anything.
The auto exposure systems are very agile and the comprehensive backlight options should be able to take care of bright lights and windows in even the most difficult locations. Picture noise levels are generally very low in good light, which brings into question the value of the noise reduction mode in the Special menu. In medium to low light it seems to generate a lot of distracting artefacts, especially in the darker areas of the image.
The only operational problem we experienced were some unfortunate internal reflections generated by the dome cover. At certain camera angles and when a strong light or the sun is at right angles to the dome or shining directly at it, a very clear image of the camera lens can be seen in the picture. At other times internal reflections from bright sunlight can almost wipe the image out. We suspect it's a relatively easy fault to rectify, possibly with anti-reflective coatings, and it's something Panasonic should look into as soon as possible.
For the most part the on-screen menus are well thought out though it can be quite tedious to change a setting then have to exit or to step back through the options to review the effect. Setting camera positions can also quite time-consuming due to the layout of the menus. But it's worth remembering that the vast majority of setup adjustments will only have to be made once so it's a relatively minor concern on what is otherwise a highly competent design.
What the manufacturer says ...
Panasonic has launched another new dome camera to add to its growing range. The WVCS320 is an internal colour dome camera, with all the built-in features required for all-round, high quality surveillance.
Equipped with 10 pre-sets and 360 degree automatic panning, you can easily check any key point instantly. The 'flip a chip' feature ensures 180 degree tilting by flipping the picture and allowing you to view images directly below the camera.
Along with this is the image hold feature, which eliminates image break-up between changing camera positions, which ultimately could be a good quality picture of the suspect when they were first spotted.
The WVCS320 has been added to Panasonic's range as a cost-effective dome to be installed in any internal application. The WVCS320 has the look of Panasonic's WVCS850A top-of-the-range dome camera, which has been installed in a great number of various industries from banking to hotels, and town centres to retail.
The WVCS320 is a feature packed mini dome, providing telemetry down the co-ax for simple, low cost installation.
Reader Service No 100
Overall assessment
It is hard to fault the design. Apart from the annoying internal reflections, the few concerns we’ve expressed are more than offset by the dome’s outstanding performance. Although by no means a criticism it’s worth mentioning in passing that in spite of all the clever gubbins under the bonnet, and the superbly well-built mechanical components, it is nevertheless quite a basic design with relatively few bells and whistles. Low light performance, for example, is fairly average. It lacks relatively common features such as alarm integration, let alone more sophisticated options such as motion detection and it is possible that the number of position presets may be on the meagre side for some end-users. However for the vast majority of applications, with careful siting well away from strong lights, the CS320 will do a more than adequate job. Picture performance and build quality are well up to Panasonic’s usual high standard and we have little doubt that it’ll do the job it’s designed to do superbly well.Source
Security Installer
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