Ceiling Mounted Document Cameras
Much like the desktop document camera, the ceiling document camera got its name from the way in which it functions. Ceiling document cameras are designed to be mounted on or in a ceiling. This permanent mounting means that ceiling document cameras are a perfect fixed solution for conferencing rooms, meeting rooms, training rooms and classrooms that have been specifically designed to hide all high-tech equipment such as document cameras which should be present in the room but not visible.
The Advantages of a Ceiling Document Camera
A ceiling document camera or visualizer as it is also called, can be mounted on a ceiling or integrated into a suspended ceiling in much the same way as a multimedia projector can be. The obvious advantage of a ceiling mounted document camera is that the view between the person presenting and his or her audience is not disrupted, and since no document camera equipment is needed on the table or work surface, clutter and cables are reduced.
Ceiling document camera zoom lenses
Due to the fact that ceiling document cameras are by their nature mounted on or in the ceiling, the distance between the ceiling document camera’s camera lens and the subject matter on the table or work surface is much greater than it would be for a desktop document camera or portable document camera. Because of this, the zoom capabilities of a ceiling document camera’s camera lens is generally much more advanced than those of portable document cameras or desktop document cameras.
One advantage of a ceiling mounted document camera’s zoom lens capability and the distance between the document camera and the subject matter is that a ceiling document camera is able to display much larger material, for example cartographic material, architectural drawings or large three dimensional objects. Although the possibility to display these kinds of material exists, the display technology that is used will be the factor that determines how legible the subject being displayed by the document camera is, and how sharp it is.
Positioning of material under ceiling mounted document cameras
Since ceiling mounted document cameras are positioned some distance from the subject matter, positioning subject material under this type of document camera can become an issue. Some models of ceiling document camera come supplied with a laser pointer which enables the presenter to tell where they should put their material. Wolfvision ceiling mounted document cameras actually project a light field on the available viewing surface to allow easy and accurate positioning of the subject material.
Ceiling document camera connections
D-sub 15 pin VGA connectors
S-Video (4 pin Mini DIN) connectors
Composite Video (RCA/Phono) connectors
DVI (Digital Visual Interface) connectors
USB connectors
RS-232 network connectors
8P8C connectors (commonly known as RJ-45 conenctors)
Remote control signals on ceiling document cameras are provided by RS-232, RF wireless, infrared wireless or USB.