Industrial cameras can be used to significantly improve the productivity of a manufacturing facility and the quality of the products being manufactured.

However, there are some basic factors that facility managers need to be aware of about industrial cameras to arrive on the best possible camera solution for a unique production facility.

The following are four basic things that it's important to understand regarding industrial cameras:

An industrial camera is a type of camera that is specifically designed to stand up against harsh industrial environments.

Industrial cameras are different from cameras used for general photography in that they are designed to stand up to more harsh environments. They also are designed to take pictures in which the overall quality is of the image is not as important as the general information the image conveys about a manufactured product.

Industrial cameras are generally used for inspection, quality control, and safety purposes.

Industrial facilities use this type of camera to inspect manufactured materials and ensure that they meet certain standards. Industrial cameras ensure that manufacturing equipment is functioning properly.

Another thing that industrial cameras are commonly used for is surveillance to ensure that equipment is operating safely and facilities are constantly being observed to prevent security breaches. 

Industrial cameras can drastically increase the productivity of a manufacturing operation by automating the inspection process.

Without industrial cameras, product would need to be manually inspected by the personnel of an industrial facility. Cameras allow product to be inspected remotely and can even be set up so that inspection is automated by programming cameras to recognize discrepancies or irregularities so that inspection can occur without any human labor. 

Automated inspection and quality control means that industrial facilities become more productive and their staff can be streamlined to handle only essential tasks and not the rote task of handling inspections.

Two of the most common types of industrial camera are line scan and area scan cameras.

Industrial cameras are usually either one of two possible types. The first common type of industrial camera is the area scan camera. The other common type is the line scan camera.

An area scan camera works with a CCD sensor combined with a 2D pixel matrix. This type of camera produces an image with pixels on only the X and Y axes. 

Like an area scan camera, a line scan camera also works with a 2D matrix. However, it includes a CCD sensor that has only one row of pixels. 

Line scan cameras are more appropriate for industrial operations where images must continuously be produced while area scan cameras are adequate for applications where an industrial camera does not need to operate as quickly.  

For more information about industrial cameras, contact companies like SVS INC.