You've probably already guessed from the name what this month's mystery item is - a camera and microphone hidden within what appears to be a normal ballpoint pen.
Every once in a while we get a product to check out that doesn't really fit in with our usual review gear, but is just so cool that we have to tell you about it.
You've probably already guessed from the name what this month's mystery item is - a camera and microphone hidden within what appears to be a normal ballpoint pen. If you didn't figure that out, then it's time to start stocking up on the old smart pills, Einstein.
Using the wonders of RF transmission (with four different channels available, ranging between 2400 and 2483.5MHz), you can use this pen at a range of up to 100 metres away from your recording device. That is, provided there are no walls, sources of EMF radiation or nuclear reactors between the pen and the receiver. During testing of this device we found that its range was drastically reduced when there were a couple of walls in between the pen and the receiver unit, and it started dropping out at around 15 metres.
Setting it up was a breeze. Unfortunately the receiver base station only has RCA outputs for sound and video, so you'll need to use a video capture card with RCA video input to capture the pen's video and audio on your PC. We installed a VIVO GeForce4, plugged in the receiver, put the batteries in the pen, and were up and running.
For such a tiny CMOS camera, the picture quality is astonishing: running in full colour at a resolution of 300,000 pixels, the camera exhibited very little of the 'fish-eye' effect that smaller cameras tend to suffer from, and kept everything in very clear focus, even at very close range.
The pen has two power options, depending on how you're going to use it: if you just want to leave it in your pocket, a separate, wired, 9V battery pack should keep you going for a few hours; however, if you're going to be using it out of your pocket, you'll need to use five of the 1.5V batteries commonly used within watches, but this will only last for around 30 minutes of continuous use.
If you work in the security industry, have a spare $1,100 that you feel like blowing on a useless but impressive toy, or feel like taking part in illegal subversive activities, then you're bound to have some fun with this little gadget.
Issue: 137 | June, 2012