Sidus has just launched the SS490, a 4K ultra-high definition camera that it says provides superior video image quality at four times the resolution of 1080 full HD images. 

 

The firm said its new subsea camera maintains full 4K resolution while providing excellent focus with a 20-times zoom and a combined optical and digital zoom of 144-times. 

 

"The SS490 delivers better picture quality than non-4K models due to its use of HDR (high dynamic range).  This is especially helpful with varying lighting conditions such as working with multiple ROVs or reflectivity from stainless steel objects," Sidus said.

 

Sidus CEO Leonard Pool said his company developed the SSS490 because it wanted to create a camera that produced the clearest and highest quality image in the most challenging environments.

 

Pool's cutting-edge camera not only provides top-notch image quality but also features fully integrated automatic image processing that corrects distortion, shading, and chromatic aberration. 

 

The SS490 camera also has adaptive noise reduction and visibility enhancement. 

 

Image quality was of the utmost importance, Sidus said, as they were designing the new camera, but equally as important was the camera's range and durability. 

 

The SS490 is rated for operating depths of 6000m, which is deeper than the oil and gas industry currently goes, though Fugro recently used new technology to expand its data range to that depth for a survey to search for missing flight MH370, albeit still short of the Indian Ocean's maximum depth of more than 8000m.

 

Shell's Stones development in the Gulf of Mexico is the world's deepest oil and gas extraction effort started up last September, at almost 2895m underwater.

 

The SS490 is also rated for operating depths of 3000m, which would enable the oil and gas industry to push frontiers that much further in maintenance and inspections.

 

The camera is constructed with titanium, stainless steel, or aluminium housings paired with sapphire or acrylic windows. 

 

Pool told Energy News that the company was currently promoting the new technology to two major supply chain players who serve multiple sectors, including oil and gas.