Are you a producer on a TV show or movie involving crime and photographic evidence? Are you sick of Internet commenters harping that “zoom and enhance” is not a real thing?
If so, you can come out of hiding now! Home automation company Nest has a new security camera that can finally both zoom and enhance.
The Nest Cam IQ takes the company’s lauded and easy-to-use Nest Cam Indoor — which already cites a zoom and enhance feature — and upgrades it. The old three-megapixel sensor is now a 4K (8 megapixel) version, the zoom is up from 8x to 12x, and it includes HDR imaging.
How? Instead of constantly recording 4K video, as Digital Trends writes, “the camera captures two separate fields and merges them into one 1080p frame, capturing greater dynamic range than would otherwise be possible.” So even when you’re utilizing the maximum 12x zoom, the resolution should still be 1080p.
“When designing Nest Cam IQ, we focused on what we’ve learned from our customers, which is that people don’t want more information, they want insights,” said Matt Rogers, Nest co-founder and chief product officer.
Why yes, insights like a crystal clear photo of the person breaking into your house as well as their name, age, address, list of greatest fears and mother’s phone number so you can call in backup.
Apart from dynamic, till-now-illusory imaging, the new security camera also offers a 130-degree view angle, infrared LED night vision, updated speaker and smartphone app integration — sending you alerts when someone enters the room and automatically zooming in to track them. Should you also purchase a Nest Aware subscription, your camera can send streaming video to secure cloud storage, learn familiar faces to differentiate from strangers, and notify you of sounds and movement in specific areas of the room.
The Nest Cam IQ is currently available for pre-order for $299 or $498 for two, with shipping expected by the end of June.
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