The Eye of the Flashlight

November 5, 2005: American troops now have another video camera for combat operations. This one looks like a large (14 inch long) flashlight. Actually, it is that, but is also a video camera, that can transmit to a laptop sized base station up to 300 meters away. The Camlite weighs 1.2 pounds, includes a laser pointer and uses a rechargeable battery. It produces TV (NTSC) quality video. The video portion of the Camlite will run eight hours without the flashlight component, three hours with. A smaller video recorder can be worn on the users belt (using standard 120 minute VCR tapes). Originally developed for law enforcement, and investigating organizations, the military found the Camlite handy as well, especially for intelligence collection.