Reflections on sight loss - RNIB

What’s new
A new breed of CCTVs
Sight Village, the country’s leading exhibition of products and services for people
with sight loss, is held annually in Birmingham by Queen Alexandra College. This
year’s exhibition in July had the usual buzz. With scores of exhibitors vying for
attention in its new venue at New Bingley Hall, RNIB’s digital accessibility expert
Steve Griffiths chose to concentrate on the latest in video magnifiers for people
with low vision, which have come a long way in versatility and portability since
the first desktop models were introduced last century
It’s been a while since I looked in detail at
video magnifiers (also known as closed-circuit
televisions or CCTVs). So it was interesting to
see the changes that have occurred over the
last few years.
Video magnifiers are the devices which enable
you to place printed material and objects
under a camera and gain a magnified image –
a simple way of producing large text, images
and maps for people with low vision. They are
mainly used for reading, although they have a
variety of other uses, and their advantage
over other types of magnifier include the fact
that they are capable of varying degrees of
magnification.
The main thing I noticed at Sight Village was
how much smaller and lighter the majority of
the models now are. Desktop units often
produce their display on a flat screen or
laptop. They are portable, often with a handle
incorporated into the design so they can be
easily carried. There is also a good range of
handheld units – so there should be one to
meet everyone’s needs.
Here are some of the features I noticed were
widely on offer – although not all on one
model!
Small, hand-held units.
While these have a reduced range of
magnification and colour settings, their main
benefit is that they can be carried in a bag or
pocket. Many of them have a swivel handle
that, when extended, enables them to be used
like a magnifying glass. This is great for
shopping, menus, or reading bus and train
timetables.
On many of these units you can now press a
button to capture the image, and then zoom
in and explore it. On some devices you can
save the image to disk, and one device, the
MagniLink Student Pro, even allows you to
save videos.
Desktops – portable and flexible
Many of the desktop units now consist of a
small camera mounted on an arm connected
to a flat screen. These are easy to pack up and
move around.
Often the camera can be swivelled on its arm
so that it can be focused on a newspaper on
the table or a blackboard far away. On some,
different settings can be chosen for each
situation and the CCTV will remember these
between sessions.
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