Thursday, March 8, 2012

What's so Special about a PTZ Camera?

For most surveillance perspectives, PTZ (Pan Tilt Zoom) Cameras have a distinct advantage over their fixed cousins. The biggest disadvantage? PRICE. But maybe not- read on..

A PTZ camera can pan across an entire room, pool, or even a yard, or parking lot. It could take 4, 10 or even 20 fixed cameras to see this much area! 


Panning means the camera ROTATES left-to-right or right-to-left. This feature allows views up to 340 degrees! Many camera interfaces on PTZ's also offer a SCAN function useful for continuous panning. Most also offer the ability to control the pan and tilt SPEEDS; for SCANNING, a very slow speed might be desirable. For monitoring an area with a lot of fast-changing scenes, like a casino for example, fast panning might be preferable.

PAN-and-SCAN are cameras that can pan, and have software to pan continuously (scan).

Tilt also rotates the lens, but top-to-bottom or bottom-to-top. Like panning, this feature offers a much broader view area. Often TILT is 0=90 degrees although some cameras like the Sony below tilt 120 degrees.

Combined with panning, and a good perspective, almost nothing can escape the camera's eye!


Zoom is zoom, nothing out-of-the-ordinary here.  Of course the more you zoom the smaller your viewing frame. Many PTZ cameras don't offer zoom, even though they might be considered as a PTZ class. More precisely they are PT cameras. Even cameras which Do zoom might only offer 3x in the under-$500 categories. But much great capabilities are available in the $1000-and-up models. This Bosch model MIC400STS is over $10,000!



Finally, there are many FIXED cameras offering zoom. Shop around.

Happy IP Camming!

2 comments:

  1. PTZ security cameras wide range viewing ability makes up for its expensive price. Fixed Camera's, although affordable, have a disadvantage when thieves walk along a blind angle, not reached by the camera's view point.

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