Pan Tilt Zoom (PTZ)

Tips to find the indoor pan-tilt-zoom IP camera that's right for your application

Pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) network cameras are most suitable for systems that are monitored by a CCTV operator. The operator will be able to control the camera when a security breach is taking place and capture the incident in detail, which ensures that the footage can be used as evidence.

When using a PTZ camera without an operator, your best option is to choose a camera with 'guard touring' and / or 'auto-tracking'. Guard touring means that the camera automatically runs through a sequence of pre-selected views whilst auto-tracking is a form of intelligent video analytics whereby the PTZ network camera can identify a moving object, for example a person walking, and follow it until it disappears out of view.

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More tips to find the indoor PTZ IP camera that's right for you

Alternatively, in many indoor installations static multi-megapixel IP cameras can offer a suitable solution too. For example, using a static 5 megapixel camera with digital pan-tilt-zoom (DPTZ) gives the required amount of detail in many indoor situations, even when zooming in. A benefit of high megapixel static cameras over mechanical PTZ cameras is that a very wide field of view can be recorded and then sections of the image can be inspected in more detail using digital zoom. This keeps down the number of cameras that are required to cover a large area such as a warehouse.

Select resolution

To choose the ideal resolution, ask the question: what's the purpose of the PTZ network camera? To answer this question, we make a distinction between ‘identification’ and ‘observation.’

If the purpose is to identify or recognize a person or objects in detail then HD or megapixel resolution would be the recommended choice. Standard resolution is often fine for general observation or viewing overall activity. Consider PTZ cameras with HD or megapixel resolution for situations where identification is required at greater distance.

Day or night

If nighttime surveillance monitoring is a requirement, then determine how the scene will be lit. The options are:

• White light
• Infrared light
• Existing artificial light

White light: White light is artificial light that comes closest to natural light. For best results, white light is your choice. It is suitable for use with all pan tilt zoom IP cameras.

Infrared light: Infrared light is more commonly used though. If you're using infrared illuminators ensure you choose a PTZ surveillance camera with day/night switching featuring a removable infrared cut filter, which will produce clear color images during the day and clear black and white images in combination with the infrared light at night.

Existing artificial light: When relying on existing office lights, the results can be very different depending on the type of lamps and the amount of illumination they produce.

Wired or wireless

Here we have one simple rule. If you can wire it, you will get better results with your PTZ network camera. As we all know, Wi-Fi has limited reach and reliability and this is the same for wireless network cameras as for any other wireless device using Wi-Fi. If you are looking to use Wi-Fi for your IP camera, ensure you have a strong enough signal at the intended camera location.

Power

Consider how you will power the camera. Most indoor IP PTZ cameras can be powered up via Power-over-Ethernet (PoE), which makes system installation much easier.

To use PoE you will require PoE supported network switches or PoE midspans (injectors) if your switches do not support PoE. Note that most indoor PTZ cameras can also be powered using conventional DC/AC connections, but that some PTZ IP cameras no longer offer this and can only be powered using PoE.