PTZ Cameras

Commonly Asked Questions

What is a PTZ Camera?

A PTZ camera, which stands for Pan Tilt Zoom camera can be a great choice for security and surveillance of your home or business. A PTZ camera features motorized mechanisms that allow it to rotate up to 360 degrees, tilt up to 180 degrees, and zoom ranging from 4X up to 40X using its optical zoom lens. Whether you are actively monitoring your property or using the preset, tour, or pattern features, PTZ cameras can greatly assist with surveillance of a large area compared to using security cameras without motorized mechanisms.

Motorized zoom lenses allow a PTZ camera to enlarge and focus in on fine details such as faces or license plates in a parking lot. The wide variety of PTZ cameras that we offer have varying amounts of optical zoom and night vision. When connected to the internet our PTZ cameras can be controlled and viewed from anywhere in the world using a computer, phone or tablet.

Some IP PTZ cameras also support advanced video analytics that can be further used to customize your PTZ camera system. Some models are Auto Tracking PTZ cameras that can follow persons of vehicles as they enter or traverse your property. All of these features collectively provide a PTZ camera system to cover a large area and give you new found peace of mind.

A PTZ camera can also be used for projects other than security. Some other uses include:

• Live stream cameras for church services or other places of worship
• Time-lapse cameras for recording the construction progress of a building or home
• Live streaming an event such as a concert, baseball game, or lecture to YouTube Live

How do PTZ cameras work?

PTZ cameras have built-in motors that operate to pan, tilt and zoom the camera. Commonly, these cameras connect to a security camera recorder for viewing, recording, and control. A PTZ camera that is network based, also called an IP PTZ Camera, can be used as a standalone camera for viewing, live streaming, and recording to an internal memory card.

A PTZ camera can be controlled using several devices:

• Security DVR recorder
• PTZ camera controller
• PC or Mac Computer
• Smartphone or Tablet using mobile apps for iOS and Android

How to choose a PTZ camera?

There are four main features to consider when shopping for a PTZ camera for your home or business surveillance system.

1. Resolution
2. Night Vision Distance
3. Zoom
4. Auto Tracking and Video Analytics

We discuss each of these PTZ camera features in greater detail below.

1. Resolution

How far you can see a face on recorded footage from any security camera or PTZ is determined by its resolution. Security camera resolution is measured in megapixels (MP). The higher the megapixels a camera is, the greater the detail will be allowing you to digitally zoom in and see finer detail in recorded video.

2. Night vision

During the day a PTZ camera can see in color, but in complete darkness, it switches to black & white mode. The camera cannot see without having night vision that's provided by infrared LEDs. PTZ cameras are available with varying degrees of night vision to see in darkness. Usually, the amount of night vision a PTZ security camera has is related to the optical zoom power of the camera.

3. Zoom

The amount of zoom a PTZ has determines the distance you can see clearly on live video. The PTZ has an optical zoom lens that magnifies live-action like binoculars. If you're monitoring long distances you may want to consider 25X zoom or more. For shorter distances, there are PTZ cameras ranging from 4X to 12X zoom. When choosing the level of optical zoom you have to ask yourself:

• How far do you want to see when fully zoomed in?
• What type of detail do you want to see at these distances? is it general detail of vehicles or intruders, or is it finer detail like faces or license plates?

To help you make an informed purchasing decision, in each of our PTZ camera product descriptions we mention the maximum distance for facial clarity. After actual field testing, we have developed the following table to help understand how far a 1080P HD PTZ Camera can see facial detail with varying degrees of optical zoom.

For further reading, we suggest reading our security camera buying guide to learn the difference between optical zoom and digital zoom.

4. Auto Tracking and Video Analytics

Certain IP PTZ cameras feature intelligent functions like video analytics and auto-tracking. An Auto Tracking PTZ camera can follow vehicles or persons when they enter the perimeter and traverse the property. Our PTZ cameras with Smart Detection provide video analytics to provide intelligent control of when auto-tracking is activated. For example, as shown in the video below, we use a virtual tripwire as the triggering event to start tracking a vehicle that enters a parking lot. For specific types of perimeter security, these two functions can prove useful and eliminate the need for multiple fixed surveillance cameras.