PTZs GEAR
A n explosion in the need for surprise. Even as demand returns to a more normal level, users are still having new ideas and challenging designers to come up with new devices to make those ideas possible. Guilhem Krier deals with business development for Panasonic’s audio- visual department in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He used to be based on a plane, but since the pandemic he’s mostly at home in Paris. Krier breaks unmanned cameras during the pandemic was maybe no great
the market for pan, tilt and zoom (PTZ) cameras down into three areas. “We have the production market – which includes rental people doing concerts, we have broadcast, then we have corporate and education. These three areas have different dynamics, though they move along together.” From Krier’s perspective, those users demand camera equipment from one of two broad brackets. “When it comes to PTZ you have a market that goes from roughly €2000 to €3500, which spans education and corporate. It’s a big market, not only for us, but in general. Then, you have a market above €5000 – up to €10,000 or €12,000 – targeting broadcast or high-end corporates wanting a small broadcast studio.” The popularity of PTZ, especially at the lower end of those price brackets, has expanded options when it comes to what we watch. That huge variety, though, demands equally huge flexibility. “A PTZ is [usually] an all-in-one camera,” Krier points out. “The lens, the processing, everything is inside, and has to cover a wide range of applications. If I take the UE150 and 160 – frequently used in radio studios – the cameras are close to the speakers, so they need to be very wide angle. At the other end, you have people in theatres or universities who need to position the camera at the back, so they require 20x or 24x zooms.” Wide-ranging zoom lenses are easier on smaller sensors, something that
quickly becomes clear when we start to demand that capability on large-sensor cameras such as Sony’s FR7. “Customers usually use box cameras with 2/3in sensors, or based on the Lumix stuff with 4/3in sensors,” Krier says. “It’s a natural next step to go for an exchangeable-lens, big-sensor PTZ. In reality, it’s difficult to manage. What I’m saying is nothing to do with Sony – we’d have the same issue. It’s very difficult to have a motor that’s strong enough to move a large and heavy lens on a PTZ. We were listening to customers and some were saying they needed 24x zoom. On a larger sensor, that’s huge.” Beyond sheer imaging performance, connectivity is key, confirms Krier. “In the past, when you wanted your cameras to be approved by a big broadcaster, they had to go through testing for definition and sensitivity. Now this is not so much the issue; most cameras can provide a decent picture. Now it’s more about how you can integrate your camera in a workflow. It started a long time ago with power-over-Ethernet, because it was a lot easier for the integrators. Then we implemented NDI, NDI-HX, then FreeD, then SRT. You can have the best camera in the world, but if it doesn’t support the protocols the customer wants to use, they will not select it.” With PTZ cameras at the top of the market now groaning with input-output options, Krier says, “the real question from customers is how do I get more intricate pictures out of this PTZ? What we are
LITTLE SPACES Panasonic’s NDI PTZ cameras are great for capturing valuable footage in tight spaces that would struggle to accommodate a traditional camera system
55
definitionmags
Powered by FlippingBook