Question about PTZ Cameras

[Murphy625]

I've been looking at the various Dahua PTZ Cameras.. What a wide price range to pick from. But I have a question about them I'm hoping someone can answer.. Not so technical in nature.

What are these camera's designed to do? I mean, the PTZ is controlled by motors yes? How long will these motors last before they break? Are these cameras designed for someone to sit there 24 hours a day and continuously move the camera around constantly scanning a secured area? Or are they designed for a light duty cycle when you just want to look at something of interest every now and then? How many failures has the forum seen if any?

I see in the specs they have one for preset "tours" and autopan, auto scan, etc. This kind of implies a motion duty cycle of 24 hours a day. What kind of life expectancy should one expect before the $800-$1200 camera becomes a stationary model?

Can these cameras continuously rotate or do they have a mechanical limit that forces them to rewind the other direction?

And lastly, I saw a review and video that showed focusing problem at night when zoomed to high magnification. Is this normal for all or does it go away as the price goes up? And how far up does on need to go? Can the focus be manually adjusted if needed?

Thanks,

 

[guykuo]

3/4 of my cameras are PTZ and we would not be happy with fixed cameras in home system. Whereas some use many fixed cameras, we ended up switching more and more to PTZ's instead of fixed cameras. They don't tour. Nor are they able to auto track. We're on the basic 4 series starlights and they are fantastic. Why PTZ? They can do dual purpose as a fixed camera AND let us look more closely at items of current interest or other areas.

Some of ours also do duty as LPR cameras. I have them switch to different positions depending on day vs night for better license plate framing. Also, they switch exposure settings for their jobs.

The motors and belts have limited life span. On the larger pendulum PTZ's you can expect them to hold up to quite a bit of motion. On the smaller PTZ domes, the motor and gear assembly is not intended for lots of motion.

The Dahua pendulums have continuous 360 degree rotation. Their little Dome PTZ as a travel limit and must go back the other direction when it hits the stop. Obviously you want the stop pointed away from your surveillance directions. I have my pendulums modified to allow about 20 degrees extra upward tilt so they can look at the night sky, my roof and tree tops.

The Dahua PTZ do not have absolute focus settings like the z-series bullets. However, you can do some scripting to move to a preset zoom and position, then autofocus, and finally switch the cameras to manual focus. That's what my LPR tasked PTZ's do to lock in their night focus.

Mounted on lamp posts scattered throughout the property, the PTZ's are actually unobtrusive. Ours are all painted black. Withstand the sun, rain, and snow. Many people don't even realize they walked by a camera post in the daylight.

PTZ's are more expensive/camera. They also provide more flexible coverage. What you do NOT want to do is opt for one PTZ instead of several fixed cameras. The mind set should be nearly the same number of PTZ as you would install fixed cameras. Deploy them as fixed cameras that can also look around. For areas that have naturally limited view angles, use fixed cameras. For 180 or wider view areas, PTZ's are fantastic. Andy's 2mp starlight PTZ's are tough to beat. The only thing I am doing is a gradual change to 4MP Starlight PTZ's. Those are finally getting the light sensitivity needed for LPR and general night duty.