Shootout: 4K vs PTZ Cameras
Author: Ethan Ace, Published on Feb 19, 2015
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Comments (18)
Matt Ion
So have we reached a conclusion on how many dozen analog cameras can be replaced by one 4K camera? :o)
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Paul Grefenstette
The Flir ptz looks great day and night - I am really surprised the axis 4k didnt have a better picture, it looks aweful.
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Steve Mitchell
This is a great test. Just goes to show how far fixed has to go.
Given that most cameras are not monitored, this kind of testing just goes to show what you can expect at (say) 100', even from 4K.
Damn that FLIR DNZ30TL2R looks good.
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ling chen
Thanks you, John, for the excellent report.
are these 4K images from H.264 or from MJPEG ?
what is the FPS?
-Ling
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Keefe Lovgren
I agree, the Flir looks very impressive in this shootout as well as this one.
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Undisclosed #1
Thanks Ethan!
I would think that even the lowly Canon VGA could provide finer details than any of the 4K cameras, at all distances.* Do you agree?
I would even expect that the reigning MP King, the 29MP Avigilon, equipped with a equivalent lens to the 4K models (> 30 degrees?), would come up short against the VGA PTZ.
Just doing the simple math of (Fixed AOV/PTZ AOV) - (Fixed HorPixels/PTZ Hor Pixels). When the result > 0 the PTZ should have a greater PPF. **
Is that a good rough way to estimate whether a PTZ or fixed can resolve better?
*assuming daylight and > minimum focus distance, of course the PTZ FOV is extremely small.
**Of course there may be 'some slight loss of detail' due to the long lens.
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Horace Lasell
Wow, great report, Ethan. The pictures really tell the story.
At 4-6 ppf, stills from the fixed cameras seem pretty unusable, but what about the video? At 4-6 ppf, can you usually distinguish when something is moving "out there?" Otherwise, might you need something like SpotterRF to cue and point the PTZ before you can benefit from the PTZ's higher quality image?
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Undisclosed #1
Ethan, can you share any shots showing the entire FOV of the of the 4K images versus the entire FOV of the PTZs? That go along with what you show diagrammaticaliy with the FOV triangles up top.
I think it would be instructive to see how much overview you are really sacrificing to get similar detail, when using a PTZ.
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Pat Villerot
Great report and contains one item that is wholly unexpected:
There is a remarkable difference in these 4K cameras. I am quite disappointed in the optics on the Axis 4K vs. the Bosch 4K and even Bosch 5MP camera at the 30' mark.
Also surprising is that the Bosch 5 MP appears better than either the overly noisy Bosch 4K and slightly more blurry Axis 4K at night. None of them are particularly impressive, but there is a noticeable difference.
Were any changes made to compression to level the playing field or are they all at default?
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