The Increasingly Sophisticated Features of PTZ Cameras Have "Church" Written All Over Them

Today's rapidly changing production environment, while challenging for church techs, has given manufacturers the impetus to evolve and innovate. Nowhere is the evidence more apparent than in the world of pan-tilt-zoom cameras.

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When it comes to pan/tilt/zoom (PTZ) cameras, features like remote control, IP connectivity, streaming support, and auto-tracking are critical for church use. Camera manufacturers are keenly aware of this, and offer a number of solutions that may as well have house of worship in the model number. And post-2020, the innovation continues at lightning speed.

One recent example is Canon USA's new line of 4K UHD PTZ cameras, the CR-N500 and CR-N300 for indoor live-streaming and the outdoor CR-X500. While the new line capitalizes on the company's digital imaging expertise, there's a stand-out component that's reported to be a first ever for PTZ cameras—the delivery of cinematic-level imagery. Utilizing a 15x optical zoom 4K UHD lens and a 1.0-inch CMOS sensor, the new Canon offerings are designed to deliver a shallow depth-of-field and beautifully blurred backgrounds.

Upon hearing this news, Church Production went in search of additional new developments in the world of PTZ cameras, asking leaders in design and manufacturing for their latest take. Here's what they had to report.

Background and advances

“Before PTZ cameras existed you always needed a camera operator to control the camera, zoom, and follow the pastor or whomever,” says Stephen Heywood, broadcast engineer at PTZOptics, a robotics pan, tilt, and zoom camera solutions developer headquartered in Downingtown, Pennsylvania. “That took a lot of volunteers and it was a very high expense––and with needing to train that many volunteers, a lot of churches just stuck with one camera.” He observes IP functionality reduces the need for personnel and the cost of the cameras themselves has decreased, driving churches to invest in multiple units. “It gives operators the ability to control them from their phone or with a joystick, and one person can now do the same thing as four or five camera operators would [in the past].”

Heywood notes that at his own church––which he says recruits of its camera operator volunteers from its youth ministry––the IP functionality on PTZ cameras allows for more senior techs to take control in the event of a mishap. “If they’re controlling the joystick, we can override their shots from our phones if we’re down in the sanctuary listening to the message,” he describes. “We can adjust that camera remotely and get it back on track without being in the booth, and without disturbing anybody.”

HuddleCamHD, PTZOptics’ sister company, offers the SimplTrack 2, an auto-tracking PTZ camera. Heywood notes that this is a popular product among churches whose pastors and worship leaders move around a lot on the platform. “That tracking cameras keeps the shot of the speaker centered at all times, [and] as they’re moving you can adjust the speed,” he explains. Users can crop the image so that they’re capturing a head-and-shoulders shot, and then configure set points within the tracking zone to prevent other people, or even LED wall backdrops, from triggering the auto-tracking function and compromising the shot.

Within Sony’s portfolio are the BRC and SRG PTZ camera families, both of which are popular among churches, relays Andrew Buttress, product manager at the company. He says that Sony BRC cameras are generally adopted by larger churches wishing to supplement their high-end manned camera configuration with additional shots, while the mid-tier SRG models are commonly used for streaming or image magnification (IMAG), or in satellite campuses where higher end cameras aren’t necessarily required. At Buttress’ church, Sony’s SRG PTZ cameras are used to feed large-screen televisions situated in overflow rooms.

Buttress concedes that Sony’s PTZ cameras cannot outmatch some of the more sophisticated products in the manufacturer’s camera line-up––which are outfitted with higher quality lensing––but that they can play an important role in delivering interesting angles. “It could be as simple as the camera being mounted above the drum set and they want to show that overhead shot,” he illustrates. “It could just be that they want different angles, and at certain positions they can’t put a manned camera on a tripod because it would be too obtrusive. [These are situations] where they will put these PTZ cameras into that mix.”

Camera capabilities

Craig Harper, national manager at Sony Faith, notes that it’s important for church techs to understand the difference between studio-grade cameras and PTZs, and what each is capable of achieving. “Having the right expectation about a PTZ going into it is a good thing,” he says. It’s not realistic, he says, to expect a PTZ camera to perform like a studio camera due to a number of elements, including lensing. Nor, in most cases, will it be capable of capturing precise shots––like, say, a pan of the guitarist that concludes with a shot of his hands––when positioned at the back of the room. Instead, church techs can get the best performance out of their PTZs when they leverage their intended use.

“I work with one church that has its PTZ camera mounted under an overhang on the side of the sanctuary," Harper notes, "and they use it to do slow pans of the worship center during the church service. It’s a gorgeous shot, and it fits perfectly.”

Circling back to Canon's new series of 4K UHD PTZ cameras, comprised of the CR-N500 and CR-N300 for live streaming indoors and the outdoor IP55-rated weather resistant model, the CR-X500, all feature a DIGIC DV6 Image Processor. The indoor cameras support HDMI, IP, and 3G-SDI, and are compatible with a number of protocols, including NDI HX and RTMP. (The outdoor CR-X500 supports 12G-SDI.) Canon representatives report that the 15x optical zoom covers a 35mm equivalent focal range of 25.5-382.5mm, and the camera is capable of a variable pan and tilt speed from 0.1 - 100 degrees per second to support smooth on-air movement or fast preset transitions.

In addition, Canon included an independent, built-in three-density ND filter and nine-bladed iris to create natural bokeh effects, with diffused, diffracted light. The CR-N500 features Dual Pixel CMOS AF with dual pixel focus guide, as well as face detection and tracking. The CR-N500 also supports Canon Log 3 for color grading and wide dynamic range gamma of 800%, along with image quality mode and adjustment functions to enhance an operator’s image customization capabilities from capture to post-production. Alongside the new cameras, Canon introduced a RC-IP100 camera remote controller. All are scheduled to be available in the Summer of 2021.

Still another new entry is JVC Professional Video's recently released new PTZ Remote Camera models, including the 4K KY-PZ400NW/NB and HD KY-PZ200NW/NB, featuring NDI HX and SRT streaming capabilities, H.265/H.264/MJPEG encoding, and VITC (Vertical Interval Timecode) multi-camera synchonization. “With integrated NDI HX technology from Vizrt Group, the JVC PTZ cameras now offer a high-quality, low-latency IP video transmission standard that is ideal for streaming in an ever-evolving media landscape,” says Joe D’Amico, vice president, JVC Professional Video. A third model, the HD KY-PZ200W/B, is intended for users with lower budgets, and does not feature NDI HX.

At Panasonic, Jim Jensen, senior category owner for PTZ and remote systems, says that the manufacturer’s AW-UE100 4K NDI Professional Streaming PTZ Camera, and the AW-UE150 4K 60p Professional PTZ Camera, are popular with churches for several important reasons. “The UE150 has done extremely well in applications that call for the greatest flexibility, with a strong zoom and viewing angle of 75.1 degrees, RTMPS streaming, and NDI support,” he highlights. “The house of worship market has really gravitated towards those features.” He adds that both camera models support the SRT (Secure Reliable Transport) protocol, which is a help to churches whose network connectivity is unstable.

Regardless of which solutions churches may seek, Jensen urges them to contact their vendor partners prior to making a final purchasing decision. “Everyone’s auditorium or sanctuary is different, and the dynamics of each room is different,” he says. “We like to have a conversation so that we can understand, exactly, the application, and based on that conversation we would direct them to the PTZ that would most fit. That’s critical, because purchasing anything that doesn’t fit your application is not being a good steward of money. You want to make the most prudent decision.”