Specialized Cameras — PTZ, Fisheye, Thermal and ANPR

Most CCTV jobs are solved with a few standard bullet or dome cameras. The interesting ones are not. When a customer needs to cover a wide forecourt with one position, see in zero ambient light, identify a vehicle’s number plate at speed, or follow a person across an entire car park from a single mount, the answer is a specialised camera with a specific design. This module covers each of the major specialised types, what they actually do, and where they belong in a real installation.

What this module covers

The lessons cover PTZ (pan-tilt-zoom) cameras — how the optical zoom range is specified, how preset positions and tours work, how PTZ control travels over coax (UTC) or IP (Onvif Profile S); fisheye and 360-degree panoramic cameras, where one camera replaces four; thermal cameras for perimeter detection in zero light; and ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) cameras for car-park entry control and forecourt monitoring, including the typical pixel-density requirement (around 200 pixels per metre on the plate at the trigger line) and the lighting tricks (IR-cut filter management, shutter speed tied to vehicle speed) that make them work.

Who it is for

Installers asked to quote on a job that the standard catalogue does not solve, security consultants writing tender specifications, and engineers who have inherited a system with a dead PTZ and need to understand what it was meant to do.

Why it matters

Specialised cameras are usually the most expensive line item on a quote. Specifying a 4K fisheye when a fixed bullet would have done the job inflates a quote unnecessarily; specifying a fixed bullet when only a PTZ can cover the area produces a system that fails its first walk-through. Knowing what each type is genuinely good at, and the limits of each, is the difference between a profitable job and a job that comes back as a complaint.

Lessons in this module

 

This module is also available as a part of a comprehensive CCTV Installation Course for £149.