SECTECH Camera Shootout, which is sponsored by CSD and Milestone Systems, undertook commissioning over 4 days at CSD during the week, with almost all the external domes and bullets tested (Vivotek will be commissioned in Melbourne), and half the PTZs sorted out – the remaining PTZs will be tested early next week.
“Undertaking the complete commissioning process, including applying camera settings in all the planned scenarios in advance of the first event in Melbourne, will make life easier for everyone,” reported test target, Norman. “The challenges of the week really highlighted how tough integrating 36 cameras from 14 manufacturers was last year at Randwick Racecourse in Sydney.”
According to Ronnie Rotakin, this is the first year SecTech Camera Shootout has exclusively focused on the best-selling categories of fixed external domes and bullets and he says a number of the cameras stood out during the challenging commissioning process.
“The PTZ testing out at Sevo was particularly tough on me – all Norman had to do was stand there but I was head over heels from one end of the street to the other,” Ronnie said. “I thought when night fell the temperature would drop but it did not. It was hot work for all the techs and I thought they did a great job, giving each other the mutual support which is such a sweet characteristic of SecTech Roadshow. Particular thanks to Todd from CSD for his work with Milestone XProtect.”
This year, 26 cameras from Honeywell, Bosch, Hikvision, TVT, Axis, Panasonic, Dallmeier, Vivotek, Dahua and Uniview will contest 3 categories – external domes, external bullets and PTZs – the latter category is being tested over a range of 250m with the recordings to be presented in every city. We’d hoped to show a Sony bullet with integrated white light as a comparison but having tried a number of times we discovered that the way the IVA works with this camera doesn’t suit our fixed 8m application.
SecTech Camera Shootout is designed to encourage discussion about image quality parameters while viewing the leading CCTV camera brands in a generally uniform environment that challenges the cameras to respond to extreme low light and backlight conditions. It is, and always has been, broadly subjective, with installers and end users urged to consider those parameters that best apply to their own applications while viewing cameras.
There is no single lens required and there’s no uniformity of camera settings – each group of engineers is free to choose the balance of settings they think will work best across lighting conditions that demand painful compromises. There are no winners announced at SecTech Camera Shootout and no results are published.
Light levels vary in different locations between sub 1 and 2 lux – we are not in laboratory conditions and the very nature of a roadshow precludes this possibility. Regardless, installers, consultants and end users will definitely come away with a much better understanding of the way light impacts on best-selling video surveillance cameras.
SecTech opens in Melbourne on May 8, Brisbane May 10, Sydney May 15, Adelaide May 27, before finishing in Perth on May 23.
Exhibitors include CSD, Pelco, Honeywell, Video Alarm Technologies, Bosch, Dahua, ISCS, Video Security Products, Consolidated Security Merchants, C. R. Kennedy, OSA, Seadan, BGW Technologies, Q Security Systems, Mobotix, Vivotek, LSC, Hikvision and ICT.
If you want to see the Camera Shootout, you must be there on the day. Pre-register for your city here!
