Camera for view of stage

[Chrishaynor]

Hi All

 

We currently have a camera at FOH position feeding a monitor at prompt position.

 

Really we want to upgrade this but not really sure what to go for.

At the moment it’s a very old broadcast style camera someone donated many many years ago.

 

We did trial a quite nice security style camera before that would switch to infrared automatically, but it took 8 seconds to switch to and from normal and infra.

 

Just wondering what others use for this. Any models / brands or types of camera to look at.

A nice high quality image, preferably auto switching to infrared. Would probably need to send over analogue cable ideally, but can look at other options.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Jivemaster]

Only analog is instant, some digital formats are faster than others and may have acceptable latency or may not.

[david.elsbury]

Some cameras have the option to use contact closure to enable IR mode- I’ve heard of some theatres using DMX relays to enable the IR mode from the LX console

[abbotsmike]

If some delay is acceptable, there are CCTV cameras on the market that wouldn't need to switch to IR mode in anything but a total blackout....

[alistermorton]

We do that, David. DMX relay switches 12v input so we can instantly flip into ir. Our system is hikvision I think.

[J Pearce]

Another option used by some is to have one camera fixed IR and one camer fixed non IR. It works well, but you do need 2 screens for the SM position.

[Shez]

Does the SM really NEED colour? Set the camera to permanent night mode if not. One of my venues does that without issues.

[alistermorton]

We tried that, but on permanent night mode (on our camera, at least) it would burn out when the lights came up and take several seconds to adjust - kind of the reverse of trying to use it in auto IR mode. For times when it matters we've found DMX control of the IR mode works really well.

[ojc123]

Not all cctv cameras take that long to swap. We use a cheap one from cpc which swaps in a lot less than eight seconds. We have eight of them covering the stage, wings and FoH areas. They're adequate for our purposes.

 

Whether the image is good enough for your purposes, I can't say. However, it may be worth investigating some other CCTV cameras before ruling them out altogether.

[Shez]

Indeed - there are good and bad cctv cameras. The ones that can output the various analogue HD formats may fare better, even when just set to CVBS. The last one I installed was set to night mode, not permanent IR - perhaps a subtle difference. Either way, exposure always reacts as fast as a normal camera does in daylight.

[TomHoward]

Our one we disabled the IR switching as it was getting stuck in it and didn't aways recover for a dark scene. It's mainly used for cast relay monitors backstage rather than SM / operating so not seeing in the blackouts was less of an issue than it getting stuck whited out.

It was pretty easy to disable the IR switching once it was opened up, did it by removing a key component but unhelpfully I can't remember which one.

[sunray]

I repaired a setup only a few days ago which had stopped working.2 cameras, one in in permanent IR mode and the other in standard colour with fixed iris. An adapted PIR floodlight sensor just to detect the light level and a relay switched between cameras.

The coax had been chewed throug...Other than that it worked well