Cheap Auto-Tracking PTZ That Works!

The AVKANS PTZ camera is already a great value. Now for a few more dollars you can get one with “AI Auto-Tracking”.
PLEASE use these links to support this channel:
Auto-Tracking PTZ: amzn.to/432Jzb7
PTZ Controller: amzn.to/3Kfmaun
Is it possible to get auto-tracking for only $699? As it turns out, yes! I test the camera at the extremes, and it comes through as pretty capable.
Previous AVKANS in-depth review: • Best Cheap PTZ - AVKAN...

[@garyl2000]

Thanks for the review! I have been looking at this camera the last few weeks and going back and forth with the seller with some questions, but your review cleared up many of them. I asked them the 2 questions that Mike G below also wanted to know - 1) How do you override the auto-tracking and not have it fight 2) what happens when you have 2 or more people enter the tracking area? - What the seller told me was 1) You can program a function key on your joystick (if you have one) with VISCA commands to turn OFF and ON tracking. and for the 2nd question, they did not have a good answer but after reading lots of comments, what most people have found is that when > 1 person is in the tracking frame it follows the moving person. So if someone goes and sits down for instance, seems that it would follow them until they are out of the frame then get lost or confused. So MAYBE from what you have shown the camera would then go back to preset 0 where it is looking for what to track? - maybe you can comment or test that out to see if that's the best solution/option for these scenarios. Thanks again!!!

[@patthesoundguy]

That audio isn't bad no need to apologize 😎 Something that will help when you need to use your backup audio is the new Adobe Podcast. You dump that audio into it and it will use AI to make it sound like you used a studio mic. It will blow your mind. I find this video very interesting, because the PTZ cameras I use supposedly have that auto tracking feature but I haven't tried to use the software that makes it work.

[@extramedium3920]

Pretty impressive that this is internal autotracking. I was just looking at the Birddog offerings and even though the quality looks great, I am kind of surprised that the autotracking is only available via their Camera Control application which only works on windows.

[@MikeGrayeb]

Very clear and helpful video; thanks. Do you have to disable the AI tracking in order to control the camera (NDI version) manually? If yes, how easy is it to turn off the AI tracking? Otherwise, the AI and manual control would "compete" with each other, yes? Also, how difficult is it to change which person the camera focuses on, on-the-fly? So for example in a conference, where different presenters are presenting over the course of the meeting, or where more than one person walks into the designated tracking area in the room. Thank you.

[@ephesuscoc]

I just purchased one of these for our church live stream, and your video helped greatly in my choosing this one. The camera works great, except I can't get auto tracking to lock on to its subject. The camera just moves around and zooms in and out. Our camera is mounted a comparable distance to the distance you demonstrated in this video, and the lighting is adequate. Would you share how you tweaked the settings to get it to work in a larger auditorium? I've tried everything I can think of.

[@ephesuscoc]

Answering my own question here, but I contacted AVKANS tech support and they did a remote session to help set up the camera. I was using the latest firmware, which apparently is buggy. She rolled the camera back from 1.0.64 to 1.0.58 if I recall correctly, and it tracked with default settings. I notice in this video yours was using 1.0.53 which also worked.

[@ktraughb]

I don't think you have the correct link. The camera with ai tracking is $849.

[@_MANNATESTIMONIES]

Hi there, total newbie question. Can PTZ cameras be used to record "not on livestream"? I want to capture footage via two PTZ cameras then edit, colour grade etc in software then upload. If this is possible where does the footage get stored? Please kindly explain? Much appreciated: )

[@marcol.9125]

You can use OBS for example, it's widely used and there are many tutorials. There's a trick how you can record two cameras at once (I don't know a better way so far). If you film in 1920x1080 px for example, then resize your base resolution in OBS to 3840x1080 px (or 1920x2160 px) and place the two camera streams next to each other (just add two camera sources and move them to the right position). In the settings, you can determine the path where your footage should get stored. It's also recommended to save the record in mkv format, so if OBS crashes, the already recorded footage file still works fine. When you want to color grade, you just have to shift the footage in your program because you recorded in 3840x1080 px. So shift it 1920 px to the left/right to see only one camera at the time. You can also do some color correction inside OBS, some basic stuff and LUTs. But your PC has to be strong enough because these effects are all processed just in time.

[@avkans]

That is great review!! Thank you so much.

[@Foundery]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@RonaldKaylorPhoto]

Thank you as this was very helpful. Enjoy the videos!

[@Foundery]

Glad it was helpful!

[@mrmphis419]

Thank you for the tutorial

[@kalebbales]

They need to give you some money cuz you just sold a camera for them.