A video conferencing system's camera is the most crucial component since it allows distant participants to view everyone in the room. The appropriate camera at the optimum height, distance, and viewing angle can make a big difference in your meeting.

It can be difficult to choose the proper professional conference camera for your meeting space. There are numerous factors to consider before making such a purchase, and it is critical that you do not make a hasty decision. We've prepared 8 recommendations on how to choose the best conference camera for your needs to help you make an informed decision.

What is the size of your meeting room?

What camera you should utilize will be determined by the size of your meeting room. PTZ cameras for large rooms (Medium Room, Large Room, Board Room) or fixed lens cameras for smaller spaces are your best bets (Huddle Room). With their wide, clear vision, PTZ cameras can give you a grasp over the room, so choosing the right optical zoom range is crucial.

How many people are going to be there? (Lens with a Wide Angle)

This is an additional significant issue to consider. If there are more people in the room during the video conference, you should consider using a camera with a wide field of view because it will allow everyone to see each other and what's going on while preserving good quality for everyone. Consider employing a wide-angle lens camera if you need to include a large number of people in a small space.

If there are few individuals present, you may not need as large of a FOV or resolution to gain greater audio clarity from those who speak out most often.

Do you want to be able to pan, rotate, and zoom your camera?

If you want remote participants to see all angles of your conference room, a PTZ camera with the ability to pan 360 degrees, tilt up/down, and zoom in/out will work best.

Fixed lens cameras can't accomplish this because they can only employ digital zoom, which isn't as good (and blurry) in a large meeting room; however, a 4K lens camera would be a viable solution for a small meeting room.

Fixed lenses and PTZ capabilities are available in all-in-one conference cameras, which also incorporate a microphone and speaker to decrease installation time. This could be a great alternative for compact spaces.

What is an Auto Tracking Camera, and how does it work?

The Auto-Tracking Camera can pan right and left, zoom in and out, rotate, and move up and down. It adjusts its orientation on its own, allowing anyone who needs to see into a certain location to do so without difficulty. A dedicated operator must be able to roam around the meeting room and maintain focus on certain portions in a typical meeting space without an auto-tracking camera. Auto-tracking cameras have recently acquired popularity in conference rooms as a result of this.

Auto-tracking technology is divided into three categories: auto-framing, auto-tracking, and auto zooming.

Auto-Framing: This adjusts the field of view to keep the focus on a specific person's face who speaks up frequently or has recently spoken; this is important in large meeting places with a lot of people who need to see each other.

Auto-tracking camera technology: a camera that can move and track on its own. This implies that if you want to watch what's going on in another part of the room, the camera will go there without you having to do anything. For conferencing cameras, there are three sorts of tracking methods: infrared, camera-based, and AI-based. IR tracking systems use sensors to determine a presenter's location and orientation. The input from the image, either in the form of movement or people shape analysis, is used in camera-based approaches to meeting room cameras. Some companies are employing artificial intelligence (AI) tools to better follow speakers, with the capacity to adjust for diverse locales or complex backgrounds.

Auto Zooming: uses tracking camera(s) to follow a single individual indefinitely, keeping that person's face in the center of the frame. When distant participants want to view what you're doing or what other people at your meeting are up to, this can be useful.

With the camera, what kind of video conferencing system are you going to use?

Consider the video conferencing solution that will be used with the meeting room camera when making your selection. Look for a visual interface, such as an HDMI input or an HD-SDI output, in hardware-based conference systems.

If you're using a cloud-based video conferencing solution like Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, BlueJeans, or Zoom, you'll want to be sure the camera has USB capability.

What is the proper angle and height for the camera installation?

It's recommended to situate a camera at eye level when using it in a conference room scenario. For face-to-face collaboration, this is the most natural position. If the camera is positioned too high or too low in relation to the attendees, the meeting's performance may suffer. Choose a motorized pan-tilt camera (PTZ camera) to alter the viewing angle when you can't set the camera at eye level.