PTZ-friendly teleprompter?

P

pmcdonald

Active member
Hi all,

Does anyone have a recommendation or experience with a teleprompter that can accomodate a PTZ camera? They tend to be more enclosed boxes rather than have cloth covers. I'm looking at the model below.

https://www.globalmediapro.com/dp/A2LSV2/VideoSolutions-VSS-21PTZ-Teleprompter-for-PTZ-Cameras/

There's also these: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?ntt=PTZ&refineSearchString=&ci=2122&N=4028759394.

Unfortunately user reviews are very light on for these specific types of teleprompters. It'll be paired with a Panasonic AW-UE150.

Cheers
 
I use PTZ cameras and teleprompters but not together. You would only be able to pan only ever so slightly with a PTZ camera inside a teleprompter for obvious reasons. I have the OneTakeOnly unit but haven't used it in years (like iPad 2 era). Judging from the pics of it, it looks like it hasn't changed much. The machined rails bits are very crude. They work but fasteners jam up against the unit when cranking the fasterners down; no rachet mechanism inside the fasteners like Zacuto and Wooden Camera have. With iPads changing sizes, it becomes a difficult proposition to secure in your iPad (depending on size). Not sure of the state of Teleprompter software for the iPad and the iPhone. It is pretty inexpensive though. Frankly, if I had to use a Teleprompter on a shoot or studio setup with PTZ cameras, I would NOT put the prompter on a PTZ camera. It would be on a fixed camera. Trying to put too much funtionality into a camera station with both PTZ and a prompter. You want the talent looking straight onto the prompter, not at an angle. But if you are new to prompters, this model is so cheap in the scheme of things would allow you to get a handle on the limitations of prompters and how to work within those limitations.
 
Thank you very much for your thoughts and suggestions, Andrew.

For context I'm attempting to build a remote operated piece to camera studio on a very tight budget. We'll direct and record the sessions from a location 100 km away, hence the PTZ path. I've explored more traditional video cameras (ie. BM Micro Studio 4k) on remote pan tilt heads but the head cost is just too prohibitive and hard to come by. Plus the remote controllable lens choices are compromised. The pan, tilt and zoom is intended for minor framing corrections allowing for different presenter heights, rather than radically off-axis reframing, so I'm really just after a little pan and tilt wiggle room.

I'm also exploring ways to mount the PTZ and teleprompter to a LCD stand with electronic lift to get eyeline as close as possible.

I have some experience with teleprompters, mainly cheaper tablet-based models. However, given the remote requirement I'm just focusing on models with inbuilt screens rather than tablets as we'll need remote control over the machine feeding the prompter.

I'm guessing this all might be a bit niche, but would love to hear experiences and learnings if anyone else has attempted to put together something similar!
 
At my work we use PTZ's with teleprompters fairly reguarly for exactly what you're talking about.

We are bringing the PTZ's into a tricaster via NDI and use the prompters for text, video return, slides, etc.

We're using the Panasonic AW-UE70.

We have pretty standard Prompter People teleprompters:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...LEX_D_17_FLEX_D_17_Flex_17.html?fromDisList=y

We use PTZs and c300 mkI's, so went with a traditional teleprompter form.

The PTZ works fine in it, although you do have to zoom in to not get the prompter edges in the shot.

You can't shoot at the widest setting of the PTZ cameras, but once zoomed in, you can reframe and reposition pretty well from my experience.
 
I did a shoot for Sony several years ago at a TV station that is a “Sony Shop”. Their studio is 100% PTZ(on-air product looks horrible). They had a few real prompters, but also a lot of the set-ups were just panels above the cameras. If the distance from subject is sufficient, this type of set-up works fine. We used to do similar set-ups in the field shooting ENG for one of the networks, years ago. I had a bracket that held an iPad and we put it right above the lens(as close as physically possible) and at 5’-7’ the eye-line was close enough that it looked like the reporter was looking into the lens.
 
Only thing you can do is get the lightest prompter rigs possible and clamp them to the rotating part of the PTZ. You will probably want a counter weight on the back and you may burn out the motors more often. Size is going to be a real issue, how small can your talent read? The local station that has PTZ in their studio use big broadcast level automation, and the prompter attaches to the camera sled just like you would think. Then it gets pan and tilt from the head.

You can be lighter by not using a mirror, the prompter monitor will need to be offset from the lens, but it would save a lot of weight. Often this will be below the lens on most of the systems I've seen like this. Sorry, no specific parts and pieces that I can recommend. Check PrompterPeople and see what they offer. I'd suggest Autocue, but they have been difficult to contact since the Vitec takeover.
 
Thank you all for the suggestions, they have sent my brain running in some fresh areas that should simplify this design significantly.

homestar_kevin said:
We're using the Panasonic AW-UE70.
Click to expand...

How do you find the AW-UE70's? The room currently has a fixed Canon XA-30 in place, so pretty much anything is going to look better than that. I've been designing around the AW-UE150 but if I could save the money and install two UE70's then that would solve a few issues. We're having a professional lighting grid installed so it shouldn't be too murky.


Run&Gun said:
I did a shoot for Sony several years ago at a TV station that is a “Sony Shop”. Their studio is 100% PTZ(on-air product looks horrible). They had a few real prompters, but also a lot of the set-ups were just panels above the cameras. If the distance from subject is sufficient, this type of set-up works fine. We used to do similar set-ups in the field shooting ENG for one of the networks, years ago. I had a bracket that held an iPad and we put it right above the lens(as close as physically possible) and at 5’-7’ the eye-line was close enough that it looked like the reporter was looking into the lens.
Click to expand...

That could be a solve, thanks. I'll run a few tests in our studio this afternoon.
 
I think they look pretty great when you have good lighting.

They are definitely still small sensor cameras, but the zoom range is nice and they're very responsive.

They have their place and the panasonic software/web interface is nice although with a lot of menus/submenus.
 
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