NDI Cameras
NDI, if you’re not familiar, is a way to get video from one place to another via IP/Ethernet instead of SDI or HDMI with low latency and high quality (almost lossless “full” NDI, high bitrate AVC/HEVC with NDI HX3).
It’s cool because it allows for a single cable for power, video and remote control and can run over long lengths (100m) using commodity gear. It also means you can use something like vMix or OBS without any additional ingest/mixing hardware, which can be quite expensive for multiple cameras. Computers can be added to the mix without any hardware too, simply install an NDI capture app on it and whatever is on screen is sent over the network. Incredibly flexible and easy!
The main thing I’m not a fan of with NDI is that you’ve got compressed video out of the camera going to a streaming platform or local recording, where it will be compressed again. I kinda wish they’d adopt a proper lossless video codec. I’m also unsure on the long term status of NDI when SMPTE 2110 is gaining prominence.
Smartphones
Get a couple of cheap refurb Android phones with decent cameras, some smartphone tripod mounts off Amazon, plug in a USB-C Ethernet dongle with power pass-thru, install an NDI app and off you go.
I personally like the Samsung S10e as you can get them for ~$260 refurbished and they do 4K 60fps video and have USB-C for an ethernet dongle. Not many smartphones out there with 4K 60fps video cameras for that kinda money!
I have a spare Samsung Note 10 with a cracked screen and a gigabit USB-C dongle, so tried out a few NDI apps to see what they’re like.
NDI HX camera and NDI Camera Pro are the two main ones on Android and while they work, they leave a lot to be desired. Both lack decent camera controls (AE/AF lock, white balance, ISO, etc.) and while NDI Camera Pro lets me select 1080p60 output (NDI HX doesn’t), it drops frames and the phone gets super hot, leading me to believe it’s not using hardware acceleration as there’s plenty of bandwidth (gigabit ethernet all around).
I did a bit of testing on iOS too as I have an iPhone 13 Pro. NDICam is nice in that it lets me send full NDI or NDI HX3 at multiple bitrates (even Ultra), but it’s capped at 30fps 1080p and also lacks decent camera controls. It’s probably the best app of the lot but it’s still not ticking all the boxes. I wish an app like Blackmagic Camera or Filmic Pro let you stream to NDI!
All up my impression with using a smartphone is that it works and is cheap, but the lack of camera controls really makes life difficult. I can’t lock in a shutter speed, iris and ISO and can’t lock a face to focus on like on a camcorder. Quality wise, it’s a step up from a webcam, but not a good as an APS-C/MFT sensor with a proper lens.
Pros:
- Small & light, unobtrusive
- Excellent autofocus
- As good quality as any other sub-1" sensor camera
- Hardware 4K 60fps capable
- Cheap (~$1000 all up with Android)
- No need for capture hardware or video mixers
Cons:
- Lack of camera controls in various NDI camera apps
- Can’t stream 4K or 1080p60 reliably from any smartphone apps
- Can’t local record on device and live stream via NDI at the same time
- Quality not as good as larger sensor & lens setups
PTZ cameras
These are cameras that let you plug in a single ethernet cable to send an NDI stream and power the device over PoE. They can be remotely controlled and are “proper” cameras that have manual adjustments unlike smartphones. They’re split into two categories “box” and “PTZ” cameras. PTZ cameras can do tilt/pan and the box ones don’t. Some have zoom lenses, some have fixed lenses.
I only looked into PTZ cameras as they would be super useful for another related project and found that box cameras weren’t really much cheaper anyways.
The usual suspects like Canon, Panasonic,JVC & Sony make PTZ cameras, along with brands I’d never heard of until now like Birddog, AIDA and Marshall. I made a shortlist of cameras that have NDI HX3 (not just HX or HX2, which are kinda crappy) & PoE and 1080p60, with 4K60 thrown in for fun, just to see what the price difference is.
1080p60 options
- AIDA PTZ-NDI3-X20B (1/3" sensor, 20x zoom, 120fps) - $2,949
- Birddog P110 (1/2.86" sensor, 10x zoom, 4:2:2 12-bit, full NDI) - $2,890
- Canon CR-N100 (1/2.3" sensor, 20x zoom, 4K30, USB-C, no SDI) - $2,580
- JVC KY-PZ200N (1/2.8" sensor, 20x zoom, no SDI) - $1,750*
4K60 options
- Marshall CV730-ND3 (1/1.8" sensor, 30x zoom, full NDI) - $5,938
- Birddog P400 (1/2.5" sensor, 20x zoom, full NDI) - $6,999
- Birddog P4K (1" sensor, 12x zoom, full NDI) - $14,099
- Panasonic UE80 (1/2.5" sensor, 24x zoom, full NDI) - $8,695
- Canon CR-N700 (1" sensor, 15x zoom, dual pixel AF) - $13,450
You’re probably noticing a lack of Sony & Panasonic cameras. Well all their 1080p/4K30 PTZ cams with NDI are too expensive, all over $4,000! So I didn’t add them to the list. Also, the JVC camera is an outlier price wise. That’s because I couldn’t find an Australian seller and that price is in AUD from B&H in the USA - which is weird because all the other cameras were basically the same price as B&H locally, or not much cheaper to justify a lack of warranty.
Of all those cameras, it comes down to the Birddog P110 and Canon CR-N100. I like the Birddog because it’s Aussie and does full NDI (less compression), but the Canon has a better sensor, better autofocus and will do 4K30. I’d really need to see them both in action before plonking down the cash for 3 of them. It’s also embarassing how little demo footage there is of these cameras in various lighting situations on YouTube - particularly the Birddog P110. You make cameras, upload video from the camera!!
I found a couple of PTZ cameras on Aliexpress, like this BLFT unit (4K60, 1/1.8" sensor, NDI HX2, PoE, PTZ, 12x optical zoom) for only $1,516, but it seems too good to be true. No warranty and can’t return it if it sucks. There’s lots of church live production dudes on YouTube showing off these Aliexpress/Amazon random brand cameras that I assume the one I found is the exact same as, but hard to know for sure.
Overall, my impressions of PTZ cameras in a price-range I can afford are that that they’re very practical (1 cable setup, NDI streaming, PTZ controls), but I’m not sold on the quality. From the limited demos I’ve seen, they tend to lack sharpness and dynamic range compared to other cameras, even smartphones, which isn’t surprising considering the lens and sensor used. At this sub $5k, less than 1"-sensor part of the PTZ market, the image looks like a glorified security camera to me.
Pros:
- Single cable setup
- No need for ATEM switchers, capture cards or expensive HDMI or SDI cables
- Comes with a lens already, with a long zoom
- Full remote control of all camera settings
- Pan/tilt/zoom, also remote, handy for unmanned operation
- Great face tracking, even whole body tracking, auto framing
- Make for excellent webcams via USB
Cons:
- Expensive, at roughly $2k-$3k/camera for basic 1080p60, even more for 4K
- Niche product with limited resale value
- Lowest quality option, tiny sensors, cheap glass
Misc NDI options
There’s a couple of little boxes that let you plug in an SDI or HDMI camera and have it spit out an NDI stream over Ethernet. All the good ones (Birddog, Kilovision, Magewell) that’ll do at least 1080p60 and full NDI or NDI HX3 output seem to be in the $800-$1200 range. Aliexpress, eBay and Amzon have this suspiciously cheap streaming box for $186 that has NDI HX output that probably works fine, but I don’t know if I’d trust it in the field.
Atomos (another Aussie company!) makes great outboard recorders and have a bunch of products that support NDI, but it’s confusing as to which type of NDI they support. I think the only products that’ll do NDI HX3 and that have Ethernet are the Shogun Connect ($1600, monitor & ProRes recorder) and the Atomos Connect ($565, piggybacks onto an Atomos Ninja). Handy if you also want to record the raw camera footage to something like ProRes, but no full NI,De just HX3.
The Z CAM E2N is a little box camera that’ll do NDI HX3 output (no full NDI), takes a micro four thirds lens and can be powered over PoE. Has loads more dynamic range than any of the cameras here and can use quality glass as it’s just micro four thirds and isn’t even that expensive at around $1,900 delivered (no lens) from B&H Photo. The main problem is - who the fuck is Z CAM, no local warranty and dubious autofocus. I’d love to try one out however.
