CCU & remote control buyers guide
Camera Control Units and remote controllers are common across many workflows. Whether it be a simple start/stop function for recording are an advanced colour shading and racks engineer control panel, these devices can give you greater control and save you time.
LANC
LANC (Logic Application Control Bus System or Local Application Control Bus System) is a protocol developer and introduced by Sony that allows you to control the basic functions of your camera without needing to touch the camera menus.
Many camera manufacturers have adopted LANC as a standard and as such there is a wide variety of controls each offering easy camera control.
The basic functions of LANC include recording start/stop, focus and zoom. It’s worth noting that not all cameras support every possible function of the LANC protocol and that for zoom and focus to function your lens needs to support automatic functions. Manual lenses will not develop a life of their own by connecting a LANC controller!
CCU
CCU devices are most common in broadcast and studio workflows. The main concept behind CCU panels is for an operator or racks engineer to be able to line up all of the cameras in a multi camera environment. CCU panels offer far more control than protocols like LANC, allowing you to control the iris, white balance, shutter, ISO and colour of the camera.
Often used in combination with test equipment like a waveform scope display and a calibrated referenced monitor, an operator will correct or “shade” the first camera against a test chart to ensure that things like the black level and white balance are correct. They will then line up the rest of the cameras with the first.
It’s worth noting that each camera manufacturer tends to use a proprietary protocol and as such you need the corresponding CCU hardware that supports this specific protocol.
Often you can save settings on a CCU allowing you to have different setups for different times of day or different programmes.
PTZ
The main attraction of PTZ cameras is their remote control functionality. The ability to control every aspect of the camera as well as control how it moves and zooms make these unbeatable when it comes to remote camera technology.
PTZ control surfaces tend to support multiple cameras and feature a joystick for the pan, tilt and zoom functions.
PTZ controllers also allow you to save states for cameras allowing for quick recall of any settings.
The best camera control units
There you have it, everything you need to know when choosing a camera control unit. We hope you've found this buyers guide helpful. Don't hesitate to contact one of our friendly advisors for more advice if you still have questions on how to select the perfect camera control unit. If you’re all set to go we recommend checking out the camera control units from these top brands.
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