"How much zoom do I need?" is the most common question we get. The zoom number on the box doesn't answer it. What matters is how wide a shot the camera can take at each end of its zoom, and how far it is from the stage. This guide works that out with the field-of-view figures Tenveo publishes.

The two numbers that matter

Every PTZ camera has a widest view (zoomed all the way out) and a narrowest view (zoomed all the way in), both given as an angle. From the angle and the distance, you can work out how wide the picture is at the subject:

shot width = 2 × distance × tan(angle ÷ 2)

Two questions follow for your room:

Zoomed in: from where the camera is mounted, can it get a tight enough shot of the preacher or presenter?
Zoomed out: can it fit the whole stage in one shot?

What a good shot looks like

Camera operators describe shots by how much of the person fills the frame. For a 16:9 picture, these are roughly the widths you need at the subject:

Shot	What you see	Width at the subject
Close-up	Head and shoulders, for the sermon	about 0.7 m
Mid shot	Waist up, with gestures	about 1.4 m
Full shot	Whole person, or two people	about 2.8 m

Zoomed in: how close can you get?

Tenveo lists the narrowest view for several models, and they come out very close to each other: about 3.5° horizontally. That holds for the 30x VX30M-Ultra (3.5°) and VHD630A (3.95° diagonal, about 3.4° horizontal), and for the 20x NV620A-Ultra (4.0° diagonal, about 3.5° horizontal). The 20x model has a larger sensor, so it reaches as far with less zoom. At 3.5°, the shot width at full zoom is:

Camera to subject	Shot width at full zoom	Tightest shot you can get
10 m	0.61 m	Close-up
15 m	0.92 m	Close-up
20 m	1.22 m	Tight mid shot
25 m	1.53 m	Mid shot
30 m	1.83 m	Loose mid shot

So a camera mounted up to about 11 m away can still get a head-and-shoulders close-up, and one up to about 23 m away can get a waist-up mid shot. For most South African churches, school halls and conference rooms, any of these models reaches far enough.

Zoomed out: will the whole stage fit?

This is where cameras differ more, and where mounting a camera too close causes problems. The widest views are about 59–60° horizontally for the X60, VX30M-Ultra and NV620A-Ultra, and about 65° for the VHD630A and the NVMAX630AN. The minimum distance to fit a stage of a given width is:

Stage width	About 60° cameras	About 65° cameras
6 m	5.2 m	4.7 m
8 m	7.0 m	6.3 m
10 m	8.7 m	7.8 m
12 m	10.5 m	9.4 m
15 m	13.1 m	11.8 m

If your only camera position is close to a wide stage, choose a model with a wider view, or add a second camera for the wide shot.

How to measure your room

Choose where the camera can go: a back wall, a balcony front or a column. It needs power or a network cable, and a clear line of sight over standing people.
Measure from that point to where the preacher usually stands. A laser measure or a free phone app is accurate enough.
Measure the width of the stage or platform you want in the wide shot.
Check both tables above, or send us the two measurements and we'll check them against the camera you're considering.

Other things to weigh up

Resolution: a 4K camera sent out at 1080p still looks sharp when you crop in slightly in your software.
Lighting: the more a camera zooms in, the less light reaches the sensor. Dim sanctuaries benefit from the larger 1/1.8" sensors in the 4K60 models.
Height: mount the camera a little above head height, so it looks over the congregation without looking steeply down on the preacher.

Figures are calculated from Tenveo's published field-of-view specifications and rounded. Shot widths are for a 16:9 picture. Treat them as a planning guide and check on site.