Why Pan-Tilt Systems Outperform Dome Cameras in Hazardous Areas

When monitoring hazardous and industrial environments, the choice of camera technology can make the difference between reliable, long-term surveillance and costly inefficiencies. Explosion-proof Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) systems offer crucial advantages over traditional dome-form cameras.

Hazardous environments (HazLoc) — such as petrochemical plants, offshore oil platforms, and oil refineries — demand surveillance equipment built for resilience and precision. Viper’s ApEX Predator PTZ systems with explosion-proof stainless steel housings provide:

• ✅ Compliance with EX/ATEX standards — critical for safety in explosive atmospheres.
• ✅ Wide operating temperature range (-60°C to +75°C) — ensuring performance in extreme cold or heat.
• ✅ Remote cleaning (wipers & washers) — eliminating costly downtime and dangerous manual cleaning at height.
• ✅ Corrosion resistance — stainless steel construction ensures long-term durability in saltwater or chemical-heavy areas.

This makes PTZ systems the clear choice for industries where safety and uptime are critical.

While dome cameras are common in commercial environments, they face serious limitations in hazardous settings:

• 🚫 No upward view → Dome cameras can’t look above the horizon, forcing higher pole installations and increased costs.
• 🚫 No integrated cleaning → Dirt, dust, and scratches on plastic domes degrade image quality, and cleaning requires on-site lifts.
• 🚫 Limited optics → Polycarbonate domes distort images, limiting resolution to 2MP. In contrast, PTZ with crystal glass supports 4K+ clarity. (Click here to learn more about specialized windows.)
• 🚫 No IR or thermal options → Domes can’t integrate IR illuminators or thermal sensors, making them unsuitable for remote or low-light monitoring.
• 🚫 Material weakness → Dome cameras are often aluminum, which corrodes in offshore/petrochemical environments, unlike stainless steel PTZ housings.
• 🚫 Temperature restrictions → Domes typically operate only from -20°C to +50°C, excluding environments of extreme temperatures.Dome cameras are generally limited to operating temperatures between -20°C and +50°C, making them unsuitable for environments with extreme temperatures.

Dome cameras can be an excellent choice for environments like casinos and malls, where aesthetics and subtlety are key. However, when it comes to hazardous industrial settings, they’re simply not up to the task.