Axis Q1922-E review

Not content with delivering the world’s first thermal IP camera, Axis has taken its Q1910 back to the drawing board and 
made some major improvements. The Q1922 sees a big boost to VGA resolution – improving its detection quality and range – an increased frame rate and a choice of lenses. In this exclusive review, we examine the Q1922-E external model, which has the camera mounted in a sturdy IP66-rated housing.

The Q1922-E is available with 10mm, 19mm, 35mm and 60mm lenses. Our review sample had a 19mm lens, which provides a horizontal viewing angle of 32 degrees, and a maximum visible detection range of 580m for humans and 1,800m for vehicles. 
The 60mm lens narrows the viewing angle to ten degrees, but increases the range to 1,800m and 5,500m respectively. An uncooled microbolometer captures the infrared radiation, which eventually turns into thermal images.

The Q1910 had a top frame rate of 8.33fps, and a maximum resolution of 160 x 128 pixels. The new microbolometer in the Q1922-E has a native resolution of 640 x 480, and footage from it can be scaled to 800 x 600. This makes huge improvements to image quality, with distant objects appearing much more clearly defined. At distances of more 
than 100m, we were able to see clearly whether an object was animal or human, instead of an indistinct blob of brightness. The 30fps frame rate also made 
its presence felt, with much smoother motion.

The camera offers eight different heat-signature colour palettes to play with, and it’s easy to switch from one to another from the live view. For external viewing, we found the “fire-and- ice” palette produced the best detail, with the “night-vision” palette the least impressive.

Profiles allow you to group various settings where your MJPEG or H.264 stream can 
be combined with a resolution, frame rate and image overlay, 
and the audio stream from the camera’s internal microphone. These can be selected on the fly from the live view, and the camera supports three simultaneous streams when all are using the same colour palette.

For motion detection, you draw boxes in the viewing area and assign each one a sensitivity level. Audio, temperature, application and camera-tampering events can also be defined. When triggered, images can be sent to FTP and HTTP servers, multiple email addresses or the camera’s 
SD memory card.

Thermal cameras don’t work behind glass, so the aluminium housing uses a heated germanium window. When we reviewed the Q1910 there were concerns raised by readers about this window, but Axis confirms that it doesn’t contain radioactive material.

As you’d expect from an IP66-rated external camera – the Axis is rated to resist all ingress 
of dust, debris and water – the Q1922-E’s housing seems to be well sealed against the weather: 
its three cable holes each sport rubber glands and sealing caps. The camera is 802.11af PoE-compliant and we had no problems powering it from a standard injector and the lab’s HP ProCurve 2424-PWR switch.

The Q1922-E’s only competition comes from the Bosch VOT-320, which is equally costly, but has a much lower resolution of 320 x 240. With Axis’ Q1922-E doubling the resolution, raising 
the frame rate and bolstering its appeal with an extensive range of features, those on the search for the ultimate in thermal surveillance would do well to take a look at Axis’ class-leading Q1922-E.

Author: Dave Mitchell