How to integrate PTZ functionality with the AXIS Q1805-LE camera using the VAPIX API

[vivekatoffice]

We are currently integrating PTZ functionality with the AXIS Q1805-LE camera using the VAPIX API. While testing the following PTZ endpoint:

http://<camera-ip>/axis-cgi/com/ptz.cgi?query=position

We are encountering an unexpected issue where the HTTP request completes with status 200 OK, but the response body is empty, like this:

bash
({}, b'')
As a result, the following line in our Python code throws a ValueError:

Relevant Code Snippet

content = http.request("http://" + url + "/axis-cgi/com/ptz.cgi?query=position")
result = str(content[1], 'UTF-8')  # result = ''
splitData = result.split('\r')    # ['']
zoomString = splitData[0]         # ''
new_str = zoomString.replace('zoom=', '')  # ''
zoomStringToNumber = int(new_str)          # <-- Error
Error Traceback
ValueError: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''

To diagnose this further, we ran the following curl command with digest authentication:

curl.exe --digest -u root:pass123 "http://192.168.2.60/axis-cgi/com/ptz.cgi?info=1&camera=1" -v

Response Output

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/plain
Content-Length: 22

Error:

PTZ disabled

This confirms that PTZ is currently disabled on the AXIS Q1805-LE, which explains why the query=position call returns an empty result.

We understand that the AXIS Q1805-LE supports PTZ, and would greatly appreciate your assistance in the following:

1. What steps are required to enable PTZ functionality on this model?

2. Is this restriction due to a default setting, firmware configuration, or license-based limitation?

3. Can PTZ be enabled via the camera’s web interface, or is an API call or firmware update necessary?

This is a production environment so timely assistance would be appreciated. Please let us know if you need further technical information or logs.

[github-actions[bot]]

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[vivekatoffice]

Please enable the PTZ for View areas as this camera only supports Digital Zoom: PTZ without moving parts. PTZ "movements" are done by dynamically changing crop section on the image sensor.

I have used AXIS Q1805-LE Bullet Camera (AXIS OS version 12.4.59)

Output:

[vivekatoffice]

Feel free to re-open it OR share the solution/alternative/comment if already resolved👁️‍🗨️