How-to: Why am I not able to tilt my Hikvision PTZ camera upwards?

Hikvision PTZ cameras are not usually set by default to have their full range of movement enabled. This often means that cameras that are advertised as being able to tilt upwards are not able to do so straight out of the box, as this needs to be enabled in the camera's settings.

You can check the movement range available on your camera in the PTZ section of its datasheet. Below is an example of this range shown for the DS-2DE5425IW-AE (S5):

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0˚ tilt refers to the camera being in its home position, where it running parallel to the ground beneath and looking straight out at the scene.​

Any negative figure (e.g. -15˚) here refers to the angle that it can tilt to upwards of the 0˚ position.​

Any positive figure (e.g. 90˚) refers to how the angle of tilt available below this 0˚ position.​

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Cameras with "auto flip" will rotate 180˚ and then flip their image when it reaches its full 90˚ downwards tilt, which will give the illusion of you having a full 180˚ (or more) range when you try to continue to tilt beyond this 90˚ position.​

To change the movement range currently set on the PTZ, you will need to connect to the camera directly in a web browser.

NB - If your camera is directly connected to an NVR's network ports, then you will need to use the Virtual Host feature to access the camera's backend. If it is connected to your local network, then you can just browse for its IP address to do this. ​

Then, go to:

Configuration > PTZ > Basic Settings > Max. Tilt Angle​

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You should have some different options in this dropdown, depending on the maximum tilt range of your camera. If you want to enable the complete range of movement, then select the option with the largest range between the two figures (in this case, "-15 - 90˚").​

Once you have chosen an option that you're happy with, make sure to click "save" at the bottom of the page so that these changes are updated on the camera.