Need help deciding on a camera for a walkway

M

msadrienne

n3wb
Jan 8, 2022
6
1
90731
Hello everyone I have a question about an effective camera for monitoring this walkway. I included a picture for reference for distance. The cameras I'm choosing seem to struggle with registering activity in the area that I circled. I'm looking for.

1. Software that can distinguish between a person, animal or car. Something similar to Arlo's interface.
2. High sensitivity
3. Something that can pick up all of the activity in the walkway. The cameras pick up what's closest but struggle with the second set of stairs. Please see picture, I circled the section I want it to be able to pick up.
4. Camera that uses an SD card as the storage. Don't want to have to pay for cloud fees.

I have a feit camera that I love but the interface makes it impossible to check. It would be my backup camera since it continuously records.

Any suggestions would be extremely helpful!
 

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msadrienne said:
Hello everyone I have a question about an effective camera for monitoring this walkway. I included a picture for reference for distance. The cameras I'm choosing seem to struggle with registering activity in the area that I circled. I'm looking for.

1. Software that can distinguish between a person, animal or car. Something similar to Arlo's interface.
2. High sensitivity
3. Something that can pick up all of the activity in the walkway. The cameras pick up what's closest but struggle with the second set of stairs. Please see picture, I circled the section I want it to be able to pick up.
4. Camera that uses an SD card as the storage. Don't want to have to pay for cloud fees.

I have a feit camera that I love but the interface makes it impossible to check. It would be my backup camera since it continuously records.

Any suggestions would be extremely helpful!
Click to expand...

Welcome @msadrienne

Why not Arlo if you want similar to Arlo?

The truth is, if you want cloud AI compute - it will probably cost you, otherwise you need a better compute on a local machine .. and that would cost more for the base product.
 
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Based on what you are showing and what you want to accomplish, you need more than one camera. One to capture the walkway by the street and another to capture your steps.

One camera cannot be the be all, see all. Each one is selected for covering a specific area. Most of us here have different brands and types, from fixed cams, to varifocals, to PTZs, each one selected for it's primary purpose and to utilize the strength of that particular camera.

So you will need to identify the distance the camera would be from the activities you want to IDENTIFY on and purchase the correct camera for that distance as an optical zoom.

If you want to see things far away, you need optical zoom, digital zoom only works in the movies and TV...And the optical zoom is done real time - for a varifocal it is a set it and forget it. You cannot go to recorded video and optically zoom in later, at that point it is digital zoom, and the sensors on these cameras are so small which is why digital zoom doesn't work very well after the fact.

If you are satisfied with Arlo and Feit "plug-n-play" quality (albeit poor compared to better cameras), then you are better off staying with the consumer grade cameras...
 
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Because Arlo's system is expensive after the trial and there's no SD card option. They have a hard drive but the reviews are terrible for that option. It's either cloud or nothing.

Also Arlo doesn't pick up the red circle in the picture.

mat200 said:
Welcome @msadrienne

Why not Arlo if you want similar to Arlo?

The truth is, if you want cloud AI compute - it will probably cost you, otherwise you need a better compute on a local machine .. and that would cost more for the base product.
Click to expand...
 
Do you have a consumer brand to recommend? I would definitely not mind a second camera I would just need the software to identify between humans and cars and have an SD card option.

wittaj said:
Based on what you are showing and what you want to accomplish, you need more than one camera. One to capture the walkway by the street and another to capture your steps.

One camera cannot be the be all, see all. Each one is selected for covering a specific area. Most of us here have different brands and types, from fixed cams, to varifocals, to PTZs, each one selected for it's primary purpose and to utilize the strength of that particular camera.

So you will need to identify the distance the camera would be from the activities you want to IDENTIFY on and purchase the correct camera for that distance as an optical zoom.

If you want to see things far away, you need optical zoom, digital zoom only works in the movies and TV...And the optical zoom is done real time - for a varifocal it is a set it and forget it. You cannot go to recorded video and optically zoom in later, at that point it is digital zoom, and the sensors on these cameras are so small which is why digital zoom doesn't work very well after the fact.

If you are satisfied with Arlo and Feit "plug-n-play" quality (albeit poor compared to better cameras), then you are better off staying with the consumer grade cameras...
Click to expand...
 
msadrienne said:
Do you have a consumer brand to recommend? I would definitely not mind a second camera I would just need the software to identify between humans and cars and have an SD card option.
Click to expand...
msadrienne said:
Because Arlo's system is expensive after the trial and there's no SD card option. They have a hard drive but the reviews are terrible for that option. It's either cloud or nothing.

Also Arlo doesn't pick up the red circle in the picture.
Click to expand...

Hi @msadrienne

Most likely the solution you are imagining is not a easy just buy "this consumer" product ..

What you are looking for will take you more time to learn more about the options available.

" .. Because Arlo's system is expensive .. " - msadrienne

What is considered expensive? ( how much per camera, or total )
 
The software interface is the most important for me, because of the alley it's imperative for me to know which alerts are other traffic like cars and which are the people on the walkway.

When I say expensive I just mean no monthly cloud membership. I don't mind paying I would just not like to. I like that Feit can allow me to just purchase the camera but access the sd card. There's no additional cost. But I wouldn't mind a monthly if it can pick up more human activity than the Arlo camera.

mat200 said:
Hi @msadrienne

Most likely the solution you are imagining is not a easy just buy "this consumer" product ..

What you are looking for will take you more time to learn more about the options available.

" .. Because Arlo's system is expensive .. " - msadrienne

What is considered expensive? ( how much per camera, or total )
Click to expand...
 
msadrienne said:
The software interface is the most important for me, because of the alley it's imperative for me to know which alerts are other traffic like cars and which are the people on the walkway.

When I say expensive I just mean no monthly cloud membership. I don't mind paying I would just not like to. I like that Feit can allow me to just purchase the camera but access the sd card. There's no additional cost. But I wouldn't mind a monthly if it can pick up more human activity than the Arlo camera.
Click to expand...

HI @msadrienne

Do you own the building? The unit? or are just a renter?
 
msadrienne said:
Own
Click to expand...

Hi @msadrienne

Most of the members here have gone with wired IP PoE cameras, as consumer grade wifi cameras did not do well for us.

I would recommend considering wired cameras and security alarm sensors.
 
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