Thinking of adding a camera looking down from the eave. I have one camera looking at the approaching road and would like to raise it's view so it sees a bit more distance. Wondering how well a soffit mounted camera would work. I could mount it on the end so it could see the front of the building and the side with the entrance door and only low window. I would need maybe 135 degree field of view to cover things of interest (greater than 45 degrees down both walls. Is this a reasonable plan? And specific camera suggestions? Can I get something decent (not great obviously) for $150? Other option is to mount a couple on the walls lower.
Camera recommendation to mount looking down from 14' high eave?
- Thread starter JimLS
- Start date
mat200
IPCT Contributor
- Jan 17, 2017
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Q: "Can I get something decent (not great obviously) for $150? "
A: Getting hard to do that now with the tariffs
Q: I would need maybe 135 degree field of view, mount looking down from 14' high eave?
A: not going to be very useful that high for ID purposes, overview ok .. this is what we call a bald spot camera ..
If you have not yet, consider picking up a couple of varifocal 4MP 1/1.8" cameras if Andy still has stock ..
Can play with the FOV on those, personally I want most of my cameras to have the chance to get a good ID image. 14 feet up, would mean I would need to try a stronger lens and tighter FOV and aim for a choke point / walkway area further away from the building to get a good angle for a possible facial or car ID
Good points about the ability to see detail and increased cost of cams. I sketched up the layout with the 1 existing camera and the approximate view. It's mounted about 10' up. Would like to raise it's view to catch more of the driveway and realize I won't be able to identify people at that distance. If I do that I'm thinking of adding a camera to cover more close in. Open to suggestions...
This is when "getting good details does not allow you to see everything" comes into play. I deployed a B52IR-Z12E-S2 on the fence to zoom in and give focus on the people on the path. It is a camera with a specific job and specific FOV. What does it see 99% of the day? Trees. Nothing but trees. What does it see the other 1% of the time when someone walks by? All the details.
For reference, this is the same person from the path in the capture posted above.
Are you able to post a screen capture from your camera's current view? Visuals are always better for giving opinions.
For reference, this is the same person from the path in the capture posted above.
Are you able to post a screen capture from your camera's current view? Visuals are always better for giving opinions.
I get the you can't get detail and see everything. I'm not too worried about identifying people although it would be a plus. More like I see the lawn mowing people showed up at 1:30 and such like. Here's the current view. this is the 640 x 480 stream and there is a higher resolution one from the same cam. Want to get more view at the top and not loose too much at the bottom.
That is a job for two cameras. I would keep that one as is, and put a second one next to it looking down the drive.
T54IR-ZE will get you to 12mm. Captures are install height of 7ft and distances of 18ft, 25ft, 40ft, and 75ft to the license plate. Distance clarity will be hindered at night depending on how much light you have available at distance.
B54IR-Z4E will get you to 32mm. Captures are install height of 11ft/distance of 65ft, and then install height of 20ft/distance of 85ft. This is a bullet and will have more IR than the turret above, but will still need appropriate light to see at distance at night.
T54IR-ZE will get you to 12mm. Captures are install height of 7ft and distances of 18ft, 25ft, 40ft, and 75ft to the license plate. Distance clarity will be hindered at night depending on how much light you have available at distance.
B54IR-Z4E will get you to 32mm. Captures are install height of 11ft/distance of 65ft, and then install height of 20ft/distance of 85ft. This is a bullet and will have more IR than the turret above, but will still need appropriate light to see at distance at night.