5442 Verifocal vs Fixed

[sebastiantombs]

I have a couple of turrets mounted vertically like that They can be rotated in any direction needed with no problems. Just make sure to get the house walls out of frame to stop IR reflections.

 

[wittaj]

One camera, regardless of how good, cannot perform as a be all, see all camera...

You need the right camera for the area you want to cover.

And you usually need more than one camera.

To cover an area at a distance from your camera install you need optical zoom to that area. Digital zooming in after the fact on the video only works in the movies and TV.

You need to decide what areas you want coverage of and then select the right camera to cover those areas.

Here are my general distance recommendations, but switch out the 5442 camera to the equivalent 2MP on the 1/2.8" sensor works as well.

• 5442 fixed lens 2.8mm - anything within 10 feet of camera OR as an overview camera
• 5442 ZE - varifocal - distances up to 40-50 feet (personally I wouldn't go past the 30 foot range but I like things closer)
• 5442 Z4E - anything up to 80-100 feet (personally I wouldn't go past 60 feet but I like things closer)
• 5241-Z12E - anything from 80 feet to almost 200 feet (personally I wouldn't go past 150 feet because I like things closer)
• 5241-Z12E - for a license plate cam that you would angle up the street to get plates up to about 175 feet away, or up to 220 with additional IR.
• 49225 PTZ - great PTZ and in conjunction with an NVR or Blue Iris and the cameras above that you can use as spotter cams to point the PTZ to the correct location to compliment the fixed cams.

You need to get the correct camera for the area trying to be covered. A 2.8mm to IDENTIFY someone 40 feet away is the wrong camera regardless of how good the camera is. A 2.8mm camera to IDENTIFY someone within 10 feet is a good choice OR it is an overview camera to see something happened but not be able to identify who. A camera being used to capture your driveway is not going to also be able to ID someone the next house over.

 

[sebastiantombs]

As an example I have three cameras on the front and rear of the house. One on each corner looking across the front of the house, so they overlook each other, and one facing straight out to cover what the overlapping FOVs don't cover. The front of the house is about 130 feet from the street. This way there is no possible approach route that is not visible on camera and I get ID shots as they approach the house.