Camera Coverage Question

[dhull]

I am almost ready start buying gear to install my camera system after spending a few weeks reading on this site and I would like to get some feed back on my ideas for camera coverage.

The area I live in is taking a downward slide and I have a passive aggressive neighbor that I think is looking in our windows while we are out. My main goal is to watch the front porch and our two vehicles that are parked in the driveway. Secondary I would like to know when any one approaches the house from the street (we have a large front yard) and have a camera pointed at the intersection since we have two or three cars drive through our yard any given year. No one has hit our cars yet but there was a police chase down our street this summer and several cars were hit in their driveways.

I attached a google aerial of my house and the fields of views of the cameras I plan to get. For the Blue Cameras I am thinking Dahua IPC-HDW5231R-Z and for the Yellow Cameras whichever Dahua 3.6mm Starlight I can find in stock. I am concerned that the 3.6mm cameras will not give me enough resolution to actually see anything and that I am trying to cover too much area. I would like to know also if am on the right track with my plan or if a need rethink what I am planing.

Thanks
Dan

 

[fenderman]

spend a few extra bux on the varifocal..its will be worth it...the varifocal model has better low light specs than the fixed starlight model..

 

[nayr]

start off with your close in ID shots first and then worry about wide angle over view shots later.. Ive got just one wide angle watching the back yard, and its still not zoomed out all the way because then the puppies are just a few pixels when across the yard.. I installed it after getting my views setup.

 

[SyconsciousAu]

I did something similar when I was planning my latest build but what I did was calculate the angles and distances for ID / Recognition zones and include those on my layout.. Those 3.6mm lenses on a 1080P camera will give you ID resolution to about 3m (10ft) and recognition to double that. If all you are after is an overview shot that's fine but as Nayr said plan your ID shots. Gates and natural gaps in obstacles are great places to set those up. I would question whether the 12mm camera you have covering the intersection will capture anything of value to you. Remember that you will need about 200ppm minimum for a human read on a plate, and if you plant to capture plates at night you need a dedicated camera for the task. A Starlight with a 12mm lens will get those numbers at about 17m (56ft). I think Dahua do a 16mm lens in the bullet which may work for your application if you need more PPM at a further distance. Beyond that consider box cameras with dedicated lenses.

 

[nayr]

the 16mm is on the bigger sensor cameras, it's fov is not any better than the 1/2.8 @ 12mm.. and compared to a 1/3rd sensor its even wider.

 

[looney2ns]

I am almost ready start buying gear to install my camera system after spending a few weeks reading on this site and I would like to get some feed back on my ideas for camera coverage.

The area I live in is taking a downward slide and I have a passive aggressive neighbor that I think is looking in our windows while we are out. My main goal is to watch the front porch and our two vehicles that are parked in the driveway. Secondary I would like to know when any one approaches the house from the street (we have a large front yard) and have a camera pointed at the intersection since we have two or three cars drive through our yard any given year. No one has hit our cars yet but there was a police chase down our street this summer and several cars were hit in their driveways.

I attached a google aerial of my house and the fields of views of the cameras I plan to get. For the Blue Cameras I am thinking Dahua IPC-HDW5231R-Z and for the Yellow Cameras whichever Dahua 3.6mm Starlight I can find in stock. I am concerned that the 3.6mm cameras will not give me enough resolution to actually see anything and that I am trying to cover too much area. I would like to know also if am on the right track with my plan or if a need rethink what I am planing.

Thanks
Dan

Have you used this yet? Camera Calculator / Design Software Keep PPF > 100

 

[dhull]

Thanks for all the advice. I changed my lay out some and modified my camera throws to end at where ipvm shows PPF falling below 100. The front door camera I will have to play with to get a good angle. There is a porch post I could mount it to. I will have to see when I get the camera.

 

[Fastb]

dhull,

Welcome to the forum!
You're being thoughtful and planning things out. And doing research. All good.

I viewed you "Camera Placement" pic. Thanks. (pic=1k words)
I noticed 75 degree FOV. Hmmm. Wide angle, you'll spot a lot. With poor image quality a 2 or 3 meters away.
Use cam calculator and looney2ns suggested.
Investigate varifocal. All the planning in the world can't compare to checking live video in the real setting.
Maybe buy one varifocal and nvr, then you can figure out the additional cams. No need to buy the entire system in one fell swoop....

And check this thread. Lotta details/thoughts for a newcomer:
Beginner - I have selected, the camera, what else (DVR, NVR ? etc)

Fastb

 

[Fastb]

dhull,

Camera Calculator / Design Software
as looney2ns suggested.

That uses google maps also. Plot cams on the sat view of your house, it calculates FOV, lens, ppf, etc.

 

[dhull]

Fastb

dhull,

Camera Calculator / Design Software
as looney2ns suggested.

That uses google maps also. Plot cams on the sat view of your house, it calculates FOV, lens, ppf, etc.

Fastb, I used the Camera Calculator to get the FFP distances. I wanted a plan that I could keep and not be limited by their free trail, I am Civil Designer by trade so I work fast in Autocad and can pull google imagery in easily.

Thank you to everybody for your ideas and advice. Looking at my budget I am going do this in a few phases. Phase 1 will be 3 Varifocals at critical points: one camera for the front Porch, one camera for the Back pouch, and one camera for drive. Then investing in good infrastructure that can support more camera in the future. This should cover the most common places people approach the house.

Maybe next year for Phase 2 I will get a PTZ for the back yard, an inside garage cam, and two more camera for the parking area.

Here is my layout with all cameras at a range so PPF is at 100.