Camera placement and camera suggestion for new home

PhanTheDevMan · Saturday at 7:42 PM

Hi Everyone,

This is my first home and I need help deciding where to put my cameras. I used to rent homes before this location and had a lot of issues with neighbors or random people. I told myself if I ever got my own home one day. I'm putting a camera here at XYZ spot to either stop the issue or prevent future issues. I made a picture of my home layout and camera spots that I think would be good spots. I also linked the camera that I think I should probably get according to the MP/Sensor chart. Can I get a sanity check in case I'm doing something wrong? Recommendations are always welcomed too.

Camera: IPC-Color4M-T (Mini-Review EmpireTech IPC-Color4M-T)
I assume I would need the 2.8mm version for all my cameras? Also if there are better cameras, please let me know. I prefer to buy only once and not have to upgrade in the future. I would say $300 per camera is my limit. Ideally, $100-$200 per camera.

Small Red Rectangle: These are the fence doors
Large Red Rectange: 3rd car garage bay.
Arrow Pointing Right: This is where the main traffic for my neighborhood comes from. The street going up and right loops around to each other. The street going down goes to another neighborhood. I originally wanted to put a license plate camera to record that intersection since there is a street lamp for light and there's only one way in and out. But the distance from my corner house to that intersection is 105 ft. Not sure if it's possible due to distance.
Camera Placement Reasoning: I'll start at the 3rd car garage bay in front of the fence door. 2 reason for this placement is the electric breaker panel being there and the view will catch everything to the right of my home. At my previous rental place, someone was constantly opening it up and flipping my breakers off. The rental company also wouldn't let me put a lock on it. Something about they need access and I'll get fined if I put my lock on it. Which I still think, it's the dumbest thing ever. Not sure if that's still the case with my new home. But I figured a camera there would at least stop future kids or neighbors. The two cameras in front of the homes are sort of facing each other. But I'm worried that both cameras are technically a little further back. So they can't see the stuff in front of the home near the door/windows/garage. Because the 2 Car garage and study room is technically blocking part of the view. Should I put another camera on top of the garage? The left camera in front of the fence door. Is to cover everything from the left of my house. The two back cameras that are at the corners. I was thinking that if anyone opens/jump the fence. For them to go to the backdoor they'll have to walk towards those cameras. Which should get a pretty decent video of them, I hope. Then finally the last camera is in the middle of the back, mainly to view the future dogs/kids playing in the backyard. I do have a reolink doorbell camera already. I also have issues with people letting their dog crap all over the left side of my home. There is some in my front yard but mostly left. My fence on the left side is on a retaining wall. So I'm assuming they think no one can see them and they purposely bring their dog there to poop there. I tried talking to a few dog owners but since I didn't see their dog pooping in my yard. I don't want to be a jerk to them. But I also don't want to sit outside my house all day to catch the person either. Any recommendation on how to put a camera there to view that side? I thought I might be able to put a camera drilled into my fence horizontally that looks down. But then it's exposed to the rain/weather and everything. Might not be a good idea.
Distances:
Home to end of driveway = 40ft.
Home to the end of the street and other sidewalk in front of home = 70ft.
Home at the left wall of home to the street = 50ft.
Home to intersection where the arrow is at = 105 ft.

Ri22o · Sunday at 10:20 AM

The mentality a lot of people have is they want to see everything, but when it comes time to use their capture as evidence, they lack the detail. It also doesn't help that most Box and Cloud systems will come with 2.8mm cameras and only exacerbate the problem.

One camera cannot do it all. Several incorrectly spec'd cameras isn't the solution either. 2.8mm isn't always the answer, but neither is 32mm.

You cannot see everything and still see details. Getting good details does not allow you to see everything; it is a give and take.

This is why a good system will have cameras that complement each other, and work well in low light. This is also why a PTZ is a complement to a good, already established system and should not be heavily relied on by itself.

When planning your system and layout start by focusing on choke points and set up fields of view to capture details and give the ability to ID. This means all this camera will be able to do/see is the very narrow scope of its job. You can then deploy a more general overview cam to give context to the details. This overview cam can support one or more of your choke point ID cams. Most people tend to start with 1-3 FOVs at/around their front door.

For instance, as an extreme example. I am deploying this camera. It's only job is to see people walking down the path behind my house. This is what I see 99% of the time when I look at the feed.

However, this is what I see when someone walks down the path, 95' feet away.

I then have these two cameras I can use to get a better idea/context of what they were doing and where they may have come from or gone to. The kill zone is between the green lines and the camera is on the fence at the bottom, center of the picture. You can see someone just entering the KZ and the 3.6mm focal length of this cam gives absolutely no details other than it might be a person.

This is the person in the above wide angle shot, and there is no way you would have been able to tell it was a male, in a red, flannel shirt, with sunglasses, and a receding hairline.

You should look at your system as an investment.

Many here will say that the T5442 / T54IR is the best bang for the buck and I would need to agree with them.

I started with Lorex (they use Dahua cameras). I bought and installed a Lorex analog MPX system. They were 2MP cameras in 2.8mm focal lengths. I then won a Lorex giveaway and was sent a 2K IP camera system with 2 turrets and 4 bullets and ran the two systems in parallel.

I managed to get a usable capture of a neighborhood vandal, but it wasn't all that great. It mainly confirmed the suspect, but wasn't good enough to search someone down.

What ultimately pushed me to using Blue Iris and Loryta/Empiretech cameras was when my house was struck by lightning; it took out my Lorex systems and I needed to start over. Cameras multiply like rabbits; once you can see part of your property you will want to see all of your property. This is especially true when something happens and you realize there is a hole in your coverage.

A properly spec'd Loryta/Empiretech camera and system may increase your budget a little, but the goal is to have usable footage. I look at my camera system as an investment; let's say the whole thing has cost me $5000. That is a lot of money, but I now have a higher chance of catching the vandals, thieves, stranger dangerers, etc that come around my house and, because of this, have a greater chance of recovering my loss. If I had not made the investment I would likely be out my loss PLUS adding on the cost of the system for the next time it might happen. We get posts all of the time with people reacting to a loss Stolen Lawn Equipment and Tools

I have had a couple friends get interested in putting in a system, but it never goes anywhere once I tell them it's more than just slapping up a couple cameras from Costco. It does take work, but once set up with quality equipment you should be good to go. One of them recently had a tractor stolen and still has not put a proper system in place.

Buy once, cry once, and get experience and knowledge along the way.

I have learned a lot since joining and try to pay it forward when possible. This is a post I put together with images from my journey showing the differences between focal lengths, install heights, changing fields of view, etc.

"I want 2.8mm cameras everywhere to see everything..." - This is why you need specific FOVs with purposeful focal lengths.

I have gained a lot of knowledge since I signed up and wanted to share my experience and examples of improvements and changes for others who are coming from a "I want 2.8mm cameras everywhere to see everything" system mentality. My ongoing "build/looking for advice" thread can be found here...

ipcamtalk.com

Ri22o · Sunday at 10:37 AM

To comment directly on some points in your post.

With your breaker panel being mounted on the exterior, and it being a point of concern, I would definitely place your NVR/VMS and camera POE switch on a battery backup. Even if you only have a few minutes of power, it gives you a buffer with your recordings.

Are you able to post some pictures of your house and lay of the land? Sometimes this is easier to give suggestions on that a drawing.

The typically recommended cameras are below. Most are definitely within your $100-200 budget, with a couple, for specific deployments, being $200-300.

T54IR-AS - Fixed focal length (2.8mm, 3.6mm, 6mm)
T54IR-ZE - Varifiocal (2.7-12mm)
B54IR-Z4E - Varifiocal Bullet (8-32mm)
B52IR-Z12E - Varifocal Bullet (5-60mm)

The Z4E is a bullet version of the AS and ZE turrets, with a bigger focal length range.
The Z12E is a 2MP camera, but is the typical go-to for LPR duty. 105' is nothing for this camera.

Here are some examples of distances from my thread I linked above, to give some context to focal length vs ID at distance.

T54IR-ZE at 12mm, 40' to the license plate.