Camera placement, models

Swampledge said:
I’m using a z12E to look down the road on my property that leads to the majority of my land. Chose that one after a woman we don’t know came onto our property and headed down there, then left. I wanted to be sure I could identify at about 85 ft if it happened again, and I wasn’t confident the Z4 could “reach out” quite far enough. It is probably my favorite camera because it gave detect ability on my chicken coop 300 ft away, and also gives me the best detection of nocturnal wildlife which use the road nightly. (The coop is now watched by a Z4 S3 mounted about 60 or 70 feet away.)
Click to expand...

Thank you. I’m leaning towards the Z12E in most spots. I am about 170ft back from the cul de sac in front of my house and 125-150ft to the road behind my house. I know I am not going to get and ID or recognize at that distance but I’m hopeful with the Z12E I can get observation, and eventually add cameras that will aid in identifying anyone who gets closer, or a few PTZs that can trigger to get IDs.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
  • Like
Reactions: looney2ns, StevenFromTexas, JDreaming and 1 other person
wittaj said:
I started with the four 2.8mm camera box kit system and I was like "I can place one on each corner of the house and see my whole property and the whole neighborhood." A newbie loves the wide angle "I can see the whole neighborhood" of the 2.8mm fixed wide angle lens. I LOVED IT WHEN I PUT IT UP. I could see everything that would be blocked looking out the windows.

And like most NOOB, I put mine up on the 2nd story soffit to maximize the reach of the field of view, which meant the closer someone got to my house, the more I was getting tops of heads.

It is easy to get lured into the "I can see the whole neighborhood" mentality because you are watching it and you see a neighbor go by and you are like "Look at that I can tell that is Heather out walking." and "Yeah I can tell our neighbor 4 down just passed by". Or you watch back the video of you walking around and are like "yeah I can tell that is me...these things are great."

Little do we realize how much WE can identify a KNOWN person just by hair style, clothing, walking pace, gait, etc.

Then one day the door checker comes by. Total stranger. These overview cameras give you totally useless video other than what time the door checking happened.

Then you realize that this wide-angle see the whole neighborhood comes at a cost and that cost is not being able to IDENTIFY who did it. These 2.8mm wide angle cameras are great overview cameras or to IDENTIFY someone within 10 feet of the camera. At 40 feet out you need a different camera.

So you go from seeing a wide angle with a few arlos to realizing if you want to IDENTIFY you need more cameras.

I have had a few neighbors that have given me rude remarks on my cameras, but who was the first person they asked when something happened to one of their cars? I should have been "oh man sorry I didn't catch it", but I was nice and provided them with the make/model/plate of the car that hit theirs in hopes maybe it would settle them down.
Click to expand...
Can I ask at what height your cameras are? I’m afraid a potential thief/ whatever will just give them a good whack if too low. Some of mine will probably hang at only 2m height

thx in advance
 
Evroul said:
Can I ask at what height your cameras are? I’m afraid a potential thief/ whatever will just give them a good whack if too low. Some of mine will probably hang at only 2m height

thx in advance
Click to expand...

Depending on the camera, my heights are anywhere from ground level to 2nd floor of house.

If you have one camera covering another camera then if a perp tries to move one then you get a great capture of them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mteky2, mat200 and Evroul
Evroul said:
Can I ask at what height your cameras are? I’m afraid a potential thief/ whatever will just give them a good whack if too low. Some of mine will probably hang at only 2m height

thx in advance
Click to expand...

I have one at face level by the front door .. criminals hitting cameras .. possible .. but the camera needs to do its job and if too high it will not.

Cameras sometime you have to put them in places where they can get hit .. and that's OK. Just try to set it up so that you have a good chance to ID the perp
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: mteky2 and Evroul
  • Like
Reactions: mat200
That camera would be ok if you have enough light or are willing to use the built-in white LED (which most don't because it attracts bugs and makes the camera obvious). This camera cannot see infrared, so you cannot add it later.
 
The latter here can both IR and Color. We have a lot of lighting around the house ( Floodlight ) and light from streetlamps
 
You suggest no color stuff? I see your review of the 5442 it shows color, I guess its due to your floodlight?

Is UniView really that bad?
 
You can force any camera into color at night. The only difference between this Dahua and the 5442 is one comes with white LED and the other comes with infrared.

So it comes down to your use case and if you need the built-in white LEDs.

Most will favor the camera with infrared in the event you don't have enough light.

UniView is a cheaper camera putting 5MP on a sensor designed for 2MP. So it will need double the light.

Here is a real world example with a deer. Even with a floodlight, there simply wasn't enough light to make the 4MP on the sensor designed for 2MP to go into color. Now add 1 million more pixels to the screen and it will be darker.

1673449859378.png


And a 4MP on the proper 1/1.8" sensor camera (5442 camera) (different deer LOL but same field of view when the camera was replaced to a better camera) that the camera was able to go to color based on the ideal MP/sensor ratio:





1673449943897.png


Which do you think is the better image?
 
  • Like
Reactions: mat200, Clark Griswald and EMPIRETECANDY
  • Like
Reactions: actran
Thx for replying appreciate it
wittaj said:
You can force any camera into color at night. The only difference between this Dahua and the 5442 is one comes with white LED and the other comes with infrared.

So it comes down to your use case and if you need the built-in white LEDs.

Most will favor the camera with infrared in the event you don't have enough light.

UniView is a cheaper camera putting 5MP on a sensor designed for 2MP. So it will need double the light.

Here is a real world example with a deer. Even with a floodlight, there simply wasn't enough light to make the 4MP on the sensor designed for 2MP to go into color. Now add 1 million more pixels to the screen and it will be darker.

1673449859378.png


And a 4MP on the proper 1/1.8" sensor camera (5442 camera) (different deer LOL but same field of view when the camera was replaced to a better camera) that the camera was able to go to color based on the ideal MP/sensor ratio:





1673449943897.png


Which do you think is the better image?
Click to expand...
 
@iir
mat200 said:
I have one at face level by the front door .. criminals hitting cameras .. possible .. but the camera needs to do its job and if too high it will not.

Cameras sometime you have to put them in places where they can get hit .. and that's OK. Just try to set it up so that you have a good chance to ID the perp
Click to expand...
Anyway to DM you?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom