Camera positioning for full coverage around a simple square house

[freshes]

I'm planning to purchase a bunch of Hikvision DS-2CD2332-I cams to monitor the exterior of our simple rectangular home.

These cameras have a roughly 90 degree field of view (2.8mm lens).

What is the best way to position the cameras for full coverage? Is what I have come up with (see attached picture) a good way to go? What do most people do in this situation? Am I am being too stingy with total number of cameras?

 

[nayr]

just do 2 corners and you dont have to route so much cable.

and 90 degree (2.8mm) FOV sucks balls outside... you wont ID anything to the other end of the house.. use zoom, put em on choke points and accept blind spots.

http://ipvm.com/calculator (keep PPF >100)

 

[Kawboy12R]

One cam per entrance (3.6mm is my preferred Swiss Army knife of lenses for entrances) plus extras for things like cars parked in driveways (6mm minimum for driveways). At least one cam inside is important as well.

 

[ekaz]

I have 2 cameras covering the front of my house (in case I have a car parked in front of the neighbor's house), one down each side, one covering the backyard and then one covering the back entrance. I may be adding one to better cover the front entrance as well. I've found that the 3.6mm lens is a good all-around one to use.

 

[freshes]

hmmm...this is good info. I guess I was working off the assumption one should have full coverage...but i guess it's probably not really necessary (not to mention, with such wide lenses mostly useless by the sound of it!)

 

[Kawboy12R]

You want great ID shots where it counts- choke points like doorways, areas of interest like your car, driveway entrances, play areas, etc. Mount the cams to have a good flat angle at faces or plates. After that, then add cams to fill blind spots.

 

[freshes]

Truth be told I've already purchased a couple of 2.8mm lens hikvisions - in light of this info it sounds like they're going to be fairly useless. I'm not putting any cameras inside the house, so any other suggestions as to where a 2.8mm (90 degree field of view) camera might be of use?

 

[Kawboy12R]

Right at an entrance or maybe inside a garage. It'll be good for people that come right to the door or on the porch and be a good situational awareness cam, particularly if you have a view of the driveway, front yard, sidewalk, etc in the same view. Hear a bang out front? Viewing one cam can tell you a lot about what's going on. Just don't expect it to give you ID quality pictures at much of a distance at night (or in the day for that matter). Nothing wrong with a 2.8mm lens but people just expect ID miracles from everything in their FOV. Just because you can also see your car from your 2.8mm front door cam doesn't mean you don't also need a 6mm cam mounted 15-20 feet from the driver's door. Nothing more frustrating than checking footage and seeing some jerk stealing your gear but having grainy distant footage that could be of any 5'10" medium build white dude wearing jeans and a dark top. The footage is great if you can place them at the scene by catching them on your property or with your stuff later, but not so good if there's no context. You want a face pic that'll make their momma cry.

 

[nayr]

You have mebe a dozen feet of night ID capabilities.. so put em where your are of interest is within that distance.. right next to a door at headheight would your best use for em