Camera Suggestions After Neighborhood Break Ins

[tone363]

So as the title suggests a few blocks down from me several cars were broken in to and had things taken out of them. I unfortunately did not catch anything on my cameras. So I am looking to add at least 1 maybe 2 more cameras to my current 4 camera setup with BI. I currently have 4 DS-2CD2335 Hikvisions i ordered from Ali a few months back on each corner of the house and they work pretty good. With this setup though there are still a few blind spots that I would like to cover including one right in the front of the house and also down the side.

So I am not set on a brand so am open to anything and I must also state I am still pretty new to this but learning fast.

The one for the front I would love to have better night vision and also a wider angle. I have also seen some that have audio and that would be just an added bonus. Anything that would help me better see a car or person in the front of the house at night. Note, my house along with all of them in my subdivision, sits relatively close to the road, 50 feet or less. I have even thought about taking the DS-2CD2335 and putting them on the side of the house and getting 2-3 new ones for the front all together.

For the side I was thinking another DS-2CD2335 for it as it is more of a narrow path.

Anyways greatly appreciate your help and taking the time to read this.

-Tony

 

[FrankOceanXray]

If you want to watch over the cars, determine where you can mount cameras and what camera specs will give you what you want. Many of the cameras are offered in at least two lenses that I have seen amongst the Dahuas. (2.8, 3.6, 4, 6, 12 and varifocal seem most common). I am sure this is happening at night, too. So you need to look at lighting.... landscape lighting, more floods or spots or do you try for IR?

Or put a covert camera in the cars to get a good shot? Under a 100 bucks and Amcrest sells a nice enough covert camera.

 

[Del Boy]

Wider angle and better night vision are usually opposites. Tighter angle = better detail = better night-vision. Wide angle = less detail = worse night-vision but can see more activity. It's a compromise.

 

[tone363]

Got it so maybe I need a tighter angle then as the more detail the better. Its tough cause this seems to be happening every couple of months in our area and now I want to see if I can catch the bastards on video.

Any recommendations anyone can suggest are appreciated thanks

 

[FrankOceanXray]

https://ipvm.com/calculator

Go there, play with cameras, their placement and how that works for your footprint.

I am looking into a camera mounted in a tree to overlook one of my parked vehicles. You can have everything, every square inch of your property covered but realistically you need to decide what do you want to watch, what do you want to watch for, when (lighting), how much you want to spend (time, money) and how good of detail do you want out of it? Detection? or do you want facial recognition?

Pixels per foot is a good metric which I am giving plenty of weight in my decisions. I don't want to know something bad happened (I will learn that in time (broken glass, vandalism, etc). I want to know WHO did the bad thing.. and I would really prefer that camera to let me know if the bad guy shaved that morning or not, if he had ketchup on his shirt, etc. Detail!

 

[Del Boy]

Got it so maybe I need a tighter angle then as the more detail the better. Its tough cause this seems to be happening every couple of months in our area and now I want to see if I can catch the bastards on video.

Any recommendations anyone can suggest are appreciated thanks

100%

DS-2CD2345 if you are happy with the Chinese grey imports.

Personally would get 4431C-A or 4300C. I've not tried the 4431C-A but the 4300C is the best 3MP camera I've tested at night.

 

[tone363]

Thanks yeah I have been totally fine with the Chinese cams with no issues at all. Let me take a look at these. Appreciate the feedback

 

[tone363]

100%

DS-2CD2345 if you are happy with the Chinese grey imports.

Personally would get 4431C-A or 4300C. I've not tried the 4431C-A but the 4300C is the best 3MP camera I've tested at night.

Funny the Dahua 4431C-A was the camera that i was actually looking at on Ali. Question for you as the lens has really been my downfall and trying to learn whats what. What would you recommend as far as lens goes for this. Greatly appreciate the help.

 

[Del Boy]

3.6mm to start for ground floor, 6mm for 1st floor (2nd floor in the USA) is a good rule of thumb.