I moved last year, and wanted my cameras to be more discreet than they were at my previous house (big turret and bullet cams mounted all over the siding).
This mostly meant using small and inconspicuous cams to watch the driveway, and those aren't great for ID shots.
So I was thrilled when I realized there was plenty of room to tuck my old Dahua whatever-Z5 starlight cam under the porch to look up at people as they approach. It is like the opposite of having a camera that is too high. This one will see you watching the ground.
The lighting is a bit tricky since it sees mostly sky. So I set it to shutter priority, 0-4ms, and Backlight to BLC.
This works pretty well even at night because I turned off the camera's built-in IR and put a separate illuminator nearby to keep the glare down, as there's a lot of nearby porch, ground, and steps to reflect IR back and fog it up at night.
This mostly meant using small and inconspicuous cams to watch the driveway, and those aren't great for ID shots.
So I was thrilled when I realized there was plenty of room to tuck my old Dahua whatever-Z5 starlight cam under the porch to look up at people as they approach. It is like the opposite of having a camera that is too high. This one will see you watching the ground.
The lighting is a bit tricky since it sees mostly sky. So I set it to shutter priority, 0-4ms, and Backlight to BLC.
This works pretty well even at night because I turned off the camera's built-in IR and put a separate illuminator nearby to keep the glare down, as there's a lot of nearby porch, ground, and steps to reflect IR back and fog it up at night.
Last edited:
