Front door IPCam mounting suggestions?

Philip Gonzales

Philip Gonzales

Getting comfortable
Sep 20, 2017
696
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I know, Sorry, yet another front door thread. I tried searching through some other threads but everyone's front door is different. I've ordered a IPC-HDW5231R-Z and it will be my first outdoor IP Camera for my home. I'm currently awaiting shipment and I'd like to have an idea of where I want to mount the camera before it arrives.

I am thinking the main purpose I want the camera for is to identify anyone trying to enter through the first door. If possible I would also like it to be able to identify someone if they attempted to break into our cars. I can add a second camera, just not right now as funds are low from buying indoor cameras, blue iris, and SD cards, power injectors, ethernet cable, etc. My third preference would be to see the front step outside the door to watch any packages that get delivered.

Any suggestions are welcome, so please feel free to let me know how you would do it if you were me.

This is what I think I would want to capture in an ideal world. Probably not possible as I obviously took the picture inside with the door open. I honestly don't care about identifying someone at the mailbox at this point in time. Most things we order are via amazon and are sent to the door. We don't get very many important things via snail mail. Mostly Junk mail.

20170923_160204 by philipgonzales3, on Flickr

Here is the area which I think I should mount the camera. My initial thought was directly above the door but now I am not so sure. The pillar in the shot is kind of annoying but I don't think it's a deal breaker. My wife usually also parks behind me in the driveway.

20170923_160433 by philipgonzales3, on Flickr

Some wider shots of the front yard. I am thinking for now to just focus on the front door/driveway and I can always add another camera that would capture anyone trying to enter through the windows to the right of the front door.

20170923_160512 by philipgonzales3, on Flickr

20170923_160518 by philipgonzales3, on Flickr

Also another concern I have is whether or not the porch light will interfere with the camera? It is a LED 7W 6000K daylight bulb if that matters. It has a sensor that turns it on every night when it gets dark.

Anyone want to point me in the right direction?
 
Looking at the picture facing the front door, I would put a cam to the left of the door and a cam to the right of the window and have the two criss cross each other. This way you can see down the street both ways. You could start with either one and get a good shot of someone approaching the door.
 
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I'd test just above the door on the opposite side of the light and angle it towards your driveway. If you didn't like the angle you get on the end of your driveway and possibly across the street then mount it to the left of the door about the height of the existing light. You'll be blocked by the door when open but by then you should have their face anyway. That cam will do ID of faces at the door and a rough description of those in the driveway and what they did. You'll need a 6mm mounted in the driveway to do a decent job IDing folks that don't go to the front door.
 
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bababouy said:
Looking at the picture facing the front door, I would put a cam to the left of the door and a cam to the right of the window and have the two criss cross each other. This way you can see down the street both ways. You could start with either one and get a good shot of someone approaching the door.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'm going to shoot for this and see what I end up with. Sounds like a good idea.

Kawboy12R said:
I'd test just above the door on the opposite side of the light and angle it towards your driveway. If you didn't like the angle you get on the end of your driveway and possibly across the street then mount it to the left of the door about the height of the existing light. You'll be blocked by the door when open but by then you should have their face anyway. That cam will do ID of faces at the door and a rough description of those in the driveway and what they did. You'll need a 6mm mounted in the driveway to do a decent job IDing folks that don't go to the front door.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm going to try this. Since the camera has a variable focal distance setting it up between 6mm and 10 mm shouldn't be a problem. I'm interested to see how it comes out.
 
Man, I thought it would be easier after getting the camera to come up with a game plan. I just like the wide angle view too much for my own good lol. Any suggestions? I plan on buying another camera but not even sure what I should be trying to focus on. I guess I'm like most people and I want to see everything going on. I set my motion trigger to only trigger after 2.5 seconds of movement and it worked perfectly. I saw when my mail got delivered and when me and my wife left and came home but did not get spammed with traffic passing by.

Anyway this is how I have it set now. Any suggestions?

1506689273095 by philipgonzales3, on Flickr

How about my night time settings? I like color mode but do you think I should switch it to black and white?

1506652715535 by philipgonzales3, on Flickr
 
What is the shutter speed in night mode? Go walk across the camera's field of view and see if you can clearly make your face out.

Also, rotate your camera so it's lined up with the horizon.
 
mlapaglia said:
What is the shutter speed in night mode? Go walk across the camera's field of view and see if you can clearly make your face out.

Also, rotate your camera so it's lined up with the horizon.
Click to expand...


Well I had it in auto exposure mode. I assume this is bad ? lol I will test some tonight when it gets dark. I'll go adjust the camera to line up with the horizon right now. I'm thinking maybe I should just try to capture to the left of the pillar. Basically the mailbox and to the left of it. But then when I zoom in I will miss more of the front sidewalk, which psychologically I feel like I need to see. What do you think?
 
Yes much better now, it doesn't look like your house is falling off the edge of the earth :)

Auto-exposure is fine, but depending on how sensitive your camera is and how bright the light on your porch is the camera can push the shutter speed down below 1/30 at night, which will cause a lot of motion blur.
 
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looney2ns said:
Still shots in no way tell the entire story. You must test with motion and see if you can ID a face at night.
Click to expand...

I did some testing last night and in black and white mode my face was much clearer. So I set it to switch between color and black and white automatically.
 
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So I have gotten the opportunity to test how someone looks when they are walking towards the camera by watching the clips of people who have came up to the door so far. The clips are taken using the Blue Iris mobile app.

Do you know if these clips are full quality or are they scaled back? They seem pretty clear but just something I have been wondering.

I've scaled back the resolution for the post to 800x450. I believe if you click on the picture it should take you to the original 1920x1080 photo.

AT&T salesman
1506805433628 by philipgonzales3, on Flickr

female subject walking towards the house

1506815108141 by philipgonzales3, on Flickr

1506815116288 by philipgonzales3, on Flickr

male subject walking towards the house

1506883570816 by philipgonzales3, on Flickr

I believe WDR was enabled at this point. I ended up not liking WDR as the background seemed to get brighter and colors look over exposed (not just from this pic but from overall testing) and changed to BLC
1506883587564 by philipgonzales3, on Flickr

some fat guy testing out BLC. Probably not the best pic, but I feel like BLC is much better for someone in the shadow area.

1506883723468 by philipgonzales3, on Flickr

I didn't really spend much time trying to get the best pic, just clicked the snapshot button as the subjects were walking and looking towards the camera somewhat.

What do you think? I am tempted to zoom in a bit more but afraid to loose to much of the area directly in front of the door. One thing I do not like is once someone is at the door they are hidden from the camera. So if I pull up live view it will be too late, I would need to watch the clip to see who is at the door.

This is what I am thinking as far as other camera's in the order of importance.

1. another 5231R-Z or perhaps 5231R-ZE to the left of this one (from the camera's perspective) by the windows in the above pic of the house. This would crisscross with my current camera and get the other half of the yard.
2. A SD49225T-HN PTZ in the opposite corner of the house (front corner of house, not the corner that the driveway is on). Not sure where I would aim this one but I am thinking the street/mailbox area right in front of my house, but zoomed in
3. above my garage zoomed in to see both cars.

I think 4 camera's may be a bit obsessive, any ideas?
 
Does the camera have HDR? That would help with the exposure due to the shadow.

The easiest way to find where your cameras need to be is by thinking like "the bad guy". Go outside your house and find a way to get inside without a camera seeing you.
 
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mlapaglia said:
Does the camera have HDR? That would help with the exposure due to the shadow.

The easiest way to find where your cameras need to be is by thinking like "the bad guy". Go outside your house and find a way to get inside without a camera seeing you.
Click to expand...

Yep the camera is Wide Dynamic Range (WDR). I've enabled it but I don't care for how it washes out all the bright areas. I even have it set to 15%. It makes all of the colors oversaturated. I've left it on though as seeing someone in the shade is more important than oversaturation of colors.
 
Oops double checked the WDR settings today and looks like the 15% didn't stick, was still at 50% default value. I think 50% WDR is too high for me during the day. Will check again tomorrow with the 15% value.
 
I also agree with cris cross view, but would put the 1 at the corner of the house by the white fence capturing the window and all down the house drive and street, the 2nd camera looks like it would go under the overhang by a brick wall that looks like is coming out some.
 
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