Hello...new to security camera systems...trying to get up to speed

[Sybertiger]

I set up two dome and one bullet cam utilizing the aluminum/vinyl sofftt mount technique highlighted HERE. Dome cameras set up at position #5C and left of postion #5A and bullet cam at position #4. These 3 cameras will probably give me an idea of what kinds of issues to expect especially with glare on the domes and night time spotlight uplighting in the direction of the cameras. For anyone curious about the aluminum flat bar it's 2" wide and 1/8" thick from Home Depot. It's a great solution for my aluminum soffit and the thought is that it's perfect for temporary mounting while I evaluate the technology. Likely I use this same method for "permanent" mounting of cameras when I figure out which turret cams I want to purchase but I'll paint the aluminum bar to match the soffit. And, you'd probably put a "set screw" through the flat bar and into the soffit to keep the cameras from walking away although as they are now it's not easy to simply pull on them and run.

 

[Sybertiger]

Curious to know any thoughts on placement of camera under the soffit. As you can see, the bullet cam is set back as far as it can go. The thinking was that the neck of the camera plus the length of the fixture meant that the cam should be set back to keep it under cover of the overhang. My soffits are rather shallow at about 13" but for the dome cameras I pretty much set them in the middle rather than up against the wall. The thinking was to make sure they are set back enough to keep them out of the rain but to minimize expected issues that might result from reflected IR light off of the soffit causing glare on the domes.

I realize that when I switch to turret cams it's another story but want to know if most people feel that the cams should be set back up against the wall or is mounting them in the middle of the soffit better. Thoughts?

 

[mat200]

HI Sybertiger,

Looking good. Pick the placement that gives you the best video view.

Run tests for 24 hrs and see how it looks.

Remember the suspect w/the hoodie and cap playing prowler... walk slow, normal, and fast - maybe a jog and a run also..

 

[Sybertiger]

Well, so far this experiment has not been very promising. In this particular instance all the cameras felt there was enough light to stay in daylight mode. Pretty obvious that dome cameras do not like uplighting. I wonder if a turret cam would fair better.

 

[looney2ns]

Well, so far this experiment has not been very promising. In this particular instance all the cameras felt there was enough light to stay in daylight mode. Pretty obvious that dome cameras do not like uplighting. I wonder if a turret cam would fair better.

Still pic's don't tell the tale. You need to walk in front of them while recording to see if it's enough light to keep the cam from blurring/ghosting the moving object. Those uplights will most likely cause the same problems with turrets.

 

[mat200]

@Sybertiger I would expect turrets and bullet cameras to perform similar for image capture as they're typically the same internal components and glass just in a different form factor.

You may want to also try and force them into IR mode and see what results you get.

 

[aristobrat]

In the following pictures of the exterior of my house I try to identify the locations of at least 6 security cameras.

If you haven't already, take some time play around with IPVM Camera Calculator V3

You should be able to enter your address, let it pull up a Google Maps of your home, then it will let you place cameras around the exterior and show you what the image should look like. This won't help for your up-light situation, but it should give you a good idea of what someone on the far side of your back yard is going to look like if you make your Camera #2 a Starlight vari-focal turret zoomed in to 12mm vs. a Starlight vari-focal bullet (Z5 or Z12) zoomed in to 30mm or higher vs any other camera you want to put there.

 

[Sybertiger]

If you haven't already, take some time play around with IPVM Camera Calculator V3

You should be able to enter your address, let it pull up a Google Maps of your home, then it will let you place cameras around the exterior and show you what the image should look like. This won't help for your up-light situation, but it should give you a good idea of what someone on the far side of your back yard is going to look like if you make your Camera #2 a Starlight vari-focal turret zoomed in to 12mm vs. a Starlight vari-focal bullet (Z5 or Z12) zoomed in to 30mm or higher vs any other camera you want to put there.

Hmm, this looks like a subscription service. I would assume it's geared more towards professional security system installers?

 

[aristobrat]

Subscription is only required to put more than three cameras on the map at the same time. It used to only allow you to do one camera at a time, and even then it was extremely useful to use to get a feel for what the picture quality would be like.

 

[Sybertiger]

Subscription is only required to put more than three cameras on the map at the same time. It used to only allow you to do one camera at a time, and even then it was extremely useful to use to get a feel for what the picture quality would be like.

Okay, thanks for clarification....I'll just try 3 cams at a time.

 

[Sybertiger]

There's no doubt this has been a useful experiment regardless of the fact I'm doing an evaluation and this system will be returned to Sam's Club. I'm learning about camera placement and the issues with dome cameras. Also, playing with the NVR has been an eye openers as to how severely lacking the NVR user interface and capabilities are. Here' proof that dome cameras suck compared to bullet cameras at night.

Dome camera on the right side of the garage with uplighting below versus this same dome camera moved over to the center of the garage with absolutely no uplighting shining on it.

 

[Sybertiger]

Then on the left side of the garage I replace the dome camera with a bullet camera. The position is exactly the same above the uplighting but I angled the bullet camera a little more toward the front yard since the centered dome camera now covers the entire driveway.

 

[Sybertiger]

These are all 2K cameras. That last picture with the bullet camera view toward the street is probably 40 feet from the edge of the street. So much for 100 feet of night vision. Clearly this camera needs an IR flood light to perform a bit better at night.