Help with camera locations

[Shbek1]

Sorry if this is the wrong place to put this. I'm having trouble covering my "L" shaped porch and I'd like some input.

I have a big, breakable window on one end of the "L", UPS hides packages at the other end, and my front door is right in the middle. I'm trying to cover it with two cameras for the porch, three total for the front yard. Pictures are going to do a better job than words here.


Sorry for my crap photo editing skills. The "second plan" the blue camera is kind of off in la-la land. Angles are approximate, I haven't fully decided on a camera yet, but likely 3.6mm's for the porch and a 6mm for the driveway.

Option 1 I have a camera on the edge of the house by the window, covers that end of the porch plus a bit of the front door area. Second camera tries to cover the front door and packages/milk boxes.

Option 2 I have a camera up on the porch eave facing toward the house that covers the window, front door (IE the back of people's heads), and package spot. Front camera is sheerly after a face ID.

Any insight/suggestions? Should I just concede and plan on the third camera for the porch? If so, what two places should I use while I save for a third porch camera?

 

[hmjgriffon]

Sorry if this is the wrong place to put this. I'm having trouble covering my "L" shaped porch and I'd like some input.

I have a big, breakable window on one end of the "L", UPS hides packages at the other end, and my front door is right in the middle. I'm trying to cover it with two cameras for the porch, three total for the front yard. Pictures are going to do a better job than words here.


Sorry for my crap photo editing skills. The "second plan" the blue camera is kind of off in la-la land. Angles are approximate, I haven't fully decided on a camera yet, but likely 3.6mm's for the porch and a 6mm for the driveway.

Option 1 I have a camera on the edge of the house by the window, covers that end of the porch plus a bit of the front door area. Second camera tries to cover the front door and packages/milk boxes.

Option 2 I have a camera up on the porch eave facing toward the house that covers the window, front door (IE the back of people's heads), and package spot. Front camera is sheerly after a face ID.

Any insight/suggestions? Should I just concede and plan on the third camera for the porch? If so, what two places should I use while I save for a third porch camera?

Build a test rig and try spots

 

[Camit]

Sorry for my crap photo editing skills. The "second plan" the blue camera is kind of off in la-la land. Angles are approximate, I haven't fully decided on a camera yet, but likely 3.6mm's for the porch and a 6mm for the driveway.

I wouldn't go with 3.6mm if you are trying to get facial ID in enter/exit spots . 3.6 is used for more of a wide viewing camera just to kinda check what's going on. Get your ID camera first then work on the wide view

Also if your mounting under the soffit anything higher then 8ft will be really hard to get good ID unless your using a camera like the starlight. So I wouldn't mount higher then 8ft

I would prob go with all 6mm for enter/exit spots with additional lighting. Once I hit all the enter/exit spot and I'm happy I would go back and get some 2.8mm for the overall wide view

 

[randytsuch]

What hmj said, trying it out and see the results helps a lot. Try during the day, and at night.
If you get varifocals, you can play with the zoom and tweak to your liking.

 

[Shbek1]

Yeah... I have a serious over planning problem. I'm intending to order some camera stuff within a month or so.

I'm definitely going to mount lower if it's acceptable, I'll know better once I have a camera or two.

I actually am trying to see if a few varifocal Starlight's are in the budget. On the 6mm - I kind of think my porch is both too wide and tight of a space to use a 6mm successfully?

 

[randytsuch]

Yeah... I have a serious over planning problem. I'm intending to order some camera stuff within a month or so.

I'm definitely going to mount lower if it's acceptable, I'll know better once I have a camera or two.

I actually am trying to see if a few varifocal Starlight's are in the budget. On the 6mm - I kind of think my porch is both too wide and tight of a space to use a 6mm successfully?

I can be the same in the planning department.

I started by buying one varifocal camera, and played with it a bit. I have a few fixed cameras that I bought after seeing how the varifocal looked.

Since shipping is normally "free", you can buy one varifocal starlight, mount it on a 2x4, get a long piece of ethernet cable, and move it around to try different locations. You'll need a POE switch to power the camera, and NVR or PC to interface to it.

Lower is probably better, head height is basically ideal since you really want a straight on shot of people's faces.

 

[hmjgriffon]

I can be the same in the planning department.

I started by buying one varifocal camera, and played with it a bit. I have a few fixed cameras that I bought after seeing how the varifocal looked.

Since shipping is normally "free", you can buy one varifocal starlight, mount it on a 2x4, get a long piece of ethernet cable, and move it around to try different locations. You'll need a POE switch to power the camera, and NVR or PC to interface to it.

Lower is probably better, head height is basically ideal since you really want a straight on shot of people's faces.

Great thing about varifocal, is you can mount it maybe 9', but farther away so the angle is more shallow and gives you a better angle on their face without having to put it way down low.