Planning and preparing is good. I did that as well for a while, though at some point it probably turned into procrastination
Unless it says varifocal in the specs with something like 2.8 - 12mm, then it is fixed focus, available in a certain lens size and the focus is fixed at the factory.
I ended up sketching out our property and garden. Printing the specs of some cams I was most interested in. Then cut out some paper wedges, tried those out on the plan and on top the ladder where I was going to hang the camera. Initially my focus was on wide coverage, but I could see that going too wide doesn't always give the identification details one needs. I did end up getting several varifocal ds-2cd2732 domes, as my spouse preferred domes and it allows for more finetuning. Though they come with the hassle of a bit more difficult install and a fair bit of up down the ladder to check on zoom and focus. And, unlike the fixed focus cameras, you don't get that infinite focus, where things are sharp from a certain point outward. So it is good to some homework and not jump in two feet forward.
There's a few members who have used the ports to hook up sensors and/or to tie into other stuff, but I haven't done so personally.
When it comes to buzzing though, there are a substantial number of false positive motion alerts that happen in the camera, due to rain, snow, wind moving plants/shrubs/branches, sun and clouds causing shadows to move on the driveway. So, you may not like a motion detected buzzer unless it is tied to a passive infrared sensor; which are a lot better at detecting warm blooded live motion.
