In ground camera placement ideas

T

tran383

Getting comfortable
Jan 5, 2017
31
32
Los Angeles, CA
Looking for some camera options to install pointing left and right in the spot marked below. We originally wanted to install a fence and mount the cameras on the fence but decided not to build the fence so I have two CAT6 burial runs under the rocks. Would love to see some ideas of what people have done, was thinking a large boulder and bullets on each size with some plants around it. Is the low placement ideal for an LPR on one of the cameras, thoughts, suggestions, comments? Thanks.

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One of the best idea i have seen on this forum for camera mounting is using a ground landscape light fixture, remove the insides and add a camera.
Or install an outdoor pole with a light, install the cameras in the pole.
 
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tran383 said:
was thinking a large boulder and bullets on each size with some plants around it.
Click to expand...

Love your front yard. Drought tolerant and no mowing.

My mind turns towards using some of those larger rocks you have used to do the boundary along the footpath there.

Ground mount the cameras on a small concrete slab using junction boxes, paint everything to match, and then stack the rocks over them so the cameras are peeking out from within the pile of rocks. If you wanted to be able to remove the cover and replace it easily you could make a base that covered the cameras out of marine ply, glue the rocks to that, and then bolt the whole thing down.

Remember the LPR camera is useless for anything else at night, so if you want to cover the footpath you may need to run some more cables.

I'd probably go for a B5442-Z4 for LPR and a couple of T5442 in 6mm to cover the footpath in each direction
 
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Only issue I can think of with the rocks being placed is IR back reflection clouding the image. None of my cameras like anything near their lens unless the object is way off axis. Otherwise, it's halo city when the IR illuminator comes on. I guess you could also go with separate illuminators.
 
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guykuo said:
Only issue I can think of with the rocks being placed is IR back reflection clouding the image. None of my cameras like anything near their lens unless the object is way off axis. Otherwise, it's halo city when the IR illuminator comes on. I guess you could also go with separate illuminators.
Click to expand...

What angle lenses do you have on those on those cameras?
 
It's really not a matter of the lens angle. It's the IR illuminators output cone touching any nearby objects and reflecting back onto the front glass of the camera. That creates halos whenever the IR is on. You can demonstrate this yourself by putting objects within a foot of the camera but just out of the lens peripheral vision. You won't see the offending object, but you will see the IR halo from its back reflection onto the camera. Just something to be aware of if you plan to use the built-in IR.

If you want LPR and scenery at night, you might consider wiring for eventually four cameras at that location. Two for LPR. Two for scenery. I know I wish I had wired for four cameras in a similar location. I'd show you a pict of my lamp post with two PTZ's mounted, but that would stick out like sore thumb in your setting.
 
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guykuo said:
It's the IR illuminators output cone touching any nearby objects and reflecting back onto the front glass of the camera
Click to expand...

He'd probably need to do a few tests stacks, but I don't see that being an issue unless he starts placing rocks in or near the FOV forward of the lens, especially if he is using 6mm or longer lenses.
 
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guykuo said:
It's really not a matter of the lens angle. It's the IR illuminators output cone touching any nearby objects and reflecting back onto the front glass of the camera. That creates halos whenever the IR is on. You can demonstrate this yourself by putting objects within a foot of the camera but just out of the lens peripheral vision. You won't see the offending object, but you will see the IR halo from its back reflection onto the camera. Just something to be aware of if you plan to use the built-in IR.

If you want LPR and scenery at night, you might consider wiring for eventually four cameras at that location. Two for LPR. Two for scenery. I know I wish I had wired for four cameras in a similar location. I'd show you a pict of my lamp post with two PTZ's mounted, but that would stick out like sore thumb in your setting.
Click to expand...

I thought about a lamp post or something but it just doesn't blend well. I can drop a few T5442 6mm to see what it looks like at night. The goal is to blend it in to the landscape just to see what's happening closer to the street level around the front yard, I do have a few other cameras mounted closer to the house but I'd figure I make use of the lines I've already dropped. Now I need to find a way to mount the turrets in the landscape to make it feel somewhat natural. Probably won't do a LPR in this spot. Thanks for all the suggestions.
 
SyconsciousAu said:
Love your front yard. Drought tolerant and no mowing.

My mind turns towards using some of those larger rocks you have used to do the boundary along the footpath there.

Ground mount the cameras on a small concrete slab using junction boxes, paint everything to match, and then stack the rocks over them so the cameras are peeking out from within the pile of rocks. If you wanted to be able to remove the cover and replace it easily you could make a base that covered the cameras out of marine ply, glue the rocks to that, and then bolt the whole thing down.

Remember the LPR camera is useless for anything else at night, so if you want to cover the footpath you may need to run some more cables.

I'd probably go for a B5442-Z4 for LPR and a couple of T5442 in 6mm to cover the footpath in each direction
Click to expand...

Thanks for the mounting and camera suggestions. I'll give those a try. I left of a lot of cable in that area so there's some room to play with for placement, just need to bring in a few more large rocks to blend it in.
 
Have you seen the fake landscaping rocks? Like those shown here (just as an example):

Bargain Fake Rocks & Landscaping Products ⋆ RocksFast.com

How to buy fake rocks the right way! DekoRRa Mock Rocks look like real stone and cover ugly wells, septics and more. Important tips & Free Shipping here.
rocksfast.com

I considered doing that for a big pond that I have but never got around to it. Most I saw at the time weren't all that great looking but I didn't really look very hard. That would be easy and blend in well (assuming a good representation at least).
 
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Played around with this fixture tonight and it looks like it might work. It’s a pretty tight fit inside so I’ll need to see if anything needs to be added inside to cushion it bit. Looks like I won’t be able to use the IR because of the glass. I would have to strip the cat6 cable shielding to be able to fit it inside the original holes and terminate the cable inside the fixture. Thoughts?

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I would paint the camera black and not worry about putting that piece of glass back over it. Nobody will notice the camera if it is black inside the container. I would then have the camera up closer to the lip of that fixture so that you could run IR and not get bounce off that.

Can you send a pic of the UPC or box or something that the fixture came in - I haven't been able to find one large enough.
 
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wittaj said:
I would paint the camera black and not worry about putting that piece of glass back over it. Nobody will notice the camera if it is black inside the container. I would then have the camera up closer to the lip of that fixture so that you could run IR and not get bounce off that.

Can you send a pic of the UPC or box or something that the fixture came in - I haven't been able to find one large enough.
Click to expand...

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I think there’s a lot of glare and hazy from the glass lens so more tinkering tonight and took the advice and just popped the glass out and did some Plasti Dip work on the camera. Was thinking I can set the camera in the fixture and then run a bead of black silicone around the camera to keep it in place since the glass isn’t there to push up against it anymote. Here’s some more photos.

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Really like this idea as I have a similar desert landscape. Where did you get that fixture do you have a product link for it?
 
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