Need Recommendation for Cameras

[mbh]

Hello everyone, I am using Blue Iris, and I am looking for some recommendations on cameras for my new house.

I am thinking of doing an Annke NCD800 or DS-2CD2387G2P-LSU/SLD on the front left of the garage so I only have to use one camera for the front
The doorbell will be reolink video doorbell POE

For the other cameras, I am really open to ideas; I am thinking of Reloink RLC-822A or Hikivision DS-2CD2387G2-LU.

Thank you...

 

[wittaj]

What are your goals? To IDENTIFY or simply Detect and know when something happened?

Do you want good night vision?

 

[Ri22o]

That's a lot of interior walls.

Unfortunately, unless you only care about the one area, you will need more than one camera on the front of the house if you are serious about installing a system.

What is the layout of your lot?
What is the proximity of your house to your neighbors?
What is your setback from the road?
What will the ambient light be like at night?
What is your budget?

 

[The Automation Guy]

The labeled size of bedroom 2 is wrong.... It's not 13'4" by 14'. It's only 11'4" by 13'4".

 

[Ri22o]

I am seeing 13'4". The 13'8" noted below less 3.5" for stud and .5" for drywall is 13'4"?

6'8" to the center of that wall, doubled, is also 13'4"?

 

[Ri22o]

The labeled size of bedroom 2 is wrong.... It's not 13'4" by 14'. It's only 11'4" by 13'4".

I see what happened now. Yes, you are correct.

 

[The Automation Guy]

Yeah, there are really two issue with the original size label. First is the obvious size error, and the second is that it isn't consistent with the other sizes listed (which are listed "horizontal" first and "vertical" second). So the 13'4" size is correct, but should be listed second for consistency. Actually that's probably how the actual size error occurred..... the drafter simply looked at the bedroom below to get the second number, but didn't pay enough attention to realize it represented the vertical measurement in that room and not the horizontal measurement.

 

[mbh]

Everyone thank you for your help already, I will do my best to consolidate most of your questions within this reply, I will also upload a different photo. I used the unifi design center to get a visual representation of what I have in mind in regarding where the cameras will be looking...

@wittaj

My goal is to detect if something is going on around the house and then, Identify if they get closer to an access point.

@Ri22o

What is the layout of your lot?
The layout of my lot is rectangular, with front and back yard being larger than the ~10-15ft between my house and the fence

What is the proximity of your house to your neighbors?
Right side neighbor (garage side) ~15-10ft
Left side neighbor (bedrooms side) ~10-15ft
Rear fence ~30ft

What is your setback from the road?
~25-35ft

What will the ambient light be like at night?
The ambient light will be motion sensor flood light in the front of the house (driveway), maybe one next to the garage, other than that the backyard and side (with bedrooms) will not have additional lighting at sleeping times.

What is your budget?
Budget is not much of an issue, I do not want to be paying more than I would have if I went with the 5 G4 Pro's and G4 Doorbell, because if I am this is all in because I could've just done that.

I hope I answered all questions pertinent to my issue, and thank all of you for your help.
-
My Secondary Question:

I am looking for a good option for 3 interior cameras that play well with blue iris, RSTP, any recommendation on that would be a great help as well.

 

[wittaj]

OK so you will want to stay away from cameras called "full color" as they cannot see infrared, so it will be pitch black images at night.

The white light LED full color cameras have lights that are either ON or OFF. They are not motion activated. The goal is to get a clean capture of someone and the light kicking on can cause problems to the exposure.

Keep in mind that motion sensor lights can be problematic for cameras.

Here is usually what happens when a motion activated light comes on - it just about completely blinds the camera right at the moment of optimal opportunity to get the picture. There are 3 deer in this picture and two of them are lost in the blinded white while the camera's exposure adjusts to the rapid change in available light:

We have seen some cheapo cameras take 5-15 seconds to adjust to the light difference - a perp is gone in that time.

There are things you can do to try to minimize that bloom and temporary exposure issue, but most here either run with the light on all night or not at all. You would have to experiment and see if it impedes a clean capture.

I think most of us would suggest getting one good varifocal like the 5442-ZE and test it at different spots.

Are you interested in being able to read plates? If so that is a different camera that serves just that purpose and more MP won't make a 2.8mm camera read plates at the street.

Also take a look at this thread that shows the most recommended cameras based on distance to IDENTIFY. They represent what most feel are the best in terms of price, performance day and night, and cost.

The Importance of Focal Length over MP in camera selection

At the urging of several folks here, I created a thread to show the importance of focal length and how focal length can be more important than megapixels (MP). I mentioned some of this in the post regarding The Hookup’s latest video demonstrating different cameras, including one sold from a...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[Ri22o]

For interior cameras, it depends on how obtrusive you want them to be. I use a couple different ones inside my house.

T5442TM-AS in the Kitchen and Loft.
IPC-K42A in my daughter's Playroom as a monitor.
IPC-E3241F-AS-M in my Office.


@wittaj 's post covered most of the responses.

The typical recommendation is starting with front coverage and then adding from there.

Front door at face level
Package drop area
Looking back at your door
Driveway x2

 

[Ri22o]

This is something I put together quick and I feel is a good starting point, but would also like to see what others have to say. There are definitely some areas that are lacking, but they can come later. The Dahua (Loryta/Empiretech) cameras that Andy (@EMPIRETECANDY) sells are priced almost 3:1 to the Unifi cams and are very good. You will be able to get more and much better coverage by having the ability to have more cameras. You will also be able to give each camera a job and get more usable footage than if you tried to have each one wear too many hats.

Ignore the camera names.
Red are varifocal.
Green are 3.6mm
Blue is 2.8mm

FOVs are arbitrary, but hopefully you get the idea.

For reference, check out my thread. You might find some of the info and images helpful when it comes to camera placement and focal length and actually seeing what you want to see with a given camera.

 

[mattp]

One thing to keep in mind is that if you are placing the cameras on soffits up-high, the effective area to be able to capture a good face shot is reduced to something maybe like this:

 

[Ri22o]

One thing to keep in mind is that if you are placing the cameras on soffits up-high, the effective area to be able to capture a good face shot is reduced to something maybe like this:
View attachment 163238

Yes, sorry. Thanks.

Ideally these would want to be installed at 7-8'.

And, for clarification, are you saying ID would be in the red or the yellow? Higher up, with full zoom, I would expect better ID in the yellow than the red.

 

[mattp]

Yes, sorry. Thanks.

Ideally these would want to be installed at 7-8'.

And, for clarification, are you saying ID would be in the red or the yellow? Higher up, with full zoom, I would expect better ID in the yellow than the red.

Yes, that's exactly the case. Though at 8' up the yellow area (where they can be ID'd) would be bigger. I have 10' ceilings and the house is off the ground. So, my cameras are something like 12' up.
Hey @wittaj, how close should he be able to ID people with cameras mounted at 8'? I'd guess something like 10 or 15 feet.

 

[wittaj]

That is correct at 8 feet he should be able to ID people at 15 feet out or so with a 2.8 or 3.6mm lens.

 

[Ri22o]

Yes, that's exactly the case. Though at 8' up the yellow area (where they can be ID'd) would be bigger. I have 10' ceilings and the house is off the ground. So, my cameras are something like 12' up.
Hey @wittaj, how close should he be able to ID people with cameras mounted at 8'? I'd guess something like 10 or 15 feet.

That is what I thought, but wanted to make sure.

I know he has a hat blocking his face, but this is about 20' on the horizontal and mounted at 9.5'. (5442 varifocal at full 12mm)

 

[mbh]

Another question, what is the difference between a bullet and turret? Guessing pro’s and con’s for each.

 

[mbh]

This is something I put together quick and I feel is a good starting point, but would also like to see what others have to say. There are definitely some areas that are lacking, but they can come later. The Dahua (Loryta/Empiretech) cameras that Andy (@EMPIRETECANDY) sells are priced almost 3:1 to the Unifi cams and are very good. You will be able to get more and much better coverage by having the ability to have more cameras. You will also be able to give each camera a job and get more usable footage than if you tried to have each one wear too many hats.

Ignore the camera names.
Red are varifocal.
Green are 3.6mm
Blue is 2.8mm

FOVs are arbitrary, but hopefully you get the idea.

For reference, check out my thread. You might find some of the info and images helpful when it comes to camera placement and focal length and actually seeing what you want to see with a given camera.

View attachment 163237

You are the man! Thank you so much!!

 

[wittaj]

Mainly comes down to personal preference.

The bullets usually do better at night because they can have more IR than turrets (typically 4 on bullet and 2 on turret)

Now some turrets will add a microphone that their bullet counterpart doesn't have.

But above a certain focal length, usually around 14mm or so, you have to go to bullet or PTZ camera for the larger focal lengths.

 

[Ri22o]

I prefer turrets when possible because they don't scream "security camera!!!" as much as the bullets do, but there can be some trade offs as noted above.