New member needs some help

[wittaj]

In that case you have the camera that is obvious and then a few more not so obvious. Stick one high for overview that cannot be reached to compliment the one low to the ground.

Then hide another in a tree, birdhouse, hose reel, landscape lighting, etc.

The number of days you would get with 24/7 recording depends on size of card and the settings of the camera. 30FPS will eat up at double the rate of 15FPS as an example.

 

[samplenhold]

If you try to place a cam in a housing, chances are you will get IR bounce back at night. This will degrade your video. If you are using color at night, then shadows or flair from the lights will get you.

 

[Flintstone61]

Wittaj makes a strong point. Make SOME cameras OBVIOUS.
and then have " cameras covering cameras"where you can,,, so you can see any attempts at disabling them.
I accidentally got a " win" with the Parking lot rules that were being violated at the Condo, " No overnight parking in front lot" ( ostensibly so guests could park and visit) {A common courtesy we used to have as a Society}
When I put up 3 outdoor cameras pointing to the lot.
2 were " in your face". more in line with Active deterrence vs. passive deterrence... hanging right at the garage door looking right at you.
This accidently resulted in residents who were playing the "Fuck You " parking game, to change their tune, AND I began calling them and remnding them when weekend review of Camera's would reveal
who was an asshole and who was complying.

 

[samplenhold]

"Fuck You " parking game

IPCAMTALK Technical Term.

 

[mikey299]

Wittaj makes a strong point. Make SOME cameras OBVIOUS.
and then have " cameras covering cameras"where you can,,, so you can see any attempts at disabling them.
I accidentally got a " win" with the Parking lot rules that were being violated at the Condo, " No overnight parking in front lot" ( ostensibly so guests could park and visit) {A common courtesy we used to have as a Society}
When I put up 3 outdoor cameras pointing to the lot.
2 were " in your face". more in line with Active deterrence vs. passive deterrence... hanging right at the garage door looking right at you.
This accidently resulted in residents who were playing the "Fuck You " parking game, to change their tune, AND I began calling them and remnding them when weekend review of Camera's would reveal
who was an asshole and who was complying.

Ok but isn't the hidden camera gonna be obvious at night (IR lights and all that)?

 

[wittaj]

Ok but isn't the hidden camera gonna be obvious at night (IR lights and all that)?

Maybe or maybe not. Depends on amount of light you have and if it is in a place someone isn't expecting to see a camera, it probably won't be noticed.

Or if the obvious camera is pointing the same way, the hidden camera uses that infrared instead.

 

[mikey299]

Maybe or maybe not. Depends on amount of light you have and if it is in a place someone isn't expecting to see a camera, it probably won't be noticed.

Or if the obvious camera is pointing the same way, the hidden camera uses that infrared instead.

What If I put some lights outside my house (beside motion activated floodlights I have right now) and keep them turned on all night...would that be better (since the camera would then record in color mode) than IR? How much light would I need?

 

[wittaj]

Lights on all night is the preferred method. Go with good cameras and the amount of light needed goes down. I run typical outside house lights with the highest lumen light bulbs I can find.

Most here find that cameras and motion activated floodlights ends up causing problems with image exposure and are bad for surveillance cameras.. What happens is then the camera is momentarily blinded and you lose the ideal capture when the lights kick on and the camera adjusts from basically no light to a lot of light.

Motion activated lights are not a deterrent. There are enough videos here showing that perps do not flinch when a floodlight turns on. They avoid homes all lit up, so go with floodlights on all night.


Watch this video someone posted and how the floodlight comes on and they don't even flinch. But then the audio comes on and they don't know which way to run LOL.

https://ipcamtalk.com/attachments/whatsapp-video-2020-07-28-at-7-23-08-pm-mp4.73970/

Either keep the lights on all night or not at all to ensure the best chance of capture.

Here is usually what happens when a motion activated floodlight 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:

Or this example that completely missed the perp:

The Typical picture of a Perp on Nextdoor-type Apps with Consumer Grade Cameras like Ring, Nest, Arlo, Canary, Wyze, etc.

First off, they shouldn't buy crap NVRs. Dahua NVRs' can easily export video to a thumb drive in MP4 as can Hik's. Most of the time it is simply a matter of them not taking the time to figure it out, until they need the video NOW. I've seen BI user's be guilty of doing the same. Couldn't be...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[mikey299]

I decided that I will start with one varifocal IPC-T5442T-ZE to get my feet wet, test it and then buy another one (or more) accordingly.

I still have many questions though.

1) I took a photo with my phone where I would like to place my first camera. Is this too low? I was thinking about hiding it in a flower pot or under a christmas tree (look attachments)

2) In the previous photo you can also see my solar motion detection floodlights. I will move them somewhere else (in a place where there will be no cameras). I was also thinking about buying something like that:

https://www.amazon.com/CINOTON-Daylight-100-277Vac-Waterproof-Warehouse/dp/B0C6MD431S/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?crid=23WZ4T5VQP450&keywords=dusk+to+dawn+outdoor+lighting&qid=1693569731&sprefix=dusk+t,aps,258&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9zZWFyY2hfYXRm&psc=1

If I mount these 2 lights in the same place (instead of solar floodlights you see in the pic), would that be ok or would it be better if I'd place them somewhere else? I can't put them behind a camera cause I can't mount them anywhere (behind it it's just a garden).

Also would these lights produce enough light for the camera to run color 24/7 or do I need more of them?

Thank for the help guys. I really appreciate it. And I apologize if I'm asking too many questions. I just want to set up everything perfectly.

 

[mat200]

I decided that I will start with one varifocal IPC-T5442T-ZE to get my feet wet, test it and then buy another one (or more) accordingly.

I still have many questions though.

1) I took a photo with my phone where I would like to place my first camera. Is this too low? I was thinking about hiding it in a flower pot or under a christmas tree (look attachments)

2) In the previous photo you can also see my solar motion detection floodlights. I will move them somewhere else (in a place where there will be no cameras). I was also thinking about buying something like that:

https://www.amazon.com/CINOTON-Daylight-100-277Vac-Waterproof-Warehouse/dp/B0C6MD431S/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?crid=23WZ4T5VQP450&keywords=dusk+to+dawn+outdoor+lighting&qid=1693569731&sprefix=dusk+t,aps,258&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9zZWFyY2hfYXRm&psc=1

If I mount these 2 lights in the same place (instead of solar floodlights you see in the pic), would that be ok or would it be better if I'd place them somewhere else? I can't put them behind a camera cause I can't mount them anywhere (behind it it's just a garden).

Also would these lights produce enough light for the camera to run color 24/7 or do I need more of them?

Thank for the help guys. I really appreciate it. And I apologize if I'm asking too many questions. I just want to set up everything perfectly.

In general, we have to test a location before we really know.

sometimes lights at night affect the setup that we did not foresee

imho Looks like worth testing ..

 

[mikey299]

In general, we have to test a location before we really know.

sometimes lights at night effect the setup that we did not foresee

imho Looks like worth testing ..

So buy the camera and the lights and test mount it and experiment with both before mounting it "permanently"? As rule of thumb though, would mounting the light behind the camera (or from the side - as long as the light isn't "visible" in the picture) be better than mounting the lights in front of the camera (like I described in a previous post)?

 

[looney2ns]

Test, test, test.
Always test a proposed location for at least 24hrs, to catch any issue's.
8' 2x4, 5gal bucket, rocks for ballast, makes a good portable test rig.