Setting up cameras

[Vfoosh]

Hi, I am a newbie delving into the world of security cameras. I am looking to install a few around my house mainly for detection. I had a look at a few threads and it seems like the IPC-T5442T-ZE is a good camera to start off with. I plan on using it to figure out what focal lengths I need for the different areas of my house. I don't plan to run cables until I get all my cameras. I'm not sure if I will use a NVR or Blue Iris yet but I do like the simplicity of NVR.

What's the best way to power the camera and view the image to test out various locations? Thanks

 

[sebastiantombs]

The easiest thing to do is to use a PoE injector like this -

https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Passive-Injector-Ethernet-Supports/dp/B07JCB5XWF/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1NNDE24JQHIUY&keywords=poe+injector+48v&qid=1660182150&sprefix=poe+inje%2Caps%2C143&sr=8-3

 

[tigerwillow1]

I did this same job a month ago. I mounted the camera on a stick, powered it with a 12 volt drill battery, and logged into the web interface with a laptop. I carried the camera and battery, and my wife carried the laptop. I'd point the camera and when it was pointed where I wanted she clicked for a snapshot. Gathered about 50 sample images in a bit over an hour at 2 different focal lengths, ~2.8mm and 6mm. I mounted the varifocal side-by-side with a 6mm camera to set that focal length, snapped those images, then zoomed it all the way out to be close to 2.8mm. In past trials I've mounted a camera on a stick planted in a 5 gallon bucket, and on a small board that can be temporarily secured at various locations with a furniture clamp. In those cases I used a couple of long patch cables to reach up to 200' to an active network wire.

 

[Vfoosh]

logged into the web interface with a laptop

Sorry if I sound silly, but you are connecting the camera to the laptop via ethernet? Also, would you happen to have a picture of your camera on stick setup?

 

[tigerwillow1]

To connect the camera to a laptop. just run a patch cable between them and configure the laptop to a static IP address in the same subnet the camera is configured to, making a 2 device network. The stick I used was from a brush and has a handy telescoping handle. A little 12 volt gel battery would have been my first choice to power the camera, but the drill batt was what I had readily available. The biggest caution I have is to not lose the blasted little set screw in the camera base when trying to point the camera. I dropped it on a sidewalk and it took 20 minutes to find. If you drop it in the grass you're finished. (Sorry about the sideways picture. The forum software rotated it.)

 

[Vfoosh]

Cheers, that's very helpful!