Looking for a simple solution for my daughter's college apartment. There have been several car break-ins in the parking lot and the management company is doing nothing. Looking for a stand alone camera that she can put in her 3rd floor window looking down at the parking lot. She can't mount to the outside of the building. There is power and strong wifi at the window. Hardwired ethernet (but not PoE without an adapter) is possible. The window is about 30 feet up and the parking lot is 25-50 feet away horizontally for a slant range of 40-60 feet. There are some lights, so don't need to try and have anything with IR that likely can't go through the window glass. It would be great to record to a SD card so she doesn't need a cloud subscription, but I'm open to a minor fee. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.
Simple solution for college apt parking lot
- Thread starter bk13
- Start date
At that distance, I would look at the 5442-Z4E:
Now keep in mind she will have to OPTICALLY zoom in to her car, so the field of view will be just about her car and not much else.
The wide angle view is nice and all, but at that distance it will be blur city if you digital zoom after the fact.
If you get anything under 32mm focal length, like the popular 2.8mm or 3.6mm it will be useless at that distance.
Look at this thread for examples of why OPTICAL zoom is needed:
ipcamtalk.com
Now keep in mind she will have to OPTICALLY zoom in to her car, so the field of view will be just about her car and not much else.
The wide angle view is nice and all, but at that distance it will be blur city if you digital zoom after the fact.
If you get anything under 32mm focal length, like the popular 2.8mm or 3.6mm it will be useless at that distance.
Look at this thread for examples of why OPTICAL zoom is needed:
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...
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fenderman
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There is nothing that will work well in those conditions...even if you capture something there wont be any plates and police wont care about her video...its a waste of money.
tangent
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Panasonic does make a window mounted camera targeted at renters but it won't be too useful from a 3rd floor window.
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get a Viper car alarm, add proximity sensors
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JeffreyStewart
n3wb
What about Wyze Cam Pan or TP-Link Kasa Spot Indoor Camera?
Last edited:
The Automation Guy
Known around here
Does she have an assigned parking spot? If she can't reliably park in the same spot every time, there is no way you'll be able to get identifying images. This is because if the camera shows a wide enough view to capture many parking spots, there won't be enough resolution on a subjects face to provide enough clarity to identify a stranger. In order to get that kind of quality, you are going to have to have a pretty narrow field of view.
So while it might be relatively easy to throw up a wi-fi camera that covers the parking lot, you will never be able to get clear enough footage from it that would actually help solve a crime.
So while it might be relatively easy to throw up a wi-fi camera that covers the parking lot, you will never be able to get clear enough footage from it that would actually help solve a crime.
Ring has an in car cam that could be an option.
ring.com
There are a number of LTE battery cams out there too, for an interior setup. Or go with a trail cam and SIM card.
Would recommend a decent car alarm as your first layer of protection though if not already on the vehicle. Something with 2 way paging.
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Ring Car Cam | Vehicle Security Camera, Motion Event Detection, Parking Mode
Help protect your car 24/7 with Ring Car Cam, the dual-facing dashboard car security camera. Two HD cameras1 with Night Vision detect and record movement, break-ins, GPS, and more. Get real-time alerts when motion is detected.
ring.com
There are a number of LTE battery cams out there too, for an interior setup. Or go with a trail cam and SIM card.
Would recommend a decent car alarm as your first layer of protection though if not already on the vehicle. Something with 2 way paging.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
For reference:
This was my coverage of the back gate with a T5442T-ZE (12mm) on the 2nd floor soffit. The install height was 20-22' with a horizontal distance to the gate of 85'.
I was definitely not going to be able to ID anyone, especially at night.
This is the replacement B5442E-Z4E (32mm) at the same 2nd floor soffit install location (L) and after I moved it down to the deck roof (R). The new distance is 11' install height with a horizontal distance of 65'.
The extra zoom helped immensely, but the image on the right has a better chance of ID.
This was my coverage of the back gate with a T5442T-ZE (12mm) on the 2nd floor soffit. The install height was 20-22' with a horizontal distance to the gate of 85'.
I was definitely not going to be able to ID anyone, especially at night.
This is the replacement B5442E-Z4E (32mm) at the same 2nd floor soffit install location (L) and after I moved it down to the deck roof (R). The new distance is 11' install height with a horizontal distance of 65'.
The extra zoom helped immensely, but the image on the right has a better chance of ID.
Thanks all for the ideas. Her car has a dash camera with a hardwire connection that will get anyone in front of the car -
I like the 5442-Z4E but she doesn't have the depth in the window for a camera that long or consistency in where she is able to park. There is only one road in and out, so a bunch of them are going to talk to the rental office to see if they will put a camera to capture the complex entry.
I'll also have her share the Panasonic model mentioned with the guy on the first floor that had his car window broken if he is on the parking lot side of the building.
I like the 5442-Z4E but she doesn't have the depth in the window for a camera that long or consistency in where she is able to park. There is only one road in and out, so a bunch of them are going to talk to the rental office to see if they will put a camera to capture the complex entry.
I'll also have her share the Panasonic model mentioned with the guy on the first floor that had his car window broken if he is on the parking lot side of the building.
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Flintstone61
Known around here
Ok so put a Diehard in the trunk, and wire in some small cams. run an " engine on" hot wire to it for recharging. or 2 IPC-Color4K-T180 inside a Carbones Pizza Delivery roof sign....