Thoughts on Camera Placement?

[JaredC01]

Hi all, ipcam newbie, but I've been working in the technology business all my life. Recently moved away from a big internet / tv / telephone provider (that I worked for), and moved from their security system over to a Smartthings ADT self-hosted system, and I'm adding 4 IP cameras to my system along with re-purposing an indoor IP camera running on Blue Iris (just purchased).

I've got all of the hardware portions covered, so at this point I just need opinions on placement of the cameras. I've gotta approve all decisions with the wife, so these will be preliminary locations, but here's what I'm planning and why:

The back of my house is surrounded by neighbors, most of them with good size dogs, and I'm friends with all of them. I'm not worried about anyone getting to my backyard, as they would have to get through multiple yards to do so. I can also add additional cameras down the road if this becomes an issue, but all of the rear doors and windows do have alarm sensors on them as well.

The driveway side (back left-most) of the house has 3 total windows, all of them in front of the camera so they're all visible. The opposite side (back right-most) has two windows that can be entered, both of them in front of the camera so they're all visible. I think this will work fine.

The front of the house is where it's a bit trickier. I don't have a recessed underhang to make the cameras less visible, and the wife won't go for a camera straight above the door (and I believe the screen door would hit it if I tried to put it there). What I'd like to do, is put one camera near the front right corner (front right, left-most) of the house, facing towards our front door walkway, with enough direction to get people walking on the sidewalk from that corner of the house, all the way up to the front door. The other camera (front right, right-most) would either face straight out, or slightly to the opposite side of the street, in order to cover everything from both directions and straight out. I'll probably end up shifting the cameras to the left a bit from where they are in the image above, and the Field of View that I put on the image is obviously narrow compared to the actual field on the cameras.

Does this sound like a good setup to cover all bases (side rear of the house)?

For reference, the cameras I'm using are Reolink RLC-420-5MP, and I will be setting up a separate VLAN for the cameras, while tying the Blue Iris controller into both the camera and the primary networks for network access via local LAN and through my VPN at remotely.

 

[Q™]

A couple of thoughts.

First, did you read through the ipct.com wiki?

Next, my guess is that you didn’t or else you wouldn’t be planning on using Reolink cameras (widely considered junk).

Last, regarding placement, Looneyism #1 teaches us “do you want to see what happened, or do you want to see who did it?” Therefore, place your cameras lower and consider utilizing more cameras.

And read through the Wiki...

IPCamTalk WiKi | IP Cam Talk

 

[mat200]

Hi all, ipcam newbie, ....
...

Welcome @JaredC01

I suspect you're going to want to setup a the test bucket rig and see for yourself what possible positions work best.

Definitely review the cliff notes, and do get a decent camera to start testing with. Most of us really like the Dahua OEM 2MP starlight models - and you can find a nice varifocal version of that w/o audio recording which will do a nice job.

Remember also to consider your potential threats, as it - your layout looks like the car parked on the garage will not be well covered.

Do look at the IPVM calculator to help determine better placement of the 2 cameras on the sides of the house, and do think about a camera(s) covering your driveway to sidewalk.

 

[Barboots]

The front cameras might be better crossed over one another?

 

[JaredC01]

A couple of thoughts.

First, did you read through the ipct.com wiki?

Next, my guess is that you didn’t or else you wouldn’t be planning on using Reolink cameras (widely considered junk).

Last, regarding placement, Looneyism #1 teaches us “do you want to see what happened, or do you want to see who did it?” Therefore, place your cameras lower and consider utilizing more cameras.

And read through the Wiki...

IPCamTalk WiKi | IP Cam Talk

I did look through the wiki, however most of the info there is knowledge I already have. The cameras were bought for a steal on a Black Friday deal, and it was cheap enough for the wife to okay the purchase. My plan is to show the wife that they're worth investing in, and replacing them with better cameras as the Reolink's fail, along with adding any additional cameras to cover dead zones.

I'll keep in mind the "lower is better" and re-evaluate my locations.

Welcome @JaredC01

I suspect you're going to want to setup a the test bucket rig and see for yourself what possible positions work best.

Definitely review the cliff notes, and do get a decent camera to start testing with. Most of us really like the Dahua OEM 2MP starlight models - and you can find a nice varifocal version of that w/o audio recording which will do a nice job.

Remember also to consider your potential threats, as it - your layout looks like the car parked on the garage will not be well covered.

Do look at the IPVM calculator to help determine better placement of the 2 cameras on the sides of the house, and do think about a camera(s) covering your driveway to sidewalk.

Thanks for the link and the calculator info, I'll definitely take a look! Worth noting, I don't actually have a garage, do you mean the driveway? My driveway literally borders my property line, so getting a camera to view the opposite side of the car is going to be practically impossible. My wife and I do park at the end of our driveway closest the street, so I think we'll have most of it covered from the front.

The front cameras might be better crossed over one another?

I'm thinking you might be right, it would get traffic coming and going from my front door if I do.

 

[looney2ns]

I did look through the wiki, however most of the info there is knowledge I already have. The cameras were bought for a steal on a Black Friday deal, and it was cheap enough for the wife to okay the purchase. My plan is to show the wife that they're worth investing in, and replacing them with better cameras as the Reolink's fail, along with adding any additional cameras to cover dead zones.

I'll keep in mind the "lower is better" and re-evaluate my locations.



Thanks for the link and the calculator info, I'll definitely take a look! Worth noting, I don't actually have a garage, do you mean the driveway? My driveway literally borders my property line, so getting a camera to view the opposite side of the car is going to be practically impossible. My wife and I do park at the end of our driveway closest the street, so I think we'll have most of it covered from the front.



I'm thinking you might be right, it would get traffic coming and going from my front door if I do.

Study the cliff notes, it answers all of your questions. Do so on a real computer, not your phone.

 

[Skizz]

I have almost an identical house layout to you with the small notch on the back left of the property. After reading the cliff notes I'm going to be crossing the cameras in the front and adding a dual camera facing out the walk way and one down at the door step. I'm also planning on crossing them in the back to cover the back door and putting one on each side facing th the street. The only problem is that I'll max out my 8 ports at that point and I won't have one dome for the back door.

From what little i've learned so far you want to cover the easiest entry points which are the street windows and front door and back door and then sides.

 

[mat200]

I have almost an identical house layout to you with the small notch on the back left of the property. After reading the cliff notes I'm going to be crossing the cameras in the front and adding a dual camera facing out the walk way and one down at the door step. I'm also planning on crossing them in the back to cover the back door and putting one on each side facing th the street. The only problem is that I'll max out my 8 ports at that point and I won't have one dome for the back door.

From what little i've learned so far you want to cover the easiest entry points which are the street windows and front door and back door and then sides.

Welcome Skizz,

You'll need to decide what the typical threats you're expecting.

Normally we see frequent door checkers at night, package thieves in the day.

So just for the front of the house I am looking at 2 cameras on the garage, 1-2 by the front door, perhaps one more on the side of the house opposite to the garage / driveway.

So that's 4-5 cameras already.

As you noted, it is easy to hit or exceed the 8 channels on an NVR w/1 camera per side ( +2 ), one camera covering the back or side door at eye level ( +1 ), and then any backyard cameras.