Where would one typically place cameras for a standard raised ranch?

[cage771]

Thanks @Kawboy12R , I plan on having a camera on the far right under the roof soffit facing the driveway area that will have IR also.



@cage771, idealy how many cameras would you recommend for the outside and where? I may be able to convince myself to splurge on more cameras sooner than later.

I just got my cable and accessories in from Monoprice this morning so I am hoping to get this started this weekend!

Myself, I like "cross washes". Basically, two cameras in front and two in the back covering a wide angle view of all entry points, paths of entry, and yards. One in each corner. This would be a basic and minimum setup.

I would then add cameras to provide closer in shots to help with identification.

In your case, I like the shot you put in today. Good shot of the vehicle, approach, and ability to ID a person. I'd put another one from the opposite side or a tighter shop mounted higher. For your backyard, one up high to catch the ground level window and door with a tight zoom and an additional one to catch the ID of someone on your deck (although the cam on that corner might work fine depending upon lens and FOV).

After all of that, I would add some bullets mount high at the peaks of your home with a wide angle and pointed down to catch anyone walking around back. This is not a big deal (unless you have ground level windows there as well) but it might be useful in the future when you have some more disposable income.

A side note on the camera that you took the screen shot of today. You have your neighbors entire house and yard in the shot. Depending upon the jurisdiction, if they found out that you were recording their comings and goings you might have a legal issue. I try and keep private property out of my shots for that reason. Just some advice, but try and keep everything low profile.

Hope this helps!!

 

[fenderman]

A side note on the camera that you took the screen shot of today. You have your neighbors entire house and yard in the shot. Depending upon the jurisdiction, if they found out that you were recording their comings and goings you might have a legal issue. I try and keep private property out of my shots for that reason. Just some advice, but try and keep everything low profile.

Nowhere in the United States is this even remotely an issue.

 

[BillG]

You really can't even see the camera even when looking for it until you are next to it. What do you guys think?

Won't the IR glow make it stick out at night ?

 

[cage771]

Nowhere in the United States is this even remotely an issue.

I'm going to politely call BS on this statement as recording private property can become a civil issue very quickly. But that's not the point of the thread so no need to argue the minutia.

 

[fenderman]

I'm going to politely call BS on this statement as recording private property can become a civil issue very quickly. But that's not the point of the thread so no need to argue the minutia.

No it cannot. You simply dont have a grasp on the law. Please point to a single federal, state or local ordinance that prohibits this. I am permitted by law to film anywhere, where there is no expectation of privacy. My neighbor has no expectation of privacy on his front lawn. I as well as everyone else can see what is going on with the naked eye. If you are not familiar with the law, its best not to dispense legal advice online..

 

[rufunky]

Myself, I like "cross washes". Basically, two cameras in front and two in the back covering a wide angle view of all entry points, paths of entry, and yards. One in each corner. This would be a basic and minimum setup.

I would then add cameras to provide closer in shots to help with identification.

In your case, I like the shot you put in today. Good shot of the vehicle, approach, and ability to ID a person. I'd put another one from the opposite side or a tighter shop mounted higher. For your backyard, one up high to catch the ground level window and door with a tight zoom and an additional one to catch the ID of someone on your deck (although the cam on that corner might work fine depending upon lens and FOV).

After all of that, I would add some bullets mount high at the peaks of your home with a wide angle and pointed down to catch anyone walking around back. This is not a big deal (unless you have ground level windows there as well) but it might be useful in the future when you have some more disposable income.


Hope this helps!!

Thanks for the feedback. I decided to take a left over IPC-HDW5231R-Z 2.7mm camera home today so That will be a total of 4 CAMERAS for now. I am going to take your suggestion.

Red circles indicate location of cams.
-The front will have one under the roof soffit on the far right aiming down toward the door and yard. The other one I installed yesterday under the over hand in front of the basement window on the left.
-The Back I will have one under the roof soffit on the far left aiming down toward the door/ window and yard. The last cam will go either far right ( light right there may be an issue) covering the deck and back upstairs door/window or next to the window facing the same direction as the far left camera.

Not sure what option would be best. Thoughts??

 

[Kawboy12R]

You want one as close to the door as possible. I'd probably put it to the right of the door looking a bit towards the door itself and windows.

 

[cage771]

Thanks for the feedback. I decided to take a left over IPC-HDW5231R-Z 2.7mm camera home today so That will be a total of 4 CAMERAS for now. I am going to take your suggestion.

Red circles indicate location of cams.
-The front will have one under the roof soffit on the far right aiming down toward the door and yard. The other one I installed yesterday under the over hand in front of the basement window on the left.
-The Back I will have one under the roof soffit on the far left aiming down toward the door/ window and yard. The last cam will go either far right ( light right there may be an issue) covering the deck and back upstairs door/window or next to the window facing the same direction as the far left camera.

Not sure what option would be best. Thoughts??

View attachment 19899 View attachment 19900

On the last camera in the back on the far right, I would opt for position 1 to keep from having the light over rule the shot. I would angle it so that the approach was on one edge of the shot and down enough to catch more of that first floor man door, If you put the camera of the the opposite side of the light (position 2 per your pic), you might end up flooding your camera (and probably little chance of seeing your first floor door and window). In this particular case, run enough cable so that if you need to move it you can.

Your choices in placement and shots are very good!

 

[rufunky]

The more I think about the more I think option 1 for the back ( or maybe even to the left of that window) would be the better option not only due to the light being in view of the camera but also the bugs that light will attract when the motion sensor sets it off! Also, as soon as someone walks around the corner from the side steps the would almost certainly look right up at the camera instinctively. Oh and the way the door opens they would most likely have their back facing the camera if it was by the light.

I ran into a slight issue with that cam I installed ( someone had mentioned this earlier). The IR reflects off the shingle over hang so I had to disable the IR. Lucky for me, I have a street light right next to my driveway and the night picture isn't all that bad even with no IR. The other camera will have an IR so it should also help brighten up the picture when I install it. Worst case, I can install an IR blaster somewhere in the vicinity. Possibly could rig something inside that lamp post...Oh on another note I have two flood lights that are set on motion detection right above the door that light up the yard like a baseball field haha

Below is a picture at night with no IR:

 

[rufunky]

Finally got around to doing the preinstall, install. You know, the one before you commit to drilling a hole in the soffit lol.

I still have to test tonight to make sure the motion light does not conflict with the location seeing it is sort of facing the light ( may have to fiddle with WDR settings for night.

So as you can see I went with option 1 ( from my post earlier in this thread) Would love to hear everyone's thoughts positive and negative ( I can still move it!)

PS
The different standing positions were to make sure if a taller person was in the picture that I wasn't cutting off their head. I'm only 5'9

 

[rufunky]

I still have to test tonight to make sure the motion light does not conflict with the location seeing it is sort of facing the light ( may have to fiddle with WDR settings for night.

Looks good and didn't have to turn on WDR either.

 

[bigredfish]

You wouldnt typically want WDR on at night anyway, it will increase motion blur.

Looks good!

 

[rufunky]

You wouldnt typically want WDR on at night anyway, it will increase motion blur.

Oh thanks, good to know!

 

[rufunky]

OK, so I left the temp install over night and the one thing that was kind of bothering me was that I didn't have the rear corner of the deck right where the kitchen window is in the lens. I tested it and if someone made their way into that corner they would be able to mess around with that window off cam. ( and also the camera being above the window is harder to reach opposed being able to just stand under it and moving it from the deck.

I decided to try it with the cam centered above the window. This moved it 2.5ft further from the two deck entrances and the back door meaning 2.5ft further from said bad guy. I took screen shots of both positions and really would like some opinions as I want to make this permanent by the end of the day.

You can get an idea of the change in distance by the IVS lines as they are the same intrusion zones.

 

[Kawboy12R]

Why not put it on the other side of the door shooting a bit at an angle across the steps and catching most of your back yard?

 

[rufunky]

Why not put it on the other side of the door shooting a bit at an angle across the steps and catching most of your back yard?

I decided against that for a few reasons. That angle will catch the back of people's heads due to placement of the side steps and the way that the door opens. Also, the flood light would be directly below it. It's on a motion sensor and at night it's a moth hang out.

 

[Kawboy12R]

Gotcha. I'd still go for nailing 99% of your foot traffic better by putting it beside the door shooting out the steps, so if the other side is a moth party and you want to avoid more motion alert false positives then the opposite side of the door to the light but still shooting down the steps.

 

[rufunky]

Gotcha. I'd still go for nailing 99% of your foot traffic better by putting it beside the door shooting out the steps, so if the other side is a moth party and you want to avoid more motion alert false positives then the opposite side of the door to the light but still shooting down the steps.

The big set of steps is mostly used for access to and from the backyard. You probably can't tell from the pictures here but to the right of the door is a staircase that leads to a path to the front of the house. This is the way people come in if they are going through the back door. On another note I have another camera going up that i'll be placing on the far left back side of the house angled to get a overall coverage of the backyard including the the deck as there is a window under it and a door next to it (ground level). That is the plan anyway. If that doesn't pan out I could always add one more camera in the back.

 

[rufunky]

Temp install of Camera 3...

I plastic wrapped the connection and taped the hell out of it so I can leave this up for a couple nights before committing. Suggestions, thoughts and opinions are welcome!

 

[Kawboy12R]

Shows basically the whole back yard and the stairs. Looks good for an overview cam. For a better one-cam-shows-everything-important solution, try and catch more of the deck, but you'd have to balance that against less of the right side fence area. A big IR Illuminator or two pointed at the back fence line would greatly help distance vision at night.