apartment door camera?

[Omego2K]

Hey Guys,

I recently had an issue of packages being stolen from my front door. I live in a coop apartment and would like to get a recording camera that records the hallway outside of the door. I would like recordings to still be available even if the camera is tempered with or the camera location is from the inside. The preference is for an IP camera as I have a NAS with large storage. Additionally, if it's an IP camera it needs to be using wifi. I can settle for a camera that saves recordings to an SD card. Thanks in advance for recommendations.

 

[bp2008]

Hmm...

There are two Hikvision cameras I would recommend.

DS-2CD2532F-ISW
or
DS-2CD2432F-IW

They both have infrared night vision and SD card slots (though ideally you won't even need an SD card because you'll be saving video to your NAS).

Note that each of those cameras also has a non-wifi model and you need to specifically find the version with WiFi.

Both cameras are similar in functionality. The main difference is the 2532 is much more vandal resistant while the 2432 has a built-in speaker and a PIR motion detector. Though both cameras can do traditional motion detection based on image analysis, the PIR sensor can be used instead for better reliability if there are lighting changes or shadows in the scene.

Also, the cameras do not typically come with power supplies so you will need to find a 12 volt adapter somewhere. A 500 mA adapter should be adequate but I would go a little larger just to be safe. It is not hard to find 12v 1 amp adapters.

Of course this might all be a little silly if there is no place well out of reach to plug the camera in and position it.

 

[networkcameracritic]

I have one at home, still in the box but don't remember the brand. Basically it sticks on the door and views out your peep hole to record anyone that comes to the door on an SD card and is 720P. Runs on batteries and supposed to last about a year on batteries. If there's interest, i can test it out and do a review on it. My only issue is finding a door with a peephole, but maybe I can find someone locally in So Cal to help me test this.

You don't want a network camera as mentioned above, too much work trying to run wire or power to a door (rarely an outlet by the door in an apartment) and most apartments/condos won't allow you to mount it outside. Then you have to worry about the wire twisting each time you open/close the door and would look ugly.