Comments on suggestion for two cameras on front door

Plarsson

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Hi,

Could use your comments on placement of two cameras at my front door. See the three pictures attached

As you can see there are some lights to the right of the door and the door swings open to the left.
My thoughts
  • A wedge cam (eg E3541F) to the right of the door, placed just beside the lights at eye level. Hopefully uneffected by the lights. Will capture person walking up to the door, standing at the door with good face shot, also when door is open. The E3541F is wife approved :)
  • A turrent (5442) in the ceiling to the left. not visible from street. This partly covers when someone standing at the door, but perhaps not very well when door is open. Should not capture the lights for disturbance. Deliveries, such as UPS, DHL etc always put packages on the little bench to right, so the camera should cover it. Could possibly be a replaced by cheaper camera.

I do know about the cliff notes, and testing before setting the positions. But to have some cameras to test with, i would need to buy them first ;) Then it is good with a first initial guess and comments from you guys.
 

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Plarsson

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Since I dont get any comment, Im assuming I will have the perfect setup ;)
 

sebastiantombs

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General comment is that you don't want a camera higher than, at most, seven feet if you want to really be able to ID someone. The one on the ceiling, in the corner, will give you excellent shots of the top of heads only.
 

Plarsson

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General comment is that you don't want a camera higher than, at most, seven feet if you want to really be able to ID someone. The one on the ceiling, in the corner, will give you excellent shots of the top of heads only.
Agree. It is maninly for package delivery. The wedge cam should take care of the ID, at least that was my intent.
 

SouthernYankee

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i have a front door covered by 4 cameras, the first one is in the ceiling pointed at the package drop area . The second is in the door bell, for a good face shot. The third is down low point back at the door, like where your pumpkin is. The fourth camera is inside the house point at the front door.

Yes I believe in over kill . Plus you have to get pass the dogs that sit in the front court yard. My two main delivery people know my dogs by name and and walk up to the front door. Amazon keeps changing there delivery people, thy never open the court yard gate. :)

Test your locations, can you identify the person at night, if the person is looking down and wearing a hoodie ?
 

Plarsson

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My front door is very visible from the street. The backyard door on the other hand is not at all visible from outside and the area is quite dark. Will be much more difficult to cover with cameras. I will use the cameras I buy for the front door to check locations for backyard door. There will probably be a thread asking for your expert help on it...
 

mat200

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Hi,

Could use your comments on placement of two cameras at my front door. See the three pictures attached

As you can see there are some lights to the right of the door and the door swings open to the left.
My thoughts
  • A wedge cam (eg E3541F) to the right of the door, placed just beside the lights at eye level. Hopefully uneffected by the lights. Will capture person walking up to the door, standing at the door with good face shot, also when door is open. The E3541F is wife approved :)
  • A turrent (5442) in the ceiling to the left. not visible from street. This partly covers when someone standing at the door, but perhaps not very well when door is open. Should not capture the lights for disturbance. Deliveries, such as UPS, DHL etc always put packages on the little bench to right, so the camera should cover it. Could possibly be a replaced by cheaper camera.

I do know about the cliff notes, and testing before setting the positions. But to have some cameras to test with, i would need to buy them first ;) Then it is good with a first initial guess and comments from you guys.
Hi @Plarsson

Basics look good.. I'd move the camera by the door to 5' .. I want a straight on facial ID image.. in fact now with hats and masks thieves are looking down more...

remember to test the placements
 

Plarsson

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Hi @Plarsson

Basics look good.. I'd move the camera by the door to 5' .. I want a straight on facial ID image.. in fact now with hats and masks thieves are looking down more...

remember to test the placements
That's a good comment, will have that in mind. Thanks!
Let's hope that the light won't distort the picture. That's one of my concerns with the wedge cam placement.
 
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Let's hope that the light won't distort the picture. That's one of my concerns with the wedge cam placement.
Mount the cam on a test rig as described in the Cliff Notes. Set it there both day and night. Walk up to the door and away both day and night. Test the location BEFORE you run wires. That is the ONLY way to really tell. Everyone here can give their OPINIONS. But that is just an opinion.

DSC_4614.JPG
 

Plarsson

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Mount the cam on a test rig as described in the Cliff Notes. Set it there both day and night. Walk up to the door and away both day and night. Test the location BEFORE you run wires. That is the ONLY way to really tell. Everyone here can give their OPINIONS. But that is just an opinion.

View attachment 77049
Totally agree, as I said I needed sl.e first input so I at least fet the correct type of cameras for testing :)
 
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you could use the famous "boobie" cam to view both areas.
Review-dahua-ipc-hdbw4231f-e2-m-dual-starlight-cam
I slapped a boobie cam on my front door area and it worked super duper! One lens pointed upwards to catch faces, other lens pointing downwards to keep eye on packages. Highly recommended.
Have since been replaced with a Villa Doorbell fisheye cam since had a spare 4231 up 9' high to catch general overwatch of porch/package area.
 

genelit

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Hej!

An alternative to the 5442 would be to look at the FullColor alternatives, have you checked them? Unless you plan to run the 5442 with IR off, the 5442 has a great lens.
The biggest advantage is getting away from the IR-light (that act as a magnet for all flying crap, especially in the summer).
 

Plarsson

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Hej!

An alternative to the 5442 would be to look at the FullColor alternatives, have you checked them? Unless you plan to run the 5442 with IR off, the 5442 has a great lens.
The biggest advantage is getting away from the IR-light (that act as a magnet for all flying crap, especially in the summer).
No actually I havent but maybe I should.
The lights at the front door are not on all night and there is no other light close by.
Is there a specific model you have in mind? I don't know much about the full color cameras.
 

genelit

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Hej igen,

Actually the 5442 is available as full color (5442R-ASE-NI), check it out before ordering! EmpireTech / Andy sell it.
My experience with Full Color is that you need some light the camera can work with, easiest is to keep the light on at all times

Without have tested the 5442 myself i still dare to say it's a great cam, judged by its spec and the feedback on the forum.

Personally I'm running several cameras in "forced" color as I have plenty of light around the house. Since I live on a farm with animals (and plenty of horse/sheep/pig-shit the night flies love showing off in front of the cams running ir ).
 
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CCTVCam

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I was going to suggest you could put one looking back at the door. That way one captures the faces walking up, the other what happens at the door. The issue with both on the door wall is if someone forces their way in, you won't capture all of that on a camera mounted on the same wall as the door as a lot of the action may be on the threshold inside the frame or inside the house. Looking back you'll capture it and what happens inside the house. The 2 cameras also protect each other from physical intereference. The only issue I could see is if using IR rather than forced colour, being so close together I have to wonder if the IR from each will blind the facing cam. Not an issue if you have forced colour on and IR turned off or if using IR a separate illuminator pointing directly at neither.
 

Plarsson

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I was going to suggest you could put one looking back at the door. That way one captures the faces walking up, the other what happens at the door. The issue with both on the door wall is if someone forces their way in, you won't capture all of that on a camera mounted on the same wall as the door as a lot of the action may be on the threshold inside the frame or inside the house. Looking back you'll capture it and what happens inside the house. The 2 cameras also protect each other from physical intereference. The only issue I could see is if using IR rather than forced colour, being so close together I have to wonder if the IR from each will blind the facing cam. Not an issue if you have forced colour on and IR turned off or if using IR a separate illuminator pointing directly at neither.
This is an excellent comment and why I post questions on this forum. The cameras blinding each other is difficult to forsee, need to test it. The camera pointing towards the door would be perfect in the ceiling roughly where the flower is hanging in one of the pictures I posted. It is not shown from the street as there is a frame in the ceiling hiding it (or whatever it is called in English:))
 
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