Do these mounting locations look okay to you?

[toolazyforalogin]

Hi,

In another thread it was recommended that I lower my camera installation location if I wanted to be able to make a facial identification. I originally planned to use the top circles (on the picture) and now I am thinking of dropping them both down to the lower locations. In fact I think I might even mount the "red" camera to the underside of one of my deck joists.

Thoughts on my locations?

 

[mat200]

HI 2lazy4login

You'll need to test the locations, both during the day and during the night.

Have a friend wearing a cap and hoodie help you - you want to maximize the potential to get a good facial image.

Also I would consider additional camera locations besides those 2.

I would find a way to cover the garage entrances as well as under the porch.

 

[zebrock]

Be careful with the purple camera too close to the bush, eating up the IR. But hard to tell the angle by the pic. Best bet is what @mat200 said, test your locations with a bucket full of sand and a 2x4

 

[toolazyforalogin]

Thanks mat200,

Yes I'm hoping the purple arrow will cover the garage doors and driveway up to the street. I plan on placing a camera under the deck stairs facing the other side of the backyard and putting the red arrow camera under the fascia of the deck facing where I took the picture above from. I'll attach the other locations. Perhaps you have ideas on them as well.

 

[mat200]

Hi Toolazyforalogin,

Since your home has a good amount of land around it you may want to get a camera which is a varifocal and zoom it closer in to the main approach.

Also remember that the wider the angles of the camera the shorter the ID distance.

Here's an example of my calculations, this is the theoretical max range to 100ppf:

Dahua IPC-HDW4231EM-AS starlight fixed lens 1080p 1920x1080
w/2.8mm lens FOV H 110 degrees: 10 feet { area covered 95.94 sq feet covered }
w/3.6mm lens FOV H 87 degrees: 12.65 feet { 121.43 sq feet covered }
w/6mm lens FOV H 51 degrees: 21.58 feet { 207.16 sq feet covered }

A 8MP / 4K camera will give you about 2x that ID distance - however during low light conditions the real world range will quickly be reduced due to noise issues, thus for low light the 2MP starlights work better.

This should give you an idea of placement of the cameras during your testing.

As you can see, the ID distance is actually significantly shorter than you may have imagined.
( and thus why often we end up wanting to get just a couple more cameras... )

 

[tangent]

Thanks mat200,

Yes I'm hoping the purple arrow will cover the garage doors and driveway up to the street. I plan on placing a camera under the deck stairs facing the other side of the backyard and putting the red arrow camera under the fascia of the deck facing where I took the picture above from. I'll attach the other locations. Perhaps you have ideas on them as well.

I wouldn't mount cameras to the chimney, you have better options.

 

[toolazyforalogin]

Wow thanks for all the feedback. It's truly appreciated. My photo editing skills suck so please bear with me. Tangent, the last picture you posted is something I never thought of but will think that over for sure. Based on your feedback, these pics are my next "ideas". Also on the last two pictures, is there any benefit to mouting on the "roof" vs against the shingles. It would be much easier to mount directly to the house where the red circles are in the last two pictures. I can just drill straight though vs trying to snake in an area I don't have access to. Thank you all again for the help. Your insight is invaluable.

 

[toolazyforalogin]

I edited some of the pics so the ones in the above post alone with these: