Looking For Suggestions

[MikeLud1]

I just finished upgrading my ReoCrap cameras (I mean Reolink cameras) to IPC-T5442T cameras. Does anyone have any suggestion to improve my camera coverage. Below are details of the current system setup.

Thanks
Mike

• Camera 1, 2, 4, 6, and 7 are IPC-T5442TM-AS 3.6mm
• Camera 5 is a IPC-T5442TM-AS 2.8mm
• Camera 3 is a IPC-T5442T-ZE set at 3.4mm

 

[wittaj]

Are you trying to be able to identify a stranger at your front door? If so you need to either add a camera there or add a varifocal next to one of the cameras.

Is your goal to be able to identify a stranger on the public sidewalk or walking out in the street? If so, then you need a varifocal that optically is zoomed to cover that area.

Several of the cameras should be a little lower for identification purposes - you will get a lot of top of heads and hoodies. May or may not be a concern for you if you are more interested is somebody back there. Depends on the intent of the camera and what it is intended to capture.

Do you want to get license plates on the street? If so that is another camera.

 

[SouthernYankee]

To ID people the camera should be no higher than 7 ft. Your cameras provide great over view, but can not ID a person that the cops and courts can use. So you can see hat happened but not who did it.

You need two 6mm cameras mounted on the garage, no higher than the top of the garage door, pointing down the driveway. You need to ID the door checkers at night.

The front door needs three cameras, one doorbell camera, one pointing at the package drop area, one pointing back to the front door. I also have one inside pointing at the door.

 

[MikeLud1]

Wittaj and SouthernYankee,

Thanks for your quick reply.

Are you trying to be able to identify a stranger at your front door?

To Identify a stranger at the front door I was thinking of moving Camera-5 which is a IPC-T5442TM-AS 2.8mm (new location shown in below photo as Camera-8) and replacing Camera-5 with a IPC-T5442TM-AS 3.6mm (location shown in original post)

Is your goal to be able to identify a stranger on the public sidewalk or walking out in the street?

To identify a stranger on the public sidewalk and street I was thinking of adding a PTZ Camera (location shown in below photo as Camera-9). Which would be my best choice a SD49225XA-HNR 2MP 25x Starlight+ or a SD5A425XA-HNR 4MP 25x Starlight+. Is the extra $350 for a SD5A425XA-HNR 4MP 25x Starlight+ worth it? I have fair amount of light at night (there is a street lamp right in front of my house) so I was hoping run this camera in color mode at night.

Several of the cameras should be a little lower for identification purposes - you will get a lot of top of heads and hoodies.

To ID people the camera should be no higher than 7 ft. Your cameras provide great over view, but can not ID a person that the cops and courts can use.

Most of my cameras are at about 8 ft. Camera-6 is at about 10 ft. I tested the ability to ID someone during the day and night, photos look good enough to ID someone, thanks for the recommendation

The front door needs three cameras, one doorbell camera, one pointing at the package drop area, one pointing back to the front door.

I was thinking of adding a doorbell camera but most likely I will not use the two-way audio feature. To cover IDing someone approaching the front door I would add Camera-8 as noted above
For covering the package drop area Camera-3 covers this. With adding Camera-8 I will also ID anyone trying to steal a package.
For adding a camera pointing back to the front door I am not sure what the purpose of this camera will be. Would this camera just see the back of someone trying to break-in. Camera-3 would get a side view of this happening. Also adding a PTZ as noted above will also cover this area.

Do you want to get license plates on the street? If so that is another camera.

I have fair amount of light at night (there is a street lamp right in front of my house) so I was hoping adding a PTZ (Camera-9 as noted above) will cover this

 

[samplenhold]

Most of my cameras are at about 8 ft. Camera-6 is at about 10 ft. I tested the ability to ID someone during the day and night, photos look good enough to ID someone, thanks for the recommendation

Would love to see these photos. Please post them.

For adding a camera pointing back to the front door I am not sure what the purpose of this camera will be

Do not expect a single cam covering a specific access point to give you a face ID 100% of the time. Multiple cams giving different angles and coverage increase the likely hood of getting that good face shot.

See the thread:

Why I Like Redundant Views/Multiple Cam Views

A lot of newbies ask for help with their camera setups and most think that they can get by with a single cam to cover quite a bit of area. While that is possible if all you are interested in is a wide-angle overview, it usually will not give you a great chance of getting a face shot good enough...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[samplenhold]

have fair amount of light at night (there is a street lamp right in front of my house) so I was hoping adding a PTZ (Camera-9 as noted above) will cover this

As far as LPR goes, in general a PTZ cam is not a good choice. If you truly want LPR, then you really need to dedicate a cam to do that job exclusively. A PTZ cam will most probably be pointed in the wrong direction when a car comes by. Getting a focus on a moving car by a moving PTZ cam is basically impossible. Cams take time to focus. Those seconds can mean you miss the plate.

Also, the angle from cam 9 to the street is fairly high. The plate may be too foreshortened to read, especially at night. See the below threads.

LPR Case Study: Scoping, Planning, Proof of Concept, Installation, & Results

Introduction This thread is about my journey into LPR (License Plate Recognition) after having about 18 months of experience with IP cams and having quite a bit of my system finished. I am not an expert on LPR, or IP cameras either. But I have spent a lot of time working with my system and...

ipcamtalk.com

New to LPR? Considerations Before You Begin

Thought I would throw together a post on my experiences so far with LPR in an effort to help others that are considering running down that rabbit hole. There are some practical considerations you should know about LPR. I am approaching this from the position of using Blue Iris and Plate...

ipcamtalk.com