Pick me out a camera

S

spotco2

Young grasshopper
Sep 3, 2014
72
9
I'm learning here, so bear with me. I would like a camera for the back of my house looking towards the garage. I would like to be able to see anyone walking around but I would also like to see the deer and turkey that roam around back there. Also I would like to see anyone coming up on to my back deck since it's right there.

The steps coming onto the deck are 31' wide and I would like to have a full view from post to post. From the corner of the house where I was thinking of mounting to the opposite corner of the deck is about 18'. Looking in that same direction the corner of the building is about 120' away.

I would like POE and possibly some zoom or a vari-focal lens. I also want it to be cheap :) I would also prefer to buy in the USA to get it quicker. I've had mixed times ordering from China from 15-60 days. 15 would not be so bad but really want to get this finished up.

There are just so many camera's available that I find something I think I like and then start second guessing myself. I am using Blue Iris so I assume that I can mix any brand with the current Hikvision that I am using.

Would it be easier to mount covering the deck and a second pointing to the building?

ncPxfiQ.jpg
 
Anything with powered zoom would be expensive. Even manual varifocal lenses usually carry a big price premium.

You might consider a 2.8mm Hikvision cam for a wide angle view of the area. That will give you an 86 degree view in 3MP mode or a 98.5 degree view in 1080p (2MP) mode. For this I would choose DS-2CD2532-I (mini dome with built in microphone) for audio recording or DS-2CD2332-I (turret with EXIR) for better night vision.

Then you can get another 2332 (turret) or 2032 (bullet) with a 12mm lens for looking out at your building.

Here is a 3MP pic from my 2.8mm 2332.
 
I agree. Cheapest would be to go with two or three 3mp bullet or turret cameras. One wider 2.8 or 4mm one for the deck. Depends a little on mounting location. Is it from the location of the picture? Then one or two 12mm to aim at the garage and the sheds. What is the separation distance between the buildings on the left and the right? That would help to calculate out with the field of view to go with one or two cameras. Plus if you aim two cameras towards the out buildings, they'll aid a bit in nearby infrared coverage. Supporting local you will get your stuff within a week. Import, with a good vendor, you will have your stuff in a week plus.
 
icerabbit said:
Depends a little on mounting location. Is it from the location of the picture? Then one or two 12mm to aim at the garage and the sheds. What is the separation distance between the buildings on the left and the right? That would help to calculate out with the field of view to go with one or two cameras. Plus if you aim two cameras towards the out buildings, they'll aid a bit in nearby infrared coverage. Supporting local you will get your stuff within a week. Import, with a good vendor, you will have your stuff in a week plus.
Click to expand...

Yes I was standing in the corner of the deck under the eve where the cameras would be mounted. It would actually be mounted a few feet higher and a foot or two back (didn't get the ladder out for the pic).

The two buildings are about 60' apart at the closest corner and the building on the left is 30x30. The building on the right is scheduled to come down this winter but I would still like to see that area because the deer come out of the woods to the left of that building and graze in front of it.

The building on the left is on it's own underground service and meter so it does have power but is not connected to the house by anything. I had considered a IR spotlight mounted on that building set up with a photocell so it automatically comes on at night to help the camera mounted on the house see better.

I've ordered from China for my company many times. The problem we run into is you place the order with the vendor and they place their order with the mfg and you have to wait on the vendor to get their shipment in before it makes its way to the states. Sometimes this can take a very long time.
 
Sometimes the Chinese sellers surprise you by having it in stock already :)

milkisbad here in the forum can sell some of the 3MP Hikvisions to you with a 3 year warranty at really good prices so if you want it sooner I'd recommend talking to him. The ONLY issues are that shipping is not free and his company is kind of old fashioned so you can't create an account and check out on their website. You have to talk to him to get price/product lists and place an order. He is very responsive though.

About your IR spotlight idea. I don't think that will work very well. If you mount a spotlight on your garage pointing back toward the camera then it will only create a bright spot and make silhouettes of any people or animals. Being that far away I don't think it would necessarily wash out the area but it would not help as much as you hope. You are probably better off getting a long range and narrow angle spotlight to mount near the cameras so the angle is right.
 
Forget PTZ. Two 12mm cams for the distance view. One aimed at the building. One aimed at the open space. Based on the online calculator, with a 12mm lens, you'd get about 50ft of width in view at 120ft out. You won't be able to ID someone's face though at that distance. Either $$$ for extra tele and you'd still not get an ideal view from people at the garage. For that you'd need to install a camera on the left side of the garage looking towards the right at the people approaching the garage doors. Infrared from that camera pointing sideways to the right shouldn't interfere with the cams on the house. Putting one camera on the garage is certainly something I'd do personally. Well, personally I'd probably end up with three. One inside (in case somebody breaks in or walks through open door), one above left of the garage door looking at the garage, one on the wall of the garage side we can't see looking towards the driveway and the deer plot ;)

You can have a quick play with this calculator: http://www.jvsg.com/online/# to see about field of view coverage and lens sizes. May help to determine 2.8 or 4mm for your deck as well. Switch to FT. For the distance set install height (8-9ft?) high, 1/3 sensor, 4:3, 12mm lens, 120ft distance, 7ft high and it'll say you get about 47ft of horizontal width in view. The tilt and angle are details you can ignore.

Personally I run several 3mp Hikvisions at 1920x1080 nice detail, more fluent image, a bit extra width over running 3mp and a bit less data.
 
It is a good little tool to have, to better understand field of view. You can use the trial or their software too, which will highlight needed resolution for identification purposes, but it has a bit of a learning curve.

Rather than creating a digital plot of our house, driveway, gardens, etc. I just Sketched it out and went with some paper wedges. Probably could do the same with a screen grab from google earth or bing maps, then enlarge that, and play around a little bit, though your setup and needs are pretty straightforward, as far as having one primary area of entry. That is with the assumption that your driveway is behind the garage ... and that you don't drive over the lawn in front of the deck :)

Probably should put a few screw in a couple boards, so you don't trip when running in and out to adjust the cameras, testing their field of view and motion detection ;) :cool:
 
icerabbit said:
Probably could do the same with a screen grab from google earth or bing maps, then enlarge that, and play around a little bit, though your setup and needs are pretty straightforward, as far as having one primary area of entry. That is with the assumption that your driveway is behind the garage ... and that you don't drive over the lawn in front of the deck :)

Probably should put a few screw in a couple boards, so you don't trip when running in and out to adjust the cameras, testing their field of view and motion detection ;) :cool:
Click to expand...

Funny you should mention that!

Actually that building has no driveway or any plans for one. My needs suddenly changed and I had to have a significant increase in storage, so I borrowed a dozer and backhoe from a buddy, pushed down about 1/4 acre of trees, a little quick grading and we were installing shelving 3 weeks later. I'll let the next owners figure out what to do about the driveway.

Here's the layout of these lots

5PyS9X0.jpg
 
I missed the part about back yard. That's a complete 180 of what I thought / assumed. It made me think back at a quiet and semi-remote forested property I considered buying, where the gravel driveway curved around the garage and storage building, you parked there on the sunny south side of the lot and walked up to the house.

The basics still stand though as far a looking from the house towards the garage and deer plot. It just a matter of how narrow or wide you want the view, and whether you want to dedicate one camera for each. Or go with a single wider one. Night view with IR, that would be best handled from the garage to avoid extra IR illuminators on the house looking at the garage. So then you could put a camera on the farthest corner, looking back towards the approach. Would require sending the signal back over electric wire. I hope I'm not wrong assuming there is power in that nice garage ;) Lots of options. Things can remain simple for just an overview shot or get complicated when it is important to capture identifiable details. One thing I've learned a bit from is that one camera doesn't always catch what you need / want. ( example: vehicles without front tag) so it is nice if you can get a second angle or shot. Especially the bullets can be sourced inexpensively that they don't break the bank.
 
The garage does have power but it is on its own meter and not tied to the house. The garage property is a separate lot from the house.
 
You'd have to run separate network cable (cat5e/cat6/fiber) or install a wireless bridge then if you want a camera on the garage. A pair of Ubiquiti NanoStation Loco M5 devices set to the lowest possible output power would get you a strong, stable 100 Mbps wireless bridge, for about $150 USD.
 
BP, Not having used Ubiquity, how directional are these nanos? Pure line of sight required + facing each other? Or is off axis and some branches & twigs ok? I might consider this for a remote camera.
 
The nanostations all have about 45 degree beam width, give or take, so they are definitely directional but not requiring precise aiming for good performance.

Unobstructed line of sight is best. If you absolutely have to send the signal through a tree or two then get the 2.4ghz variety (M2 models) as this radio frequency is slightly better at penetrating obstructions than 5ghz (M5 models). Otherwise, you want to use 5ghz as this frequency is less used and therefore is likely to perform better.

Either model, M2 or M5, will be capable of bridging over a mile or more at full power output which is why I say you should reduce the power output to the minimum so as to not needlessly interfere with others' RF usage.

Here is a guide on how to set up a bridge with two Ubiquiti radios: https://community.ubnt.com/t5/airMA...to-Point-Link-Layer-2-Transparent/ta-p/419941
 
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bp2008 said:
You'd have to run separate network cable (cat5e/cat6/fiber) or install a wireless bridge then if you want a camera on the garage. A pair of Ubiquiti NanoStation Loco M5 devices set to the lowest possible output power would get you a strong, stable 100 Mbps wireless bridge, for about $150 USD.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I've never heard of Ubiquiti before but after a little digging it looks like some pretty cool stuff to play with!
 
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