Placement above garage

[joxn]

Hey,
I would like to monitor the area in front of my garage and look for the ideal placement as well as camera model to achieve that.

As this is in Germany, I need to be a bit careful about not monitoring public space or my neighbor's ground. His front-door is just to the right of the blue garage, so that needs to be avoided.
Therefore, I am looking for a camera that would only monitor - roughly - the areas A and B.

I was thinking about putting a fixed camera on-top of my garage (position X - or maybe in the center of my garage) or alternatively under the roof (position Y) pointing downwards.
What do you think is the best position?

I am not an expert on cameras, so I am unsure what kind of parameters I need to look at to ensure that area is not getting too large in the end.
(I own a Dahua IPC-HDBW4431F-AS that I use for the garden. So another Dahua would be fine for me.)

Thanks a lot for your advise!

 

[Sybertiger]

Some cameras should allow you to mask out areas you do not want to record. What do German statutes say about that? Okay or not? And are neighbors allowed to make you reveal what the camera records?

 

[joxn]

I am on good speaking terms with my neighbor and could give him access to the camera. However, I think it is important that an outsider (even just a parcel service or a random visitor), can see that they are not filmed. Thus a dome camera or a PTZ that is not directional, is rather not allowed.

Do you have a recommendation for a camera that can roughly cover that area? And would you rather go for the garage position or roof position?

 

[bigredfish]

I'm mounting a 3.6mm turret 5442 at the Red X

• you want to get a close detail shot of anyone at the door and still see the driveway.
• No matter what you do, other than using a mask area as @Sybertiger mentions, you're going to get some coverage outside of your Zone A

 

[joxn]

Thanks for the reply. Why would you go for the red X and not the blue X? From a cover/mounting/cabling perspective, I would unterstand that, but wouldn’t it just increase the chance to cover more area than wanted?

 

[bigredfish]

Your position above the garage is going to lose sight of or at minimum not cover the door very well. For me the most important coverage is the door and facial ID.

You can probably use masking or corridor mode to help limit the area covered

Here's a 3.6mm turret at 7ft next to my door frame
View attachment 4116P_ch3_20210522181803_20210522181826.mp4

 

[Ookie]

Hard no on position Y. Most of the video you capture with it is going to be useless footage of the tops of people's heads.

Unless it is a PTZ or overwatch cam, we generally stick to mounting no higher than what a six foot (2M) tall guy can reach to damage of a six foot ladder (read: about 3M or so). Cams are pointed sideways on a diagonal instead of straight ahead.

I like the blue X. If there is an active break in, you want to be able to see quickly if the door has been forced.

 

[bigredfish]

If mounted at the blue X facing out to cover area A, I think you'll lose sight of the door.

Granted if angled toward the door it would work, but you'll lose part of Area A

Agree with being able to see if the door was forced, thats why i had a camera inside the house watching the door. (A PTZ actually that was triggered towards the door by the outside door cam)

 

[bigredfish]

I like straight on face shots

 

[joxn]

Seems I should go with position X then.

BTW, the "door" in the corner of area B is actually just a window and not a door. It would be good to cover though, but I would rather focus on area A to ensure that the car parked in front of the garage is covered.

Do you have a suggestion for a camera model?

 

[bigredfish]

Ahh thought it was a door.

Most here like the 4MP 5442 series. You'd have to determine whether a variable focus or fixed. I'd still go with the 3.6mm given your restrictions

 

[joxn]

I would tend to a variable focus camera as I understand it gives me some more flexibility when setting it up. Does that make sense in my scenario?

When looking for 5442, I only find one dome camera. Do you have another camera as proposal?

Thanks a lot for your help.

 

[actran]

@joxn I agree with you on varifocal. Here is varifocal from Andy's website: EmpireTech IPC-T54IR-ZE-S3 1/1.8" CMOS 4MP IR Starlight Vari-focal Tur

 

[Webfont]

I'd add a turret cam here pointing back so you could monitor the actual garage door and tall window. With a varifocal you could 'zoom' it enough to not capture anything on the neighbor side.

 

[Parley]

Thanks for the reply. Why would you go for the red X and not the blue X? From a cover/mounting/cabling perspective, I would unterstand that, but wouldn’t it just increase the chance to cover more area than wanted?

Myself, I would go with the blue X. Then the centerline of the driveway would be the left limit of the camera, and the B part of the wall would get a lot of coverage including the side door. However, that would obey the rules and still give you decent coverage of your property.

 

[Parley]

Your position above the garage is going to lose sight of or at minimum not cover the door very well. For me the most important coverage is the door and facial ID.

You can probably use masking or corridor mode to help limit the area covered

Here's a 3.6mm turret at 7ft next to my door frame
View attachment 181056

He has more room to the right and an entrance door. I would rotate the camera to the right so that the left edge of the camera is the wall in your picture, or in his case the center of the driveway. He would also pick up the entrance door on the right wall.

 

[Parley]

One more thing in regards to the blue X. I would move it to the right as far as I could without being on the neighbor's property and that is where I would mount the camera.

 

[bigredfish]

yeah I was under the apparently bad impression that was a door, he says its a window.
My theory was that is the door is the primary entry point/point of most concern, I want straight on facial ID, not a side shot.

But as its not a door, I'd agree that the blue X is probably most logical

My thoughts on fixed vs varifocal stem from my own experience that fixed will ALWAYS beat VF (same camera same series) on image quality within its FOV. And if he zooms much past 3.6mm he'll lose close-in FOV anyway.

I have some VF's not against them at all. Just wherever I have a tight spot that can be serviced with a fixed lens with the same FOV I'd be focusing the VF, I'll take the fixed all day long.

 

[BobHarry]

i would think the blue x with cam rotated to where left edge is in your perimeter.

however I would think the neighbor would not mind having some security from your camera coverage? Could you talk to him and have him sign something ?

 

[looney2ns]

Avoid Dome cams, they degrade from the UV light, and dirt on the dome. That will limit your night viewing.
When raining, the dome becomes covered in rain drops, then the camera is blind until it dries.
Stick with a Turret.