Sanity Check for Dahua Mini Wedge Height at Front Door with stairs

[Cocktail]

Before I stark knocking holes in the brick mortar, I wanted to run this by the experts. I’ve read the cliff notes a a few times and realize I need to keep the camera near eye level. The issue is that I’ve got about 3’ of stairs to contend with. 2’ above the front door landing level gives me a total height of 5’. This seems to be a good position for ID’ing as people approach the stairs, but looks a little goofy. 5’ above the stair landing loses some facial identification as you approach the stairs but provides a closer look as the perp ascends. Is there a presence in mounting heights when stairs are factored in?

I added a pic of my testing. Please let me know what you think. Thanks!

 

[tangent]

I'd try about the same height as your doorbell maybe a bit lower. I understand want to catch the approach, but a knee and groin cam seems a little low for people on the porch. Another camera farther away could be used to catch the approach.

The thing to do is plug your test rig in and actually look at the image your getting. It's easier to offer advice upon seeing the image from the camera.

 

[looney2ns]

I would forget the stairs, you want to see who is AT the front door. IE: standing right at the door.
mount it at 5-6ft, and concentrate on getting the best shot of anyone standing on the landing, or packages on the landing.
Then cover the approach with another cam.
Don't try to do too much with too few cams.

 

[Cocktail]

I appreciate the feedback fellas.

@tangent, I took your suggestion and did some more testing and made a few clips of how things look on my end. Please take a look. After reading Looney’s comment I may need to work on the camera focal area.

Mini Wedge at 4’ - Door bell height:


Mini Wedge at 2’


I’ll obviously need to tweak the camera settings but I’m just focused on position at the moment.

@looney2ns , thank you for the suggestion. I bought a total of 6 cameras but this is the first I’m attempting to position. Reading your comment makes me think I might have the aim incorrect for this camera. I’ll do more testing.

 

[looney2ns]

Which lens is in the mini wedge.

 

[Cocktail]

2.8mm

 

[tangent]

2' is way too low in my opinion. Even 4' looks a bit low, but might work if you rotate the camera as described below.

Try rotating the camera lens 90 degrees so the image is taller than it is wide. There's a software setting on the camera to rotate the image so you don't have to tilt your head to view it.

 

[Cocktail]

@tangent thank you again for the advice.

I implemented your suggestion. Turned the camera 90• and changed the orientation in the software. Took me a minute to figure out how to maintain the aspect ratio.

Here’s how it looks now. Please pay no mind to the attire. I’ve been attempting to give myself a heat stroke in the yard today.

 

[tangent]

@tangent thank you again for the advice.

I implemented your suggestion. Turned the camera 90• and changed the orientation in the software. Took me a minute to figure out how to maintain the aspect ratio.

Here’s how it looks now. Please pay no mind to the attire. I’ve been attempting to give myself a heat stroke in the yard today.

There are better ways to gets clips or images from an NVR than getting out a camera. If you open the NVR's web interface in Pale Moon 32-bit plugins will work and you should be able to view and interact with the NVR. From here you could use the windows snipping tool, print screen button, or snapshot button in the web interface which unfortunately saves a .bmp file to a location on your computer (you can convert it). You can also download clips using the web interface. Other options are: Dahua's Smart PSS software or plugging a flash drive in to the NVR.

In this image, what height is the camera mounted? Try to get less of the door and maybe a little less ceiling (more packages) in the picture. Remember everyone who comes to the door may not look in that direction so try to avoid looking at the camera some of the time.

 

[Cocktail]

Hah. I knew that comment was coming. That’s ok though, that’s on me. Thanks for being polite about it. The convenience of the phone makes it so easy to post pics. Since I’m really taking a rough stab at it I figured the phone pics would suffice. I haven’t hooked up the dvr to the network yet and haven’t used the Dahua screen cap yet. I’ll get on that ASAP.

Anyhow, apart from a few tweaks do you think this latest location is most ideal? Or is it too soon to tell?

The camera is mounted at 5’ in the latest picture.

 

[Barboots]

When I walk up stairs, I generally have my head tilted downwards.

 

[Cocktail]

Thanks @Barboots I'll make sure I keep my head down when I'm testing.

I did figure out how to do the snapshot save to USB on the Dahau NVR.

@tangent I've attached a better photo now that I've learned.

 

[aristobrat]

With your current position, I'd definitely recommend you test at night if you're planning on using the camera's IR. IR bouncing back into the mini-dome can cause the image to ghost out. Also, if you're going to keep the current position, you might want to angle it down a bit so you might see packages left by the door.

 

[looney2ns]

Thanks @Barboots I'll make sure I keep my head down when I'm testing.

I did figure out how to do the snapshot save to USB on the Dahau NVR.

@tangent I've attached a better photo now that I've learned.

You don't need to see the door it's self and not the cieling. Tilt cam down and away from the door

 

[Cocktail]

@looney2ns implemented you suggestion in trial no. 84. Pointing down really made an improvement to the package drop location. I'd like to point it down further but it looks like I've reached the rotational limit of the camera swivel. It also appears that I will be contending with a good bit of washout.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks for all of the feedback.

 

[aristobrat]

Nice puppers! You can help reduce the washout by putting the IR on manual and lowering the level. Of course this darkens the scene. My front porch gets enough ambient light from the street that a Starlight does decently enough without any IR.

 

[looney2ns]

@looney2ns implemented you suggestion in trial no. 84. Pointing down really made an improvement to the package drop location. I'd like to point it down further but it looks like I've reached the rotational limit of the camera swivel. It also appears that I will be contending with a good bit of washout.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks for all of the feedback.

Not sure what washout you are referring to. If in your sample pics, it looks pretty good. That's what WDR and BLC settings are to compensate for that.
Now live with it for a day or 3 recording, day and night, and see if YOU like it in that position.

 

[Cocktail]

@aristobrat that’s my neighbor’s dog. Her family doesn’t treat her too well so she spends a lot of time with us. She’s a sweet girl.

@looney2ns Yes I was referring to the most recent screen caps.

I think the most recent placement looks pretty good. Obviously not ideal. Given the camera and what area I have work with, do think the view is as good as it’s going to get or should I start searching for alternate mounting locations?

 

[tldees]

Sounds like I have the same camera, mini dome 2K 2.8mm 120 degree view. I spent quite a bit of time with mine, still needs some tweaks, but thought you might like to see couple photos...Our porch lite is dusk-to-dawn and does not interfere with the camera at all[/ATTACH]