This might be a little all over the place, so bear with me.
I have a SD4A425DB-HNY PTZ that I am trying to make more useful. It was originally on the second floor soffit, but I had installed it before the trees had leafed. Now it can't see the sidewalks in front of my house nearly as well and it is only going to get worse as the trees grow. I decided last night to move it down to the first floor soffit to replace another camera and see how I like it (it will likely stay here).
It is going to have a shorter working distance now, but I will take being able to actually use it over being able to see more.
My goals:
Primary: Use auto-tracking to capture/track people, on the approach, on the sidewalk in front of my house.
Secondary: Use auto-tracking to capture/track people, on the approach, in the street and on the sidewalk across the street.
I will likely need to add dedicated spotters to get reliable triggers to call the PTZ to a preset since I don't think the cameras I have now can see far enough to detect a human and trigger the IVS rule to give the PTZ enough time to get to position. My concern is, even if I do get a varifocal for spotter use and point it at the desired trigger areas, that the spotter cams might work fine during the day and be able to look that way at night, but might not be able to "see" at night due to lack of light at these distances.
These are the presets I would call to with the spotter cams and it would likely be parked over the driveway as the default, but I am open to suggestions on what a good home position would be. Ideally I would like the spotters to call the PTZ to these positions and be waiting well before the subject would be in the FOV.
These are the only two views I have that would be usable as spotter cams which is why I am leaning towards putting up dedicated spotter cams. I do have the possibility of the corner of the garage above the single bay door for the right view, but I feel it will eventually be obstructed.
Another option is to have the PTZ home to the left position and be its own spotter cam saving the need for another cam in that direction, which could be helpful, and then just worry about finding a way to get adequate light down the sidewalk, and across the street, to make the right spotter usable.
If a spotter is used for the left view my thought is to have the trigger be near the trash cans (on both sides of the street).
If I am using the PTZ then it will already be looking that way, but I may have it favor the far side of the street at night with the near sidewalk in view, but not the focus.
For the right view I would want a trigger on the far side between the speed limit sign and tree and the near side at the neighbor's driveway. (This is when IVS choosing in BI would be helpful so I could direct the PTZ to far or near preset depending on trigger...)
I have IR floods, but are there reasonable IR spots available that I could get better throw from to possibly light up the sidewalk across the street?
Any recommendations for an inexpensive varifocal with AI to use as a spotter? I would prefer a turret but know that I will likely need more than 12mm and might need to settle on a bullet. I was considering a refurb Z4E next to the driveway cam, when one becomes available. Are there other 2MP options that would have better night performance?
For reference, the PTZ moved down from the second floor soffit and replaced the 5442 on the first floor soffit.
I have a SD4A425DB-HNY PTZ that I am trying to make more useful. It was originally on the second floor soffit, but I had installed it before the trees had leafed. Now it can't see the sidewalks in front of my house nearly as well and it is only going to get worse as the trees grow. I decided last night to move it down to the first floor soffit to replace another camera and see how I like it (it will likely stay here).
It is going to have a shorter working distance now, but I will take being able to actually use it over being able to see more.
My goals:
Primary: Use auto-tracking to capture/track people, on the approach, on the sidewalk in front of my house.
Secondary: Use auto-tracking to capture/track people, on the approach, in the street and on the sidewalk across the street.
I will likely need to add dedicated spotters to get reliable triggers to call the PTZ to a preset since I don't think the cameras I have now can see far enough to detect a human and trigger the IVS rule to give the PTZ enough time to get to position. My concern is, even if I do get a varifocal for spotter use and point it at the desired trigger areas, that the spotter cams might work fine during the day and be able to look that way at night, but might not be able to "see" at night due to lack of light at these distances.
These are the presets I would call to with the spotter cams and it would likely be parked over the driveway as the default, but I am open to suggestions on what a good home position would be. Ideally I would like the spotters to call the PTZ to these positions and be waiting well before the subject would be in the FOV.
These are the only two views I have that would be usable as spotter cams which is why I am leaning towards putting up dedicated spotter cams. I do have the possibility of the corner of the garage above the single bay door for the right view, but I feel it will eventually be obstructed.
Another option is to have the PTZ home to the left position and be its own spotter cam saving the need for another cam in that direction, which could be helpful, and then just worry about finding a way to get adequate light down the sidewalk, and across the street, to make the right spotter usable.
If a spotter is used for the left view my thought is to have the trigger be near the trash cans (on both sides of the street).
If I am using the PTZ then it will already be looking that way, but I may have it favor the far side of the street at night with the near sidewalk in view, but not the focus.
For the right view I would want a trigger on the far side between the speed limit sign and tree and the near side at the neighbor's driveway. (This is when IVS choosing in BI would be helpful so I could direct the PTZ to far or near preset depending on trigger...)
I have IR floods, but are there reasonable IR spots available that I could get better throw from to possibly light up the sidewalk across the street?
Any recommendations for an inexpensive varifocal with AI to use as a spotter? I would prefer a turret but know that I will likely need more than 12mm and might need to settle on a bullet. I was considering a refurb Z4E next to the driveway cam, when one becomes available. Are there other 2MP options that would have better night performance?
For reference, the PTZ moved down from the second floor soffit and replaced the 5442 on the first floor soffit.
