Walkway to Front Door Coverage

[MikeLud1]

I am looking to install an additional camera to my system to cover the walkway to my front door. I was looking to use a IPC-T5442TM-AS (location shown in photo below colored yellow). The question I have, should I use a 2.8mm, 3.6mm or 6.0mm? Also will the two lamps (circled red in photo below) on both sides of the door cause any issues with the location?

Thanks
Mike

 

[wittaj]

The question comes down to how far out do you want to be able to IDENTIFY them.

Take a look at this chart to help explain. To identify someone with the 2.8mm lens that is a popular camera choice, someone would have to be within 13 feet of the camera. Realistically, it is more like 10 feet or less.

Personally I have found the distances to be on the shorter end of this chart, but I also like better details and that comes from their face being bigger on the screen.

The 2.8mm is the right choice if you want within 10 feet or so of the door. The 6mm wouldn't be the right choice at the door as the focus sweetspot is more like 20-25 feet out.

Any chance you can lower the camera any? A 2.8 at that height will be tops of heads and hoodies.

Also, test it day and night before you install so that you can see if those lights will be an issue. If your budget allows, many of us recommend a varifocal so you can dial it in to the area you want to provide coverage for.

 

[samplenhold]

What are you trying to get? I have the 6mm for my driveway which is probably about half the distance to your street. If you are trying to get faces, you might be a little too high.

The only real way to find out is to test it.

 

[MikeLud1]

Wittaj & Samplenhold,

Thanks for both of your quick responses. Based on both of your responses I will most likely get a IPC-T5442T-ZE, then I can dial in the best focal length. Or I have one IPC-T5442T-ZE in my system that I can use to test what the best focal length will be.

Thanks
Mike

 

[wittaj]

Even better! I am a big fan of the varifocal so that you can dial it in the area you are trying to cover, and then it can always be moved to another area if you upgrade!

 

[samplenhold]

Or I have one IPC-T5442T-ZE in my system that I can use to test what the best focal length will be.

That may not actually work out like you think. See my thread below where I had a T5442 at 6mm and compared the FOV to the T5442 varifocal. I had to set the varifocal to 9mm to get it to match the 6mm fixed. It seems that Dahua uses different lens mount between the two cams.

Comparison of a Fixed Lens and a Varifocal Lens Camera's FOV

I was testing out a new Dahua T5442T-ZE 2.7-12mm Varifocal camera (from @EMPIRETECANDY ) and was going to compare it's performance to the Dahua HDW5231R-ZE and the HDW5431R-ZE cameras, which are 2.7-13.5mm varifocals, along with the T5442TM-AS fixed lens at 6mm camera. The HDW5431R-ZE has been...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[MikeLud1]

That may not actually work out like you think. See my thread below where I had a T5442 at 6mm and compared the FOV to the T5442 varifocal. I had to set the varifocal to 9mm to get it to match the 6mm fixed. It seems that Dahua uses different lens mount between the two cams.

So I guess I am buying a IPC-T5442T-ZE