Advice on camera positioning for new CCTV installation

[milleniumaire]

I would appreciate some feedback on the proposed camera positions for a new CCTV installation. I am considering initially installing 3 x Hikvision DS-2CD2347G2-LSU/SL 4MP turret cameras and connecting these to an 8 channel DS-7608NI-I2-IP NVR. If these 3 cameras don't provide suitable coverage, I would consider purchasing a couple more. In the photos below, the red X's indicate the positions of the initial 3 cameras and the green X's the additional cameras.

The house is nearly 15m wide. I was considering a f2.8 for the red X, which is 4m high. Hopefully, this would give a good wide image of the garden and driveway. If a second camera was to be installed at the green cross, I think this would need to be a f4.0 to provide a "head on" closer image of anyone coming down the drive.

Note: there is a porch light and a garden light, which tends to be on until midnight, so provides some additional lighting, although the garden light may be removed if my wife gets her way! There's also a 50W LED with a low level PIR, positioned to cover the drive.

Here's the view from below the red X on the right of the house:

The left hand corner of the low level wall is around 10m from the garage door, which can't be seen on this image due to the shape of the house. This is the area the cars are parked on and so needs to be monitored.

At the back of the house:

The red cross on the left is 3.8m high and I was considering an f2.8 lens camera to give a wide view of the garden. Although this gives a good view of the garden, which extends to 21m from the wall on which the red cross is positioned, it is obscured by the extension and so doesn't cover the patio doors. Also, there is a 50W LED floodlight above it, which uses a lower level PIR. Not sure if the light from the floodlight will help or hinder the camera as they are so close!

The optional camera to the right at the green cross would possibly use a f4.0 lens and would give low level coverage of the patio doors. I did wonder if this should be to the left of the patio doors as the main access to the rear garden is down the right hand side of the house meaning people would be walking towards it, although there is also a gate to the left!

The left hand side of the house (from the rear):

I wasn't planning to install any cameras here due to the difficulty of the chimney breast and because there isn't really any access to the house. On this side of the house is a field that is soon to be developed, so we will end up with a 6 foot fence and a hedge.

The other side of the house, from the front:

As the mainly used door to the house is here, I considered including a camera to cover it, possibly with a f4.0 lens, maybe even f6.0 as it is a narrow area. Not sure if the camera should be at the far side of the path facing towards the front of the house so any walking would walk towards it. There is a bulk light with a low level PIR installed here and not sure if this will interfere with the camera image.

I would appreciate any advice on the lenses to use and the positions of the cameras.

Thanks.

 

[Dan]

Hi @milleniumaire

Our thoughts are below:

Front of house - your choice mounting locations and focal lengths are good and we wouldn't recommend anything different

Rear of house - For the back of the property we would do the reverse of the front, 2.8mm at the patio doors and 4mm at the 3.8m position. The reason being the extension, using a 2.8mm at the 3.8m position will mean lots of the cameras FoV will be waisted on the side & roof of the extension. Also, 2.8mm is so wide that you won't get much detail of anything beyond the 20m+ length of the garden. Using the 4mm also narrows the vertical FoV of the camera which means that close range areas are cropped out of the cameras FoV which will include most of the extension, leaving the 3.8m camera to focus on the garden while the low down 2.8mm can cover the patio doors and the 5-10m directly behind the property.

Side of the house - 6mm would definitely be recommended and we would suggest positioning it to look in the direction where the most foot traffic would be coming from (e.g. if most traffic is from the front of the house, mount the camera on the rear corner looking back towards the front). You may also want to consider mounting with a junction box or wall mount to push the camera out from the wall so the drainpipes and other fixings don't block the camera's FoV.

 

[milleniumaire]

Hi Dan, thanks for your feedback it is much appreciated and very quick!

I agree with everything you have said, it makes perfect sense to me. Co-incidentally, on my way out to lunch today, walking down the side of the house, I had the same thoughts about somehow mounting the camera away from the wall to avoid drainpipes, especially if mounted at the rear of the house.

You didn't mention the PIR controlled flood lights/bulk lights, so I'm guessing these wouldn't cause any issues apart from possibly "whiting out" for a short period of time until the camera adjusted to the sudden increase in light level when they turn on.

Thanks again for your feedback. You have a great website

 

[Dan]

Yes, as long as the PIR floodlights are not directly visible in the cameras FoV you shouldn't see any problems with those lights.

 

[milleniumaire]

Thanks Dan. One last question if you don't mind

I was wondering if it was possible to hook up a camera door bell to the NVR. I see Hikvision sell door bells, but they appear to require an expensive screen to be purchased and I simply want the door bell camera to record on the NVR and send alerts when applicable, similar to the Ring Doorbell.

My porch is quite small:

But I did wonder about installing a small ceiling camera with 2 way audio to allow me to communicate should anyone approach the door. I guess it doesn't really need to be connected to the door bell!

Any thoughts on the best way to do this?

Thanks.

 

[milleniumaire]

Hi @milleniumaire

Side of the house - 6mm would definitely be recommended and we would suggest positioning it to look in the direction where the most foot traffic would be coming from (e.g. if most traffic is from the front of the house, mount the camera on the rear corner looking back towards the front). You may also want to consider mounting with a junction box or wall mount to push the camera out from the wall so the drainpipes and other fixings don't block the camera's FoV.

A 6mm version of the DS-2CD2347G2-LSU/SL 4MP doesn't appear to be available, only 4mm and 2.8mm.

I can see a 6mm for the bullet version (DS-2CD2T47G2-LSU/SL 4MP). Although the additional range isn't really required, I guess a bullet camera would work for the side of the house, given it is so narrow? Which bracket would work best with the bullet style camera to position it away from the wall?

 

[Dan]

Hi @milleniumaire

In regards to the doorbell question, you can use the DS-KV6113-WPE1 Video Intercom without an indoor station. (as long as you are running the latest firmware)

In regards to the side camera, we would not recommend the 2T Bullet camera for this location. The key issue for a residential install is the size, the camera is roughly 30cm long and even when angled to look along the wall the camera (when mounted to a junction box) will still stand 10-15cm off the wall. If you absolutely need a narrower FoV than 4mm we would recommend either the DS-2CD2346G2-IU 4MP AcuSense Turret which is available in 6mm or you can go with the 2347G2 model with 2.8/4mm and set it in rotate mode which flips the cameras vertical and horizontal FoVs making the camera's image very tall and narrow.

There are a few things to be aware of, the 2346G2 is only AcuSense so would not offer the ColorVu/Live-Guard features of the 2347G2. In regards to rotate mode, if you use this feature you have to switch the camera from "Smart Event" mode into "Monitoring" mode which means the camera will not support all the smart event/AcuSense functionality when rotate mode is enabled.

 

[milleniumaire]

Thanks for the very useful feedback Dan.