IP cameras for a 17.5m wide frontage - 1 or 2?

[isofa]

We have a wide frontage of 17.5m, with a depth to road of 8.5m, frontage split into the following:

|-gates-|----garage----|-front_door-|----house_frontage----|
|--3m---|-----4.3m-----|----3.2m----|----------7m----------|

Initially I was thinking of two cameras, one looking from the LHS of garage towards the house frontage and another on the RHS front door area looking towards the side gates. Mounting will be slightly above head height (approx 2m to 2.5m max). However I'm wary of making the house look like it's covered in cameras, so I'm now considering just a single very wide angle in the centre/to the RHS of the garage, which is flat roofed and 3m in height.

Due to access and wiring I ideally wanted avoid installing on the house frontage (which is set back 1m from the rest of the building, but all joined) as there is no easy cable route. The other areas are easily accessible for wiring.

The second stage will be two further cameras down the side gate area (leading from to garden), to cover the back door.

Any thoughts on coverage/number of cameras for such an area? Probably veering towards HikVisions turrets or domes (unless there are better choices) and they will either run via a Synology or HikVision NVR to begin with... needs reliable night vision, more interested in the quality than super-high megapixels. Everything will be IP PoE.

Thank-you

 

[Phil]

Two cameras, one at each side will give you better coverage.
You can also use narrower horizontal viewing angles for the two cameras than for one, which will result in larger faces within the scene.

Perhaps have a play with the Google Maps based IPVM calculator to illustrate this for yourself:
IPVM Camera Calculator V3

 

[isofa]

Thanks Phil, did have a look at that tool previously, but given our terrible street view data and how far back we are from the road behind hedges, it didn't help much!

I'm going to survey the scene properly with some angles and see if 6mm both sides will give enough coverage, or if I'll need a 4mm on the garage side. Will probably be going for something like the DS-2CD2342WD-I for the front areas.

 

[Phil]

You're welcome, bear in mind that 2335/2355/2385 are newer models of the turret.

 

[isofa]

Thanks for the headsup re new models, just doing some test shots with an SLR mapping the FoV to that of the CCTV cameras.

 

[Phil]

For old-fashioned simplicity you can also use your fingers:
Surveying the scene to select the correct lens for the required viewing angle?

 

[isofa]

Thanks Phil, I've got full frame DSLR with pro lenses from work, so find it easier to map the FoV accurately and see what is required (2.8mm = 90 deg FoV = 18mm full frame 35mm etc).

Are they good vari-focal cctv cameras for such a situation, or would you err towards fixed lenses?

 

[Phil]

It's fine to use cameras with vari-focal or motorised zoom lenses, but the adjustable lenses do make those cameras more expensive.
For the Hikvision turret cameras:
2H35
2H55
2H85
3, 5 and 8MP respectively.

Motorised zoom domes and bullets are also available.
2735, 2755, 2785
2635, 2655, 2685

NB
Vari-focal means manually adjustable - at the time of installation, whilst the camera's covers are off you can use thumbscrew adjusters on the lens to adjust between wide (W) and telephoto (T) [narrow view] settings.
Motorised zoom (denoted by a 'Z' in any camera's suffix) can be adjusted from the network at any time e.g. zoom in/out from your PC or App.