FlashEngineer

So before I go ahead and start ripping my light fixtures outside my house, I'm wondering what is the best way of providing light for cameras/overall security? I have 3 main areas that will have lighting, which do have the builder's outside/porch light, whatever you call them... Main front door Rear garage area Backyard area/patio Right now my main priority is main and garage. Is it better to just setup a timer switch that will turn on the porch/garage light at sunset and turn off near sunrise? Or should I convert those lights to sensor lights (not 175w floods) Just same porch light with a sensor Or should I add additional floods as well What about IR illuminators, should I add one anyway since they aren't visible?

How many cameras is too many? I was only going to put 2 cameras in the back yard but now I might need 3, but I feel I'm putting too many up. Will this attract unwanted attention from thieves or neighbors?

Well to be compliant to the wife, I opted to install all DOME type cameras, since they are more astetically pleasing and also less noticeable, plus the vandal proof thing. I saw the crazy ACTi video of a car driving over it, so that gives the thumbs up in my book. I use the ACTi's in the front and back since they are most visible to passing people. I don't have any HOA policy that I know of, so I'm just more worried about the reputation thing and what people think etc. I don't want them thinking they are pointed at them, which is kind of hard to tell on domes unless you come onto the property. My Dad's home has like 4-5 cameras all at the front as well, so I guess this is where I get my camera craziness from.

Lots of replies.... " title="Applause" /> I've been reading up on lighting and security, it seems having a light on all night, may not deter crime as much as people think, more as a placebo. If anything, motion lights may work better. I ordered one of those IR lights you recommended, it's just too bad they are white, I would wanted something in black color, do you know if some other brands are worthwhile to buy as well? My plan now is to get IR illuminators for the back/front and rear yard, then put up some motion lights for those areas. The yard will have some landscape lighting, low lumens. I think this is a good idea? Anyone else have other opinions? Bad thing is, I have to replace the Dahua camera since it's useless at night unless there's white light.

So I've installed 4 so far, I have another one coming in, and I need one more soon before the weather gets too cold to put my last camera up. That's it for now, I'll put a few more in spring next year, maybe 2-3. I have so far: Dahua mini dome 3200CN or whatever Vivotek fd8134v ACTi kcm-7111 (best one so far out of all) Eyeonet/whatever IP5022 - not sure what real brand is this, maybe old dahua? (one with crappy IR if pointed extreme angle) I have another 7111 coming in. I need 1 more to face the gate coming into my backyard, wide angle again, at least 90 degree+ view, prefer no built in LED, but need night mode, not necessarily IR filter. Problem is, I'm at my limit, I can't really buy another ACTi, too expensive, but I don't want to buy another Dahua mini dome, it's hard to mount that thing and I don't want to frustrate myself again mounting it under my soffit, i rather get a real dome to have the flexible viewing angles so I can mount to wall... The only real choice around $300 is the vivotek fd8134v, but the angle sucks, 56 degrees is not enough, but I don't really want to mess around ordering lenses to retrofit, if there's a sure lens someone tried and works and gives 90 degree horizontal angle, I'll buy it, but I don't have time to look around and order 50 lenses from China or whereever. Can someone please help me, or I really have to either get the mini-dome or spend another $600 for ACTi or some sort

I have one of these and I sort of don't understand how it can be 3-axis. The only adjustment I can do is really tilt the lens and mount my camera at a certain angle. I'm planning on wall mounting as I don't want to mess with my eaves with putting some plywood and reinforcing etc. How can you pan this camera or adjust rotation of the lens to match horizontal?

Got my KCM-7111 installed, pretty good quality this camera, expensive but worth it for the front. I have couple options in capturing angles for this camera, later I will add more so I can change.. but does this angle look good or should I level the road to the bottom?

My house doesn't have mailbox, we have a "community" mailbox which is down the street. So it gives the laziness of the government to just delivery to one location for several houses I just don't like to bend my neck to look at the picture, it kind of looks weird... The only other thing I can do is position so the road is parallel to horizon and set my resolution the the highest on this camera which is greater than 1080 but then my FPS drops to 8fps. That view is good because it gives a 5:4 aspect, 2032x1920 Sucks on 8FPS though, I have at least 15FPS @ 1080

Yeah I can either give up street coverage for more my house but then I won't get a tight angle seeing the door, unless I'm not moving it right. I only have one in the front, I eventually want a street coverage cam and maybe some side cams to view the windows on left/right of the house, not sure if this is overkill though.

Don't think blue iris can do that?

What I mean is make the road level to horizon rather than the porch

Does anyone have this camera? http://www.aartech.ca/domeip5022-eyeonet-ip-dome-2-megapixel.html I was able to do a image flip somehow but now I looked through every menu and can't find ANYTHING on this?? Is this camera's firmware buggy as hell or what? The night time view is horrible, IR reflects the dome and very grainy/noisy, like shot in ISO5000. I originally bought this for my backyard because it's wide angle and the day view is superb.. but night is total waste. Not sure what to do, I don't want to take this down, it's good where's it mounted.. should I just buy a low light camera to supplement this view? Sort of a waste now... Had to resize to upload, these are 1080 resolution. NIGHT: DAY:

So I should get a 1/4" sensor then?

So best to have constant illumination with timer switches then? Forget any type of motion activated lights, weather floods or just fixtures? I know the camera's will have a hard time adjusting exposure time so I guess motion activated is out of the equation. Now if I place several external IR lights at the front door and garage, that should help with night vision.

Yeah, that won't go well with the wife or neighbors, especially a good bullet, which is not tiny like those crappy ones you find in a bundle 4x at costco for $500. Honestly for a residential area, unless you're pointing at your home, bullets are just asking for trouble when people complain about privacy and camera's facing toward's them. I'm even a bit iffy on the red IR LED's.. I'm either getting some more of those mini dome from Dahua or some more ACTi 7111... it's just really too bad those vivotek FD8134v are such a crappy 56 degree horizontal view. Some say you can change the lens, not sure if it's hard or worth it to do so, I'm not even sure which lens to buy.

Found out the issue, I think... I think it was facing too close to the wall which has aluminum fascia (which where the cam was mounted on) So I think it reflected too much or something, not sure, but facing away it didn't have this issue anymore so basically if I care about night vision, I need to face this away. The L bracket is too much work, I have to drill into the brick wall and fish the cable out and I don't really want to drill a 3/4" hole in the fall weather 12 feet high up. Guess gotta buy more cameras.....

There is one for $40, problem is it sticks out a lot and doesn't look that great: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYhh6cAbbZo

So I've checked, that is my issue since it's tilted so much against the wall, the gasket does not touch anymore. I have few options, which I would ask which is best? 1. Add some circle foam gasket if I can find somewhere at hardware store like homedepot etc, so it's thicker and will push against the dome 2. Unplug the IR led, I can do this but not sure if the photocell sensor will still work or does it need power even to change into night mode, I can add some IR illuminators or white light 3. L bracket mount this camera, which means the camera is more exposed and less conspicuous but the IR problem will be gone. 4. Point it to different angle which means reworking my whole camera setup and adding other cameras to different locations = time + money

I did that but it seems the I can do a very limited pan movement, but there's no lens rotation?

Back in the days of CCTV cameras, it's easy just to run a RG-59/6 cable to a monitor/tv display to get output of a camera, say near the entrance or some crucial area. So if I want to do this with IP camera, using blueiris as my nvr, what could I use? I don't want to setup a whole PC just to connect to the web portal for blueiris.

if the gasket is touching the dome, it should prevent this right? Should I get some thicker gasket material and put it on the original gasket to make sure it presses against it? I wonder if I tilted the angle too much and some IR led are hitting the dome cover and reflecting back... that sucks because I need that sharp angle... I guess that's why they tell you to use the L bracket

I've recently posted about my downfalls on a camera I've recently bought... I really need some help because I want to get a couple more camera's in before it gets too cold. I need one at the front door and one more at the driveway. I'm willing to spend up to $500-$550 if it's worth it for the cam. What I need is a dome with 3-axis since I will be wall mounting, outdoor of course, IP66 etc etc. Night mode I really prefer to use ambient light, this is outdoor so there's street lights, unless of course the night IR mode is good. Most important is FOV around 90-110 degrees horizontal so I can get a good wide view of my entrance way. I have an indoor dome that does excellent low light with ambient but of course it's indoor. Any suggestions? I see some vivotek ones but not sure again the night mode, but they are close to $600. Axis I've read on here are good but nearly $900 for a decent outdoor cam.

I think I can return it but problem is I cut off one of the connectors.. plus I really don't want to take it down after all the work I've put in. Is there a way to just shut off the IR's? or I can physically unplug the IR. The firmware seems buggy or something, when I log in to the interface, I still cant' find any image settings which I swear I did an image flip before... The funny thing is, the night before, there wasn't any IR bleed like this, I don't know why today there is, has to do with that light sensor or something...

Hey, I have good news for you, if you check on Vivotek, they are actually rated to -20C Either way, I have one of these and tested in my freezer set at -21C, it works fine and doesn't shut it off or anything. Our Canadian winters will for sure test it out but I'm confident it'll be fine, it also generates lots of heat anyways, more worried during summer actually. Be warned though, the FOV is narrow.

http://www.ameta.ca/emcms/upload_files/fck_upload/file/CAM-IP5022.pdf I can get these at a good price, so wondering if they are decent?