Mounting: Discreet or Deter?

[EBRDDM4v3 0]

How do you guys mount your cameras? Im debating if I should make it more discreet so that it gets a good shot and avoids vandalism/someone trying to destroy it. Or mount it in plain view so it acts as a deterrent?

 

I plan to add a decal small enough to read only at the front door

 

''Smile you're on HD cameras''

[shockwave199 0]

I subscribe to deterrent. There's an awful lot of potential targets in a neighborhood. The harder and less attractive you make your home to crime, the better the chance you won't be a target. Easy pickins rules the day. Unlike the movies, I think of it like this- lights, cameras, no action!

[dustmop 0]

I believe in both uses, but with a heavy emphasis on deterrent. Sometimes unobtrusive/small/covert cameras are more appropriate, but if you have had vandalism/theft/etc issues in the past, you probably want to make it nice and obvious, while ensuring it is the correct camera/mount for the job (vandal resistant) and is mounted where it's difficult to get to from ground level.

 

I have found that rectangular/bullet style enclosures on arms outside draw a LOT of attention, where a smaller vandal dome is less noticeable. Arm mounted enclosures can be moved or ripped off by a determined individual pretty easily, where a dome isn't so easily abused. (The previous is just my two cents, your mileage may vary, etc etc)

[EBRDDM4v3 0]

Thanks I think I will mount my 2 x Qsee/Dahua bullet cameras out of sight and get 2 domes for front entry. Won't see it on the street while driving by, but you'll notice if when you walk up.

[Kawboy12R 0]

Personally, I'd prefer watching someone case my house and then walk away than try to deal with an insurance company and give a mediocre video to them and the police. I bet most crackheads won't care if they see a camera after they're already on your property though. Heck, most of the people that come to my house don't seem to even see the IR bullet camera mounted by my front door, even those that come at night when the IR is visible. I'm thinking that even a big sign by the end of your driveway saying "Property under video surveillance" doesn't have near a 100% chance of scaring thieves off, but it's better than depending on them noticing and being deterred by a bullet camera after they're close enough to look in your windows and see your flatscreen and laptop.

[yakky 0]

I think a mix is good. Some obvious, some not.

[Horizon 0]

There are pros and cons for both.

I've gone for discrete, on the theory that otherwise I'll only see images of people with hoodie-covered-heads (or masked) trying to break in, or the cameras will attract the wrong attention. If the property is obviously well guarded or secured, then it must have something worth protecting.

Other concern is that the place could get torched to destroy the recording equipment.

Hey, if I wasn't (mildly - honestly, only slightly) paranoid, I wouldn't be using CCTV

 

To expand on this, if you have a typically average suburban street, and only one house has obvious cameras, some of them moving about doing tours, then that house will get talked about, and probably by the wrong people

[fa chris 0]

For residential I prefer discreet for aesthetic purposes. Unless every single one of my neighbors is alright with looking at some big ugly camera, I'm going to keep it to a minimum.

 

Window signs can let people know they're under surveillance, and they'll be able to find the cameras when they look for them.

 

For commercial, I like a good mix, some discreet to watch the obvious cameras.

[Numb-nuts 1]

Prevention is ALWAYS better than cure. What I am getting at is that the primary purpose for most CCTV schemes should be and is deterrent. The inconvenience, the stress and the trauma of being subject to crime regardless of how much evidence you can gather is nothing to be savored.

 

Place cameras in plain sight, use plenty of signage at your perimeter, in the hope that a criminal will see the sgns and decide to move on and select another easier and less risky victim. Obviously there is no way of knowing what these criminals are thinking if indeed they are capable of thought so the secondary line of defense is recording.

 

Cameras should be placed at least 10 feet higher than the nearest standing surface, ie if a fence abuts a wall then 10 feet above the top of the fence. Obviously height has advantages and disadvantages. Foe a general overview, height can be advantageous and for a close up identity view, too much height can make things difficult.

ID close up i.e.head and shoulders should fill 50% of the frame height at least. In my experience, if you mount the cameras intelligently say above hawthorn bushes, they rarely get vandalised. It does happen but not that often.

[Digiscan 0]

If you want to use the camera to try and solve a crime, hide them. If you want to prevent it happening, make them visible.

To expand on this, if you have a typically average suburban street, and only one house has obvious cameras, some of them moving about doing tours, then that house will get talked about, and probably by the wrong people

On a typical suburban street I am assuming that most houses have similar levels of valuables and the one with the camera just has a guy who likes to protect his stuff, so makes him a really bad target!

 

There is a residential house near me with a bullet on the end of the garage and I think it looks terrible, FWIW. Domes are better, hidden under eaves and things, just for aesthetic purposes, even if not preventative.

[digiblur 0]

I just mount them where I need them. I can care less if people see them, I want them to see them...now I don't want them painted orange but you get the drift. I know people were looking at me when I put them up. I know they were looking at me in the night with my little 7 inch LCD screen fired up lighting up my face I changed some settings and such. I actually kinda preferred they saw me.

 

My neighbor noticed them and thought it was cool and wants me to install some for him now.