Security camera and light placement/upgrade options thread

[Cleck]

I didn't wanna keep blowing up @NYGuns superb thread on cameras, but I have some lighting questions. Some of you have seen my footage and know that I wish to make it better. Here's some pictures to show what I have, where they are, and what I see as we try to discuss what I need to make better to catch nightly activity better.

My current views, I'll try to explain where each camera is, and if the lights are on or not:

Facing down driveway towards road, driveway light OFF.

Facing down driveway towards road, driveway light OFF. Just showing difference between car/person

Facing down driveway towards road, driveway light ON. This is a varifocal camera, so it is slightly zoomed in. See fuzziness as it gets closer to the road

Front door camera, lights ON (color not forced). Sidewalk subjects are fuzzy. Only clarity would be if they come closer, like other video

Front yard/driveway camera, lights ON. Clarity again only good closer to the light.

Rear driveway/garage camera, lights ON (one over deck to the left of frame, driveway light in front of cars), color forced on. Not an issue.

As you can see, I have no problem in the back. The front of the house is the issue. Either I need better NV from the cameras, better light (upgrade front light over door to LED flood?, add a light?), or both. Sidewalk captures are an issue, but I need those, or at the very least, immediately in front/under the cameras listed. Thoughts?

Extra: here's views of the house so you can see where the cameras are and so we can figure out light solutions

Cameras are circled in red, lights in blue. Lights on the ground are led solar lights meant to illuminate the house or walk primarily. One above the door is a single bulb led. That's the one I'm considering mounting a security light to. The one in the back facing up the driveway is behind the camera.

Here's a bigger shot that shows my front lawn and the sidewalk. Would I benefit from adding solar light posts near the driveway? Thoughts?

 

[tc556guy]

Personally, I would try to get at least a couple of cameras at more or less head level. Not sure how you could conceal them so they wouldn't be vandalized, but camera footage where you can actually make out their faces and not just see their bald spot goes a long ways towards identifying someone properly

 

[Cleck]

*Still from a video I can't link here, the video isn't as bad as this still*

I don't want to put them in reach of anyone. After this guy saw this, I haven't seen anyone come back up my driveway since.

 

[BDinPutnam]

Second light near second camera on the wall near the driveway and a light at the apex of that front roof is my comment.

*former theater/film guy so just thinking about it from that perspective, definitely not an expert on security cams.

 

[Toecutter]

Criminals know people keep camera up high they wear hats and hoods to conceal themselves. A low mounted doorbell type camera may be a deterrent. They may not notice it and afraid it got thier face and move on.

Security is also about not being the low hanging fruit . alarms and cameras may not stop them but it will make them think let me try somewhere else.

Plant thorny plants under windows and if you have a ladder in or out of the garage chain it up. Keep windows locked this may seem like a no brainer but people leave windows unlocked all the time.

Any doors with windows make sure they have keyed locks on the inside.

Your air con on the second floor is an easy point . make sure its screwed into the window.

How accessable is the backyard?

 

[Cleck]

Backyard is accessible pretty much from the left and right side of this pic. Go up the driveway, cut across my neighbor's yard. Neighbor to the left of the pic has a fence in theirs, and the back of mine has a fence that is pretty well grown over. Covered

Accessing the a/c on the 2nd floor would take a ladder or some serious climbing skills of someone from below. That's my bedroom right there. Once they start yanking it out, my wife will wake up, wake me up and he'll have a bad day.

Windows are all locked. That front door is locked at night and mostly during the day. Door behind that is deadbolted. They would have to get through one of the smaller porch windows, then come in through the stuck-in-paint windows separating porch from living room.

Tried linking the video, I might have in another thread. Dude walks down the driveway, sees the camera, nopes right out of there. Cars haven't been touched since. Haven't seen a person since. Neighbor's house on the right had their car gone through, dumbass lady had her purse stolen. They didn't even come over to my house at all.

I was kinda thinking what BD said about the light. Another light right on the eave behind the camera there would probably help both cameras out a lot. Either that, or just 1 light up in the porch peak could do it.

Light in peak would probably have to be a spotlight, whereas the light in the eave could probably be a security light and keep it down, keep the driveway lit more.

I'm intrigued by this in the peak or maybe even the corner

Gama Sonic 6-Watt 140-Degree Dark Grey Motion Activated Solar Outdoor Integrated LED Area Light with Wall and Post Mount-GS-101 - The Home Depot

Also considering this for under the eave

Defiant 180 Degree White LED Motion Outdoor Security Light-DFI-5983-WH - The Home Depot

As far as the corner of the driveway by the sidewalk goes, I'm considering a post light, if it'll give enough light to help the camera

 

[BDinPutnam]

@Cleck that defiant looks good to my untrained eye. I've actually been looking for something like that for our backyard, thanks!

My thought there is motion light coming from behind would probably be helpful, you look to have a fair amount of ambient light but need a bit of a flood to light up (plus a light in front would likely dazzle/lens flare maybe? Again I am no expert but I know putting the light in front of the camera was never very helpful in filming )

 

[Cleck]

I have an older version mounted to the garage, for $40 it was a damn steal. I love it.

If I put that light mounted upside down in the eave, the 180 degree nature of those light panels should span the driveway and at least help out the rear eave and the front eave camera. That would improve things a lot.

All of this without trying to make the house look like Laurie Strode's in the last Halloween movie, haha

 

[BDinPutnam]

Now see that's the effect I'm going for out back, lol.

 

[Cleck]

If I didn't live so close to neighbors, I'd care a lot less, but I know this would bug me if they were shining at me, so I am doing my best to maximize and minimize.

 

[FrankenCub]

*Still from a video I can't link here, the video isn't as bad as this still*

I don't want to put them in reach of anyone. After this guy saw this, I haven't seen anyone come back up my driveway since.

Even with the fuzzy view, gloves and face covering in the summer? Yeah, he's just your average neighborhood walker.

 

[Blimey]

Those are actually pretty good night images. Night is still a big challenge for residential cameras. Short of tons of motion spotlights, I think you need to blanket the area with gobs of IR via supplemental IR floodlights, or keep dropping more money on better and better cameras. In nighttime mode though most of these cameras tend to not work so well with movement.

 

[Acer-m14]

night time photography sucks .. in the real camera world , you need a lens aperture with a big ass hole ..

any light behind the subject will just mess with the camera ..

 

[Baugo]

Have you considered placing trailcams at a lower level?
Probably not an option at the sidewalk but along the drive and by the garage it might work.

 

[Cleck]

I haven't considered those yet, mainly because I don't want anything at a height that someone can just reach up and steal w/ a little bit of work.

I'm either going to add the spotlight or the streetlight to the corner of the house and see how that affects the driveway camera. Being so close to the camera, it will probably make most images on that one appear like the back yard camera. I would be ok w/ that.

As much as I want to see who is on the sidewalk, I ultimately only care about myself. If the added light helps see more on the sidewalk, I'll take it.

 

[Cleck]

If I can add one more light, I can probably force color on for the nearest camera, and that will really help things.