Top 4 Elements Of A Great Camera Install

With so many options it can be daunting to figure out what's right for your potential camera installation. Soo many brands (Lorex, Dahua, Hikvision, Alibi, LTS and the list goes on) offer clear cameras, all types of guarantees,  the moon, stars, heck, even halos.

As a person who's been in the surveillance installation business for over 20 years, I'd like to share with you what I've found...

...There are 4 Elements that make a great CCTV or Surveillance System.

1. Control:

Many of the camera systems made for the masses, found in big box stores do a lot of the "work" for the consumer, they don't allow for control of the image and network settings which are often better adjusted by a human rather than A.I. or otherwise automatic. Take a look at the example below, half of the picture is very sunny, the other half is in the shade and lacks detail. This issue is correctable by a setting called WDR (Wide Dymanic Range), an adjustment that lightens the shaded area and darkens the well lit area to add detail overall.

With more control over the image settings, you'd be able to see more detail of the people standing in the shade like their faces, clothes, and perhaps objects they'd be holding.

2. Angle:

Most cameras readily accessible in the market are known as "Fixed Lens" and wide angle lenses. A fixed lens simply means that the "field of view" cannot be adjusted via motorized mechanism or manually. What you see is what you get. Typically, a 2.8mm lens (wide angle lens) has a field-of-view shaped like the letter "L"; it does its best work in corners. For example, where the two perpendicular hallways meet in the image below, you can efficiently capture both halls with one camera, tracking possible assailants with ease.

Some CCTV installers couldn't care less if your camera angles work well for you or not. One way this is evident: when the install is done, 30% of the camera image is a brick wall rather than the sidewalk you were trying to capture, or all sky and only 40% of the pool you wanted to cover. See picture below, too much wall and sky, not enough parking lot.

Beware of this mentality in your installer, he's not detail oriented.

3. Overlap:

No matter how many cameras in a surveillance system there's always going to be blind spots, just the nature of surveillance. One way the reduce blind spots is to have overlap. When two separate cameras partially share the same view from different angles, this adds efficiency to the overall system. Many times when events happen with only one camera,  the "event" is almost just out of field-of-view.

4. Lighting:

Many people like to put motion lights up to detect movement at night. This is fine if you don't have a camera system, but if you have a decent camera system, especially one with either "matrix infrared" (very clear black-and-white night vision) or "color at night" cameras (which give off their own white light), the alternating motion lighting conditions will cause the iris in the camera to have to adjust each time the motion light goes on/off. In the moment it takes for the iris to adjust you can loose detail in the footage, even a total recording if the lens glitches to adjust. The best move is to choose ONE, a decent camera OR motion lights, not both.

Most of the concepts, manipulations, and settings mentioned above are not going to be available in an entry level or base model system. The better systems can be very complex to set up have far more settings than mentioned here, and require a professional. It Will Cost You But It's Worth It, So spend the right money from the start with an installer you feel confident in.

Sherrod Scott , Owner Sandman HD