"Hidden" door/enterance camera

[Not Eligible For Stars]

Hi, I am looking for a relativly smal camera to do recordings of the entrance door of our house.

The intention of the camera is to stealthy record with backup, but not give normal visitors and my family a bad vibe of being blasted with a NSA space station telescope.

(I will have other cameras do that)

 

We live outside of town on a farm, my dad deals with crazy people at work (lawyer) that sometimes come to us, when grandma hangs out at day she is getting visited by typical "spoters" who claim to be deaf/blind/sellers to check for values etc. which have resulted in storage buildings around the farm being broken into.

 

What I've found so far is this:

https://www.oncamgrandeye.com/security-systems/evolution-mini-recessed-camera/

This camera is around 120mm wide in diameter and looks dope, but a bit big.

 

Any suggestions is appreciated. I'm thinking of mounting it right above the door or in the roof above the door (se pictures). I'm open for any style of camera.

[GDRRiley]

well for a little work 

 

[SuperCloneRanger]

You can search amazon for 'hidden camera' and get tons of products, so i'm assuming you want something more professional. if you can answer a few questions for me, hopefully i can find you something that fits your needs.

 

How do you want it to connect? wire? wifi?

do you want to integrate into an existing cctv system?

what sort of budget do you have?

[TheBean]

add this camera to a raspberry pi. 

 

https://www.amazon.com/d/Networking-Products/Makerfocus-Raspberry-Camera-Adjustable-Focus-Raspberry-pi/B06XYDCN5N/ref=sr_1_7?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1541295301&sr=1-7&keywords=raspberry+pi+camera

[Not Eligible For Stars]

@SuperCloneRanger

 

Cat-6 cable - PoE. No existing cctv sytem or cameras.

About 3-4 other other cameras are planed, but those are going to be normal cameras like the G3 lineup from Ubiquiti or something else, nothings decided. I will put up around 12 empty tubes for later, so that if anyone wants they can go ham with more cameras.

 

I dont know anything about cameras or networking, as a electrician all I know is pull cables. I will most likely put up the cables and let someone else pick the correct cameras&switches, but this door camera needs some attention to aesthetics. It might require me to open the wall to put in a spotlight box to recess the camera according to what i decide on.

 

The budget is unlimited for this one camera. The total budget is also pretty unlimited, its more about deciding on something reasonable that isn't overkill.

 

Q1 - Are there problems with mixing different cameras in a cctv system?

Q2 - Can one set up a pad/tablet to monitor one camera (the door) for example to be lazy and dont get out of bed when its the girl scouts selling cookies.

Q3 - How far can a wideangle camera see - before one should rather pick a directional camera?

Q4 - Are the Ubiquiti cameras/software good?

[Donut417]

7 minutes ago, Not Eligible For Stars said:

Can one set up a pad/tablet to monitor one camera (the door) for example to be lazy and dont get out of bed when its the girl scouts selling cookies.

You might look in to a door bell cam. You can generally not only see who it is, but even talk to them without going to the door. 

[dalekphalm]

My suggestion is to hide the camera inside a bird house. This way you can use a bigger/high quality camera too. 

[SuperCloneRanger]

Q1 - Are there problems with mixing different cameras in a cctv system?

Yes, it depends on the system.

 

Q2 - Can one set up a pad/tablet to monitor one camera (the door) for example to be lazy and dont get out of bed when its the girl scouts selling cookies?

Yes most ip cameras can be viewed from a web browser.

 

Q3 - How far can a wideangle camera see - before one should rather pick a directional camera? 

I think wide angle is better suited to indoor use, on a wide angle lens after 4-6m(dependent on field of view) people become too small on the image to me usable.

 

Q4 - Are the Ubiquiti cameras/software good?

Ubiquiti product are designed for commercial use and are very well regarded.

 

 

The unifi system looks really nice, easy enough setup, no subscription, and can be accessed from anywhere. but its a closed system, you can only use unifi cameras. the unifi cameras are small and very unobtrusive though and i think the benefits of the system could mitigate the need for a visible camera. if you hide the camera in the corner you won't be able to see it from the outside and being so high i don't think it will be that noticeable on the inside.

 

 

for a 5 camera system with there 2TB NVR(network video recorder) and an 8port PoE switch its $1233. you could probably install it yourself, especially if you know how to run the ethernet cable. you just connect the cameras to the switch, connect the NVR to the switch, then connect the switch to your internet router.

 

cameras 5 pack

https://www.a1securitycameras.com/ubiquiti-uvc-g3-af-5.html

 

2TB NVR

https://www.a1securitycameras.com/ubiquiti-uvc-nvr-2tb.html

 

8 port PoE switch

https://www.a1securitycameras.com/ubiquiti-ts-8-pro.html

 

but if you really want the low profile cameras i think i found some good ones, all of these are open and can be used with many systems. but you'll probable need a pro for setup.

 

Not strictly for outdoor use but if you put it in the cieling with an o ring or a bit of silicone i'm sure it will be fine

http://www.geovision.com.tw/product/GV-UNP2500

https://www.a1securitycameras.com/geovision-gv-unp2500.html

 

outdoor 360 view only 65mm across, i can't find a buy link for it though.

http://www.geovision.com.tw/product/GV-UNFE2502

 

made for outdoor and very discreet but expensive.

https://www.a1securitycameras.com/acti-q13-k1.html

 

I fell down a bit of a rabbit hole on this one. Although i know a bit about this stuff, make sure you read all the documentation before you buy anything, i'm pretty sure i didn't miss anything but i don't want blaming if i did.

[Not Eligible For Stars]

@SuperCloneRanger

Thanks, good answer I will look into what's physical possible to install.