Add Camera on Mailbox

[emersonvier]

Hi all, I want to add a camera inside my mailbox to view my front house.

Distance from the front is 47 ft, I made some tests on the weekend with an old camera a have here is a TOP CAM , please see below video and pictures.

I "think" the quality for this TOPCAM is not good, may grass is green and my shirt is red.

so I post here to have some advice from you guys.

View attachment SumPump.20210508_130001_3.mp4



















This a picture from a phone




This a BI print screem from my phone



This is my mailbox with a camera for "test"
:

 

[TonyR]

So what do you expect to view from the new cam?
The entire front of the house left to right, fence to fence, like the phone image?
Or just the front door?

 

[wittaj]

And what quality - if you want to be able to get good night video, that camera isn't going to do it...do you want to IDENTIFY or observe that someone came to the door?

If you want to IDENTIFY they you need a camera where you can truly set parameters like shutter and gain and not have the camera firmware override it to give a nice bright image but turns to motion blur and ghosting at night...

 

[emersonvier]

So what do you expect to view from the new cam?
The entire front of the house left to right, fence to fence, like the phone image?
Or just the front door?

Hi, TonyR my main idea is to see when people walk out from my door/porch, the sides house will be an extra.

 

[TonyR]

Hi, TonyR my main idea is to see when people walk out from my door/porch, the sides house will be an extra.

Do you have a budget?
Will the cam be POE-powered?

 

[TonyR]

I would consider the IPC-HFW2231T-ZS bullet cam. reviewed here ==>> Review-Dahua IPC-HFW2231TP-ZS Starlight Bullet Varifocal Cam

Purchase for $135 from @EMPIRETECANDY on amazon.com here.

You could paint black or use black or camo tape to help disguise it.

 

[TonyR]

Or the equally capable turret version for $130 (may be easier to mount and be more discreet), the Loryta IPC-T2231T-ZS 2MP Starlight WDR IR Eyeball Network Camera Motorized Vari-Focal 2.7mm–13.5mm Lens English Version

 

[Y2K38]

I'm curious. What causes the poor image quality of the IP camera compared to a proper camera such as the phone? Is it mostly losses due to the h264 / h265 encoding hardware not being optimized for quality, even if the bitrate and the profile is set high? Is it the type of optics? I've noticed that security cameras are generally focus free whereas real cameras have to be focused. Is the image sensor interpolating making it look worse? Is the chroma in the YUV color space at a much lower resolution than on a regular camera, giving it the color washed out look? Or does it not have IR cut causing color distortion?

 

[looney2ns]

I'm curious. What causes the poor image quality of the IP camera compared to a proper camera such as the phone? Is it mostly losses due to the h264 / h265 encoding hardware not being optimized for quality, even if the bitrate and the profile is set high? Is it the type of optics? I've noticed that security cameras are generally focus free whereas real cameras have to be focused. Is the image sensor interpolating making it look worse? Is the chroma in the YUV color space at a much lower resolution than on a regular camera, giving it the color washed out look? Or does it not have IR cut causing color distortion?

Simple, You get what you pay for. The top camera in the OP, is a $30-40 camera.
Very well could be the settings in the camera or the lack of.

 

[wittaj]

In most instances it is cheaper hardware...

Surveillance cameras are not focus free - even the fixed cams have a target distance range for the focus - some cameras are better than others, but with some, say a 2.8mm fixed lens is designed with optimal focus at 10 feet, so I have seen some cameras where an object 5 feet or 15 feet away are out of focus.

And of course, varifocals have autofocus, as well as manual focus adjustments. But even a varifocal won't change its focus as an object moves to/from away from the camera.

 

[emersonvier]

I would consider the IPC-HFW2231T-ZS bullet cam. reviewed here ==>> Review-Dahua IPC-HFW2231TP-ZS Starlight Bullet Varifocal Cam

Purchase for $135 from @EMPIRETECANDY on amazon.com here.

You could paint black or use black or camo tape to help disguise it.

OK about the budget, I am looking for something compact.

 

[emersonvier]

Or the equally capable turret version for $130 (may be easier to mount and be more discreet), the Loryta IPC-T2231T-ZS 2MP Starlight WDR IR Eyeball Network Camera Motorized Vari-Focal 2.7mm–13.5mm Lens English Version

This one could work better, maybe I need to build a box to hide it.

 

[TonyR]

Or does it not have IR cut causing color distortion?

Yes, that is correct with regard to the washed-out colors...no mechanical IR cut in the TOP-201. I've have 2 of them, used one with no onboard IR in the past as a cam in a bluebird box. With it I mounted an external IR emitter.

 

[emersonvier]

Simple, You get what you pay for. The top camera in the OP, is a $30-40 camera.
Very well could be the settings in the camera or the lack of.

Yep really cheap, less than $30, I bought this TOP CAM a long time ago and learn about "You get what you pay for" still functional I used it just to see my SUM Pump.

 

[wittaj]

You will find most are oblivious, so they wouldn't even see it on mailbox LOL. Paint it black and call it good!

 

[TonyR]

... still functional I used it just to see my SUM Pump.

Yea, I thought I saw that name inverted on the overlay in the 3rd image!

 

[TonyR]

Excellent paint job here by @dudemaar ==>> IPC-HDBW2231R-ZS paint job