Source
r/homedefense•
cakens

Camera above exterior light

I am looking to place a camera on our front porch to see people at front door, people in driveway and walking by.

Low light/night performance is desirable to keep eye on car in driveway and any other neighborhood unsound activity.

I've been looking at the Dahua Starlight 2MB as it seems to have alot of positive reviews.

I plan to mount the cam above the exterior light to the right in the picture below.

Question is - how will being above that light impact the camera at night? Will it blind the camera?

https://imgur.com/a/X08XvQR

Posted Mar 31, 2019, 8:54 PM UTC

156
Kv603•

Biggest problem will be the light attracting bugs.

Shouldn't blind the camera with those particular fixtures, though it might mess with the gain control and dynamic range; having brightly lit objects in the foreground can result in background objects (the driveway and neighborhood) being too dark to see.

I put my exterior lights on a dimmer, and have a motion sensor on the porch so any motion forces the light to full brightness, then after a while it dims back down to nearly nothing.

9
Speeling_Matters•

I agree, I think the light style will be fine but the bright brick will bias the camera's automatic settings a bit. OP, maybe play with HDR, the exposure settings, and gamma.

5
HugsAllCats•

Probably. I have a camera about 2 feet away from an exterior light and half the camera's image is blown and useless.

Connect the camera, don't screw it in, stand on a ladder and hold it where you want to put it. Actually seeing an image is the only way to know.

3
HipsterDufus77•

Would the Kuna Toucan Security camera be an option for you?

https://getkuna.com/pages/toucan-surveillance-kit

​

2
cakensOP•

Definitely looks interesting, thanks for sharing. Will dig into the tech and quality of solution.

1
smith3915•

Being too close to a light might give it a glare on the camera, wire but don't screw to see which works best for your desired view.

1