Video Camera Placement

[Chucky]

This has sort of been brought up before but again has hit the news. A robber walked into a small store and robbed it. The inferences in this case wasn't the fact that he robbed the store but the placement of the cameras. The store had 4 active good to better cameras running. The Perp was wearing a billed baseball cap with a hoodie pulled up. The camera from above and behind the customer area was in this case useless as was the one from the side that may have a far shot of him entering. and the one above and behind the clerk was blocked by the bill on the hat.

Had that been all then this guy would have been gone spending the money looking for the next store. But this owner was no slouch as the story indicated he had done his home work and placed a concealed money shot camera at average face level on the inside of the door way. He realized that in most cases the perp will start to remove his disguise just before exiting the stores as not to attract attention from anyone in the parking lot or a cop passing by. Within an hour this serial robbers plain as day face was on the local news.

For some reason he went back to the store and returned the money. Cops think he was going to try the first time sorry deal. but due to the excellent camera positioning several other store owners came forward and IDed him.

[CameraMan]

If you've got a long corridor with clear sight lines to the doorway, mount a camera directly above the door, mounted on the door frame itself if possible, with a very shallow angle. Same effect. Also, everyone forgets to cover thier faces on the way out.

[integrator97]

1st one is 2 feet tall, made to mount on the counter.
2nd and 3rd are height strips with a camera in them, made to mount on door mullion or jamb, or wall next to door.
4th is 6 inches long, made to mount next to door.

Click on any to go to websites.
Speco Color Counter Camera (TC23) (http://www.specotech.com/cart/products/productDetails.asp?prodID=890)

Honeywell ExitView® (https://www.honeywellvideo.com/products/cameras/sp/37779.html)

Camden Controls CV-EX36 Exit Watch Covert Door Frame Camera (http://new.camdencontrols.com/products/CV_EX36_Exit_Watch_Covert_Door_Frame_Camera)

Camden Controls CV-EX7 Compact Covert Door Frame Camera (http://new.camdencontrols.com/products/compact_covert_camera_)

[Chucky]

The thing is that this is really a no brainer yet few people think or even care to do it. They seem to feel that the old standard placement will get them through. So many holdups go unsolved due to crappy placement or useless poor quality systems. When I posted this thread I was looking through the local news for a story and the video from this story and came across another story about another robbery. In that story they only got one frame from a tape of a whole holdup that was poor at best, and pretty useless. There should be a min standard imposed by insurance companies.

[integrator97]

Yea. I put a bunch of the height strip cameras in banks. I haven't got them to go to counter cameras yet. But convincing customers to spend money.....

[CameraMan]

Hate to toot my own horn here, but I just wrote a post on the DCRI method on my blog here (http://cctvcameraman.blogspot.com/2009/12/choosing-cameras-using-dcri-method.html).

[IP-Alarms]

Yep, camera placement is a tricky subject. It's interesting how the megapixel camp state that a single megapixel camera can do the job of several standard cameras, but obviousy that is not always the case.

Better to have a good medium resolution picture of someones face than be able to see the type of stitching on his baseball cap :D

[integrator97]

Yep, camera placement is a tricky subject. It's interesting how the megapixel camp state that a single megapixel camera can do the job of several standard cameras, but obviousy that is not always the case.

Better to have a good medium resolution picture of someones face than be able to see the type of stitching on his baseball cap :D
It's rarely the case. How often do you have multiple cameras covering one big open area? Parking lots, that's about it. Generally you have furniture and fixtures in the way, or you're looking down hallways, at doors or entrances.

If you do have the occasion to use a megapixel camera instead of several analog cameras, it can be great, with the zoom capability. Provided you use a high enough megapixel camera. You're most likely going to lose if you replaced eight cameras with a single 1 or 2 megapixel camera.

[Rooney]

I've also installed many height strip cameras. They work great. Another thing we have done as well is install small cameras inside objects around the cashier station. The resolution of some of the very small cameras is not great but when you have a face 2 feet from it, there is plenty of resolution to get a good ID. We have installed them in the side frames of the overhead cigarette racks, below the counter looking up, and elsewhere.

One point that I see as important is the resolution. There are times when a 320 tvl camera works fine (like in the instance I stated above). But you have to be careful. The camera placement as well as target distance and coverage area have to be taken into consideration when designing a system and selecting cameras. The proper resolution for those factors makes all the difference.

[TXGrunt]

few years back when i did Console Operations for a bank we would get some amazing images from the Height Markers and the Teller Tower Camera's. I think most the time bad guy doesnt realize the Height Markers or the Teller Tower Cameras.

heres a great site that is ran in Texas that shows the robbers.

http://bandittracker.com/

[alexbonapart]

Hate to toot my own horn here, but I just wrote a post on the DCRI method on my blog here (http://cctvcameraman.blogspot.com/2009/12/choosing-cameras-using-dcri-method.html).
Great post cameraman! Well explained

[Serg]

But there is a special camera layout software.


I would note that there is a much more powerful CCTV design software tool - VideoCAD (http://cctvcad.com). It can construct projection taking into account walls and other obstacles, it can model movement, light sensitivity, megapixel resolution, AutoCAD import-export and has many other useful features.