7 Best Practices for CCTV Camera Placement, Choosing the right camera placement is crucial for ensuring optimal coverage and effectiveness of your IP surveillance system. Here are some best practices to guide you:
The main purpose of having and installing Video surveillance system is ensuring highest coverage and effectiveness. In this article we will be using an example of a site to learn beast practices for camera placement.
lets learn best practices for camera installation through a case study.
Case Study-
We are having a two story jewelry shop at a busy square with parking facility. significant open space on each side to cover. to achieve enhance security we will showcase the best practices to ensure highest coverage achievable. Lets understand the 7 Best Practices for CCTV Camera Placement.
7 Best Practices for CCTV Camera Placement
Identify High-Risk Areas
Our jewelry shop having two entries to the shop and two exits. high footfall areas such as doors and gates, windows. We must identify vulnerable zones within the premises like secluded corners, cash counters and parking lots.
the first best practice is to mark the areas that are high risk areas and vulnerable zones within the premises and around the premises.
Optimal Height and Angle
Height and angle are important to fix the camera on identified place. Best practice to mount cameras at a height of 8-10 feet from floor. this height is ideal in order to balance detail capture of image/video and also tamper resistance.
Cameras are very likely to get vandalize and tampered in event of theft. So suitable choice of height such activities in majority of incidents.
Best and tested tilt angle is in between 15-30 degree downward for facial recognition. It also helps to avoid glare.
Minimize Blind Spots
Blind Spots are the biggest enemy of Video surveillance system. Blind spots are the result of building structure, camera placement, and focal length of a camera used.
What is a Blind Spots?- Blind spot is the any part of area or gaps that is not covered by the camera or missed. To minimize the blind spot we can organize or install cameras and adjust the angles. there are two ways we can overcome this-
How to minimize blind spots in CCTV video surveillance system?
- Overlap coverage zones between cameras to ensure there are no gaps you can refer to the below image for better understanding (Draw illustration to show)
- Camera with wide-angle lenses will give broad coverage minimizing the blind spots. There are cameras with 180 Degree field view also available.
Consider Lighting Conditions
Video surveillance system struggles when there is inadequate lighting conditions. you might fall in two conditions, one with direct sunlight or any source of direct light like bulb or similar. Direct light results in flares, ghost images, It can blind the camera, result in poor video quality. or camera struggle to capture the video footage.
Avoid direct light
Low light conditions-
to tackle with low light conditions or in night time, we must have IR-enabled cameras for night time clarity. You can use motion activated light to enhance the camera functionality during nigh time.
Environmental Factors
We must protect CCTV camera from hash weather, Sunlight, Rain, dust and water. Our primary choice while selecting a place to mount camera at desired location should be considering these environmental factors.
for that,
- Place outdoor cameras under eaves or sheltered areas to protect from weather.
- Ensure cameras have weatherproof housings with a high IP rating like (IP67).
- In some special cases fireproof camera housing is required.
- Follow CCTV camera weatherproofing practices to minimize environmental damages.
Balance Visibility and Discretion
there are two ways we monitor activities in potential areas, one is open where camera is fully visible to people easily and second is a discreet monitoring which is hidden or not easily noticed by people.
- Use visible cameras in high-traffic or crowded areas to prevent potential intruders.
- Place discreet cameras in sensitive areas to monitor activity without making people feel they are being watched.
Legal Considerations
Each government has a privacy law, We must adhere to it. We are not allowed to record or film private spaces. One must have visible signage indicating ” You are under CCTV Surveillance”.
- Comply with local privacy laws and avoid filming private spaces.
- Post visible signage indicating surveillance and securely store footage
By following these 7 Best Practices for CCTV Camera Placement, you can ensure your surveillance system provides comprehensive coverage and effective monitoring.
