After 10+ years of installs, the biggest mistake we see in DIY camera setups isn't the equipment — it's where the cameras are pointing. A great camera in the wrong spot is worth less than a basic camera in the right spot. Here's how we think about placement on a typical Long Island home.
Almost mandatory. Mount it 8–10 feet up, angled slightly down, far enough from the door that it captures faces (not just the top of someone's head). Aim it so the door is in the lower half of frame and you can see anyone approaching from the walkway. A wide-angle (110°+) lens is ideal here.
For most Long Island homes, the driveway is where vehicles, deliveries, and most "events" happen. Mount the camera under the eave at the corner of the house — high enough that nobody can swat it, angled to capture both the vehicle area and the path between car and front door. License-plate readability matters here, so we usually use a 4MP+ camera with a slightly tighter field of view than the front door cam.
The back is often a security blind spot for homeowners but a known weak point for break-ins. Mount one camera under the back eave covering the patio and the line of sight to the back door. If the yard is large, consider a second camera at the far corner facing back toward the house.
Most break-ins on Long Island happen via side or back access — not the front door. If your house has a side gate, fence access, or a path between houses, put a camera there. Even a single small dome camera covering this path is high-value.
Garages get overlooked. If you have an attached or detached garage, a camera inside (covering the door from the inside) or just outside (covering the garage door from the driveway angle) catches a lot of activity homeowners want to know about.
Anything below 8 feet is reachable. We've seen camera vandalism — kids spray-painting lenses, people covering them with tape. Mount higher than that whenever physically possible.
South-facing cameras with the lens looking directly into afternoon sun will get washed-out images for hours every day. We always check the sun path during our site visit and aim cameras to avoid direct sunlight as much as possible.
Capturing your own property is what matters legally. Cameras that primarily film a public sidewalk or your neighbor's yard create awkward situations and don't add real security value. Tilt cameras down so the top of frame is your roof line or your fence — not the public sidewalk.
Floodlight triggering at night will cause the camera's auto-exposure to flicker repeatedly. We separate cameras from motion lights or use cameras with their own integrated IR (infrared) so they don't depend on visible-light illumination.
Indoor cameras pointed out windows look reasonable but rarely produce useful video. Glass reflects, condenses, and bounces IR back into the lens at night. Always mount outdoor-rated cameras on outdoor surfaces.
Most Long Island homes get good coverage with 4–6 cameras. More than 8 is usually only justified for larger or multi-building properties. Adding cameras you'll never look at footage from is just spending money.
The right way to scope it: walk the perimeter and ask "if something happened right here, would I have video?" Wherever the answer is no and the location matters, that's a camera spot.
A free site visit is the easiest way to figure out the right placement plan for your house. We'll walk the property with you and mark where cameras should go before we quote anything.