For indoors, there are a few basic rules for positioning your home security cameras. Once you know where you want the camera to monitor, you then have to think “height.’ Although different systems can have varying fields of view (FOV), ideally you want to mount the camera at least 7ft above the ground. Once in position, make sure it points down slightly.
Security cameras detect motion best with side to side movements across the lens FOV. This is important to know because it helps you to position the camera for the best effect. Let'ss say you want to detect motion at your front door. In this case you want to place the camera to one side so that it senses movement as the intruder walks by the lens rather than toward it. Remember to also give your camera space to focus and keep the units out of reach.
Point to a Solid Background
It’s better to have your camera point toward a solid background, away from windows. The problem with cameras that can see through glass is that they might pick up plants moving around on a blustery day, or passing vehicles even. Again, if you want to detect motion at a first floor window, then place the camera to one side, not opposite it. This will eliminate two problems at once. The first is that it avoids detecting irrelevant motion. The second is that it catches the intruder as they walk “across” the camera’s field of view rather than into it. Be careful when positioning outdoor cameras too, as you don’t want trees and shrubs sending you false alerts all day long.
Recap: If the camera isn’t picking up motion, increase the motion sensitivity. If it picks up too much motion (overly sensitive), then decrease the sensitivity settings, reposition the camera, or both.
Rules, Modes and Schedules
Finally we have rules, modes and schedules. The majority of home security cameras—outdoor or indoor—will have some options for rules, modes and schedules. However, some may use different wording that means the same thing. Use rules to determine what action(s) you want the camera to take once it detects motion. For example, if your camera detects motion at the front door, you might want to set up a rule for the living room camera to start recording and set the duration of that recording. Note that you can group any rules you create into modes.
Default modes for security cameras are usually armed and unarmed. You should be able to edit modes freely. You can also schedule your modes by start date, end date, and times of day in a given week that you want the mode to apply. For example, if there’s always someone home on the weekend, you will more than likely want your camera mode set to unarmed. If you’re familiar with using a smartphone, configuring your security camera’s motion detection setting, rules, modes and schedules will be a walk in the park.