How Many Security Cameras Does Your Property Need?

Start with how people get onto the block

Count the ways someone can get onto your property and up to a door. On a typical Ipswich house, there are four.

The driveway and street frontage. Every vehicle and most people arrive this way. A camera here catches cars and number plates.

The front door. A camera at head height near the door gives you faces, which is what makes footage useful to police. Parcels left on the step are covered too.

The side access. Usually a gate beside the house where the bins live. This is the most common way into a back yard, and it is out of sight from the street.

The back yard. Covers the rear door, the patio and anyone coming over the back fence.

That is four cameras, and it is where most homes start.

When you need more

Corner blocks have two street frontages, and often a second side gate. Add one or two.

Highset homes have an open area underneath where cars, bikes and tools are often kept. That space needs its own camera because none of the others can see into it. This comes up a lot in older Ipswich suburbs where Queenslanders are common.

Detached garages, granny flats and sheds each need a camera on their door.

Pools and big back yards sometimes need a second rear camera, because one camera cannot cover a deep yard and the back door at the same time.

Properties backing onto a park, a creek, bushland or a rail line have a rear boundary with no neighbours watching. A camera along that fence is worth having.

Acreage counts differently

On a rural block, think in terms of zones instead of sides of the house. The gate, the driveway approach, the house itself and each shed or outbuilding are separate zones. A five acre block in Karalee or Pine Mountain might need eight to ten cameras to cover the gate, the house and two sheds properly. The gate camera usually matters most, because every vehicle passes it.

One good camera beats two bad ones

Coverage is not just a count. A camera mounted too high sees the tops of heads. A camera aimed at the whole yard shows tiny figures with no detail. The right number of cameras in the right spots, at around two and a half to three metres high and angled to catch faces, does far more than cameras on every corner aimed at nothing in particular.

Plan for later

If you are not sure, start with the four main positions and choose a recorder with eight channels. Adding a camera later is then a cable run and a mount, not a new system.

Questions people ask

Is one camera better than none?

Yes, if it is on the right spot. If you can only have one, put it where every visitor and vehicle has to pass, usually covering the driveway and front door together.

Do I need a camera at the back if the yard is fenced?

Usually, yes. A fence keeps people out of sight of the street, which is exactly why someone would go over it.

Should cameras face the street?

One camera covering the driveway and the street frontage is useful for capturing vehicles. Keep it aimed at your property and the road, not into the houses opposite.