Cover the points everyone has to pass
The most valuable views are the places people cannot avoid: the front door, the back gate, the driveway, the main entrance to a unit. A camera on a natural choke point captures everyone coming and going, which is far more useful than a wide shot of an open area where faces are too small to make out.
Get the height right
Mounted too high, a camera looks down on the tops of heads and captures little that identifies anyone. Too low, and it is easy to tamper with. A height of around two and a half to three metres is often a sensible balance: out of easy reach, but still angled to catch faces rather than scalps. The exact height depends on the view.
Think about light, not just position
A camera pointed towards a bright sky or a rising or setting sun spends much of the day looking into glare, turning anyone in front of it into a silhouette. Where possible, point cameras so the light falls on the subject rather than into the lens, and consider how each view changes between day and night before fixing anything in place.
Mind the blind spots
Every camera has edges, and trouble has a way of finding them. Walk the property and picture the gaps between views, especially around corners, side returns and anywhere out of sight of a window. Overlapping the edges of adjacent cameras slightly removes the gaps that a single camera per area tends to leave.
Match the camera to the job
A wide view is good for seeing what happened across an area; a tighter view is better for identifying a person or reading a detail at a specific spot. Deciding what each camera is for before choosing it avoids the common mistake of trying to make one camera watch everything and doing none of it well.
Power, cabling and weather
A good position still has to be reachable. Each camera needs power and a route back to the recorder, ideally a single network cable, and outdoor units need to cope with rain and wind without a dome that quickly dirties or misted optics. Planning the practicalities alongside the views keeps the install tidy and the footage clean.
What to do next
Walk the property and note the entrances and routes everyone has to use, the corners and side returns that are easy to miss, and how the light falls at different times of day. That walk is the single most useful step before choosing or mounting any camera.
Symnetrix can plan camera positions around the views that actually matter for your home or business, with the cabling, power and night performance considered together. Learn more about cctv installation in Hastings and East Sussex, or contact Symnetrix to discuss your setup.