Placement beats camera count every time
The most common camera mistake is buying a big kit and spreading it thin — eight cameras aimed at rooflines and lawn, and not one clean shot of a face at the front door. A handful of cameras placed at the real entry points, at the right height and angle, protects a home far better. Here is the order we plan every install.
Start with the entry points
Burglars use doors and reachable windows, so cover those first: the front door, the back or side door, the driveway or garage, and any ground-floor window that is easy to reach. Nail those and you have covered the large majority of break-in routes — usually with four to six cameras, not a dozen.
Mount 8–10 feet high, angled down
Put cameras 8 to 10 feet off the ground — high enough to be hard to grab or spray, low enough to still read a face. Tilt them 15 to 30 degrees down toward the target. Mounted too high or aimed straight down, you get the tops of heads and hats, which is useless for identifying anyone.
Overlap the fields of view
Aim each camera so its edge overlaps the next by 10–20%. That removes the gaps between cameras where someone could slip through unseen, and it lets one camera catch what another misses. Walk the yard and picture the cones of view meeting.
Set the doorbell at 48 inches — and mind glare and privacy
A video doorbell belongs about 48 inches (4 feet) up — faces at eye level, packages still in frame. Keep every camera aimed at your own property, not a neighbour’s windows, and avoid pointing into direct sun, which blows out the picture. In California, recording audio needs all-party consent, so we often disable mics on cameras facing shared space.
Sun, heat and Wi-Fi are what trip cameras up here
Two things bite local camera installs more than anything. First, the sun: a west-facing camera staring into a Bakersfield afternoon washes out to a white glare exactly when you need it, so we aim east-and-west cameras to keep the sun behind or beside them, and lean on units with real HDR. Second, Wi-Fi range: battery cameras on the far corner of the lot or in the alley are usually at the ragged edge of the router’s reach, which is why they drop offline and miss clips. For anything that matters we prefer wired (PoE) cameras — one cable for power and data, no batteries to swap, no Wi-Fi to lose — or at minimum a mesh node or access point out near the detached garage. Heat matters too: cameras baking in full sun run hot, so a little eave or soffit shade extends their life. If you tell us the layout and where the sun hits, we will place them so they are still readable in July at 5 p.m. — that is the shot that actually matters.
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Cameras that still show a face in the glare
We plan the angles, run wired PoE where it counts, and set every camera so the entry points are covered with no blind gaps — then show you the app before we leave. Tell us the property and we will right-size it.
More guides: Wired vs wireless cameras · Camera keeps going offline · Doorbell offline
Quick answers
How high should cameras go?
About 8 to 10 feet, angled 15–30 degrees down. High enough to resist tampering, low enough to still capture a usable face.
How many do I need?
Cover entry points, not square footage — front door, back/side door, driveway or garage, and reachable ground-floor windows. Usually four to six for a home.
How high should a doorbell camera be?
About 48 inches (4 feet). Faces stay in frame and you can still see a package on the step.
Where should I not aim a camera?
Not into a neighbour’s windows or yard, and not into direct sun. In California, recording audio needs all-party consent, so mics are often disabled on cameras facing shared space.