The most expensive camera in the world is useless if you point it at the wrong spot. I've seen $300 cameras mounted 4 feet off the ground (stolen within a week), aimed directly into the sun (blinded every morning), and pointed at a brick wall 3 feet away.
Camera placement is more important than camera quality. A $36 Wyze Cam in the right spot beats a $250 Arlo in the wrong spot.
Here's where to put cameras — and where not to — based on my experience securing two properties.
The Priority Order
If you're buying cameras one at a time, buy them in this order:
- Front door — 34% of burglars enter through the front door
- Back door — 22% enter through the back
- Driveway/garage — Catches vehicles and approaching people
- First floor windows — Side of house, often overlooked
- Indoor hallway — The chokepoint of any home
- Living room — General monitoring
Don't try to cover everything at once. Start with #1 and add cameras over time.
Front Door (Camera #1)
Height: 7-8 feet, angled 30° down. High enough that someone can't reach it, low enough to capture faces.
Angle: Capture the full doorstep plus 5-10 feet of the walkway. You want to see someone approaching AND standing at the door.
Common mistake: Mounting at eye level (5 feet). This gives great face shots but the camera gets stolen or vandalized first.
Common mistake: Pointing the camera straight out instead of slightly down. You'll capture the street across the road but miss the person standing at your door.
Best cameras for this spot: Any camera with a wide-angle lens (130°+). Doorbell cameras (Ring, Eufy) are designed specifically for this.
Back Door (Camera #2)
Height: Same as front — 7-8 feet.
Angle: Cover the door plus as much of the backyard as possible. If you have a fence, try to include the gate in frame.
Lighting matters here. Back doors often have less ambient light than the front. Choose a camera with good color night vision, or install a $15 motion-activated light nearby.
Common mistake: Relying on the camera's built-in IR night vision without any ambient light. IR gives you black-and-white footage where everyone looks the same. A $15 motion light + color night vision camera is far more useful.
Driveway (Camera #3)
Mounting options:
- Under the eave of the garage, pointing down the length of the driveway
- On the side of the house, pointing across the driveway
- On a post or pole near the street (if you own the property)
The license plate trick: Position the camera so cars drive toward it, not across its field of view. A car driving past the camera at 90° appears as a blur. A car driving toward the camera gives you a readable license plate.
Resolution matters here. At 30-40 feet, you need at least 2K resolution to read a license plate. 1080p cameras can see the car but not the plate.
Common mistake: Mounting too high. A camera on the second floor pointing down at the driveway will see the roof of every car. Mount at 7-10 feet for the best angle on plates and faces.
Indoor Hallway (Camera #4)
This is the camera nobody thinks of, but it's incredibly effective. Most homes have one hallway that connects the bedrooms to the living area. One camera here catches anyone moving through the house.
Where: At the end of the hallway, mounted high, pointing down the length of the corridor.
Why it works: Even if someone enters through a window and avoids all outdoor cameras, they have to pass through the hallway to reach other rooms.
Best cameras for this spot: Pan-tilt cameras (Eufy Indoor S350) cover the hallway plus adjacent rooms. A fixed camera works too since hallways are narrow.
Living Room (Camera #5)
Where: Corner of the room, mounted high, angled to cover the widest area. The corner gives you the most coverage from a single camera.
Pan-tilt vs fixed: A pan-tilt camera in the center of a wall can cover an entire room. A fixed camera in the corner covers about 70% of a typical living room.
Privacy consideration: If you have guests or house sitters, let them know there's a camera in the living room. In most US states it's legal to record video in your own home, but it's polite to disclose.
Common mistake: Pointing the camera at the TV. The TV's changing light confuses motion detection, and you'll get notifications every time the screen changes.
Where NOT to Put Cameras
Bedrooms
Don't. If your camera is ever hacked (and this has happened with Ring, Wyze, and others), the bedroom is the worst room to be compromised. The security benefit doesn't justify the privacy risk.
Exception: Baby monitors in a nursery are fine — but use a reputable brand with encryption, and change the default password.
Bathrooms
Obviously illegal in most jurisdictions if anyone else uses the bathroom. Just don't.
Pointing at neighbors
Laws vary by state and country, but recording your neighbor's property without consent can violate privacy laws. Angle cameras to cover your property only. If your neighbor's yard is unavoidable in frame, some cameras let you mask specific zones in the image.
Behind windows (from inside)
Indoor cameras pointed through windows are a common workaround for renters, but they perform poorly:
- IR night vision reflects off glass, creating a white glare
- Motion detection triggers on reflections and headlights
- Glass reduces image clarity
If you must use this setup, turn off IR night vision and rely on outdoor lighting for night footage.
Environmental Factors
Sun position
A camera facing east gets morning sun glare. A camera facing west gets evening glare. Check the sun path before permanent mounting. Mounting under an eave or overhang helps block direct sunlight.
WiFi signal
Test WiFi strength at the camera location before mounting. Open your phone's WiFi settings and check the signal bars. If it's 1 bar or below, the camera will have buffering and disconnection issues.
Fix: A $20 WiFi extender or a mesh WiFi system solves most range problems. Place the extender between your router and the camera.
Weather
Outdoor cameras should be IP65 or higher. IP65 means protected against water jets from any direction — more than enough for rain. Mount under an eave when possible to extend camera life.
Cable routing
Wired cameras need a power cable routed outside. Use cable clips or conduit to secure the cable to the wall. A dangling cable is a sign to a burglar that there's a camera nearby (and also looks ugly).
The $100 Two-Camera Setup
If you can only spend $100, here's the highest-impact setup:
| Camera | Location | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Wyze Cam v4 + microSD | Front door | $44 |
| Wyze Cam v4 + microSD | Back door | $44 |
| Motion-activated light | Back door area | $15 |
| Total | $103 |
Two cameras covering the two most common entry points, with local recording and no subscriptions. This covers the majority of security scenarios for a typical home.
Marcus Chen repositioned his cameras twice before finding the optimal setup. His biggest lesson: the "best" angle on paper isn't always the best in practice. Test with temporary mounting (painter's tape, a chair) before drilling holes.