We have four cameras around the house to keep tabs on the place when we are away and also to capture images of wildlife. Over the years we have had bears, turkeys, deer and various other furry creatures show up on the cameras as they nibble in Janie’s garden. The rear camera overlooks the lovely Plott Balsam mountains as well as a hummingbird feeder.
I have been a fan of internet-connected cameras for some time but found that most of the consumer brands required some paid subscription to archive video or were just to cheaply made to survive outdoors. My current favorite brand is Ubiquity and in particular their Protect product line of cameras and video recorders. I also use Ubiquity routers and Wi-Fi access points around the house and they all play nicely together. Cameras can be configured to recored constantly or when motion is detected. The cool thin is that all the video is stored on a hard drive rather than in the cloud which means its more secure and does not require a subscription. You can access videos at any time from a browser or smartphone app.
Front
Rear
Observatory
Control Room
Driveway
The images below are from an all sky camera that looks strait up. Its intended to spot meteors and satellites as they whiz by overhead. The first image is captured every few minutes day and night. The second one is a movie that is made from images captured at night and uploaded each morning.
