Camera selectively recording events

[MikeRubin]

We have a Google floodlight camera.  It is hard wired and always powered.  The settings are for 30 seconds of video. People and garage door are the triggers.

We have been experiencing the theft of rose bushes from our front yard for awhile.  That is why we bought the camera.

After all of our roses were stolen, we bought new roses and this camera.  It is aimed directly at the plants in question.

Now, two of the rose plants have been stolen, on separate occasions a few days apart.  The video history for both dates shows unrelated pedestrian traffic before and after, so we know the time range within which these thefts occurred, but the thefts themselves were not recorded.

This makes me wonder why my camera is recording selectively.  (I am turning on the animal trigger setting, even though we have no reason to believe an animal was involved, in the hope that more events are recorded.)

Is there a setting I am overlooking that would pick up all events in front of my house rather than just some of them?

As you can see, the images are clear and the camera captures motion well, at least 

[mdr2]

Long time nest cam user here although I do not have the floodlight cam.  I can tell you that during the day my cams (gen 1 and 2) seem to work great at catching motion events.  But at night it becomes questionable as to whether it records it or not.   And the further away the more likely it is to miss it.     For that reason I ended up paying extra for the  24/7 recording.  However even with that it will only record dark images and you can't really make out who the person is.    I have been waiting a few years now for Google to release some new cameras that have the day-light night vision that we see on a  number of competitors.  That would greatly improve the chances of being able to identify a face.

[MikeRubin]

Thank you, @mdr2 .  Surprisingly, both of these recent thefts were during the afternoon, between 3 and 4 pm, so better night technology wouldn’t have helped me, unfortunately.

[sicsacol]

Hi @MikeRubin ,

Thanks for reaching out to the community. I understand your Nest Camera with Floodlight isn't recording who stole your roses, even though it's capturing other events that aren't related to the incident. I know this must be concerning, since it seems that your Nest Camera is recording selective events and not what you want. I appreciate the detailed information you've shared. No worries, I'd be more than glad to assist you.

With the Nest Aware base subscription, you only have event video history. Your Nest Camera will record what it considers an event, taking into consideration the selected settings. I recommend setting up an activity zone to define a specific area you'd like your Nest Camera to monitor for events. This can help your device focus on the rose garden so it doesn't miss important activity. Please check out the following helpful article to learn how to set up and use Activity Zones.

@mdr2, thanks for sharing your feedback and your suggestions. It's been appreciated. 

I hope this information helps.

Cheers,
Jonathan

[MikeRubin]

Thanks. I am confused, though. When I first got the camera, I set up an activity zone that covered the area between the brick wall at the left and the tree at the right.  It recorded exactly the same events as the base camera, so I ended up deleting it.  

The roses in question used to be in the area shown in the photograph.  What would be the advantage of adding back n activity done covering roughly the same area?

[sicsacol]

Hi @MikeRubin ,
 
Thanks for your response. I know that setting an activity zone for your Nest Camera can be confusing, especially since you already have one set up, and it's recording the same events. The main advantage of an activity zone is that it allows you to focus your Nest Camera's attention on a specific area and ignore motion outside of that area. This can help reduce the number of unwanted events, ensuring your device records what matters most, in your case, the area around your rose bushes. As a suggestion, please delete your current activity zone and then create a new one. Be sure that the zone completely covers the area with the roses and that you save the settings. To learn more, visit the following article: Set up and use Activity Zones.

Please keep me updated on how it goes.
 
Cheers,
Jonathan