Anyone have camera suggestions? I've got 2 spare raspi 5s that would probably be a good base.

Old Axis cams show up on eBay. Those are pretty standards oriented and easy to work with. Most hanwah and some Samsung are fine too.

In my experience, budget USB cameras are not reliable as a long-term solution because they randomly stop working in different ways after days of use and must be power-cycled.

Instead I would suggest either a direct CSI connection or an external GigE camera.