Video surveillance is a crucial part of home security, that will not only provide evidence of invasions or burglaries, but will also enable you to have the advantage of situational awareness. You can view events that occur around your home, allowing you to detect and defeat surveillance and penetration attempts, monitor wildlife activity and damage, identify visitors before opening the door, and check for deliveries, among other things.

There are many many options for cameras, recording equipment and accessories. Before buying, you need to look at your requirements. Are you in an urban environment where lots of motion outside your house needs to be considered? Are you in a rural area with few visitors yet a large amount of land with multiple approaches? Are you in an apartment with neighbors who could potentially see and intercept your camera's WiFi transmissions? Your needs and budget will largely determine what equipment you purchase. Fortunately, most popular camera setups are user-serviceable and can be installed with simple tools in an afternoon.

Most home security articles begin with a list of recommended cameras, price points and features. Reviews and comparisons are just a google search away, but the theory of application is a bit more nuanced. However, knowing how your equipment will be used will inform what you buy, potentially saving you hundreds of dollars and the frustration of not getting what you need. There are some key points that need to be understood before buying and installing security cameras.

Where will the cameras be installed?

In an ideal world, you would have enough cameras to cover all sides and approaches to your home. Generally speaking, all access points to the home should be observable. This means front and back/side doors, garage access and possibly a basement door if possible.

In an apartment, covering the area immediately outside the door and/or the interior entryway, is enough, but renters generally will have less control over mounting points and methods so exterior cameras may be impractical. Peephole and doorbell cameras are popular for apartment dwellers for this reason.

If your cameras are visible, their presence may deter intruders, but they may also direct them to areas of your house that aren't covered. If the front door is well lit and observed, another approach might be attractive to thieves, so if extra cameras aren't practical, consider the security of your unobserved windows and doors, especially if they face a treeline, fence or other obstacle. Regardless of location, always ensure that cameras mounted outdoors are weather protected and rated for that application.

Some people are comfortable having a camera covering their living space, while others want one on the doorway alone. Interior cameras are good peace of mind when traveling, as they can be used to check on pets, house or child sitters, monitor for flooding, or in a worst case scenario, track an intruder and record evidence of theft. Furthermore being able to safely locate an intruder from a smartphone and coordinate your response is a crucial factor in a home invasion scenario.

What are the cameras going to be seeing?

Most outdoor cameras are mounted at a high angle to cover as much ground as possible. This is good for observing a yard as well as keeping the camera out of reach of intruders. However, this means that faces can be hard to see, especially if the person is wearing a ball cap or hood. Wider angle cameras also don't show faces well until the subject is closer to the lens, although with 4k resolution, images can be enlarged much more now than 1080p HD images, but the image quality of nearly all cameras suffers in low light. This is why, again in our ideal scenario, two cameras would be installed, One would be high and wide to record the approach to the house, and another lower with a more narrow field of view at the point of entry. There are many doorbell and peephole cameras that would fit this application.

If having two cameras isn't a practical option, you may consider a dome-style camera that has a motorized pan, tilt and zoom feature. This will enable you to examine people and objects more closely when you receive an alert. These cameras are of course larger and more expensive than static models, but they may be worth the cost for your situation.

If you have a yard with trees and bushes, consider all the seasons when mounting your equipment. Do you have trees near your front door? Consider changes in vegetation through the year, realizing that plants may grow and bloom in a way that will obscure the camera's view. Also to be considered is that healthy leaves reflect infrared light, causing your image to be over-exposed, as most cameras use IR to see in low light.

Many cameras have the ability to detect motion and send alerts to your phone. This can be a huge benefit, or the source of immense frustration, as not all motion sensing capabilities are equal. The ability to select your own monitoring zone is important. It's the difference between detecting humans at your door, and getting endless alerts because insects are fluttering around the light. If you can't determine what alerts are authentic, you tend to ignore them all or disable alerts entirely, defeating the purpose of having a camera in the first place. You want to be able to select the areas through which humans will walk, while ignoring nocturnal animals in the same area. Cameras with further adjustable sensitivity settings will alert you to man-sized objects but not possums, squirrels or insects.

Low light performance

Making sharp 4k resolution daytime images is trivial with modern cameras. The real test comes when night falls and the cameras ability to resolve details drops dramatically. If you want to see detail at night, you will need adequate light during hours of darkness. This means having floods aimed at the spots you want to monitor, and ensuring they're turned on when you need them, either through a timer or a low-light sensor. Many LED lights are cost effective enough to justify being used all night.

Many security cameras use infrared light to see in darkness. This is for a variety of reasons. First, IR image sensors that see black and white images are much cheaper than models that see in the dark with almost no available light. Practically speaking, you also may not want outdoor lights to be on all night. IR is invisible to the eye, so people won't necessarily realize they're being recorded but it also cuts down on the number of insects that are attracted to the lens of the camera. IR capable cameras will sense the change in light levels and will automatically switch from visible light to IR mode.

Most cameras have built-in LED IR illuminators around the lens but they are generally only effective within 20' of the camera. You may consider installing supplemental IR sources in the areas you're observing if the camera's LEDs aren't sufficient. As with foliage, be careful to mount IR sources away from reflective objects and glass. While you can't see the light, a white wall will cause an IR bloom and cause the image to become over-exposed. Avoid mounting cameras looking through windows for the same reason.

IR emitters seen through a cellphone camera

IR is also not undetectable. Most cellphone cameras without IR filters can easily spot IR light which appears as a pink glow around the emitter. Many sporting goods stores sell consumer-grade night vision optics that can detect IR as well. If your house is being surveilled as a potential target, seeing your house lit up with IR would be a sign that you are prepared and that perhaps another house would be an easier mark.

Traditionally, lenses have always been a major determining factor in image quality. Higher quality glass renders sharper, cleaner images. While that is still true, most security camera optics today are more or less equal in terms of performance. Image quality now is largely determined by the software processing the image. All cameras compress the image data to fit as much into storage as possible. They do this through a variety of methods, some of which render cleaner image than others. A cheap dash cam could have a recording time of a month or more, but when recording on a dark road, the black areas are blocky and muddy looking and lack detail. This is the price of extreme recording time. Always find low-light footage from the cameras you're considering, as they may not process images in the same way and higher cost doesn't always mean better image quality.

Image sensors, the part of the camera that “sees” light play a large part in image quality and light sensitivity. All things being equal, larger sensors have better light gathering abilities which is especially important when being used in low light, like security cameras tend to be. The other factor is type of sensor. The two main sensor types are CCD and CMOS with CCDs having the edge on cost and low light sensitivity. Each type has pros and cons, however and it's worth looking into them to ensure you're getting the right camera for your needs. A good breakdown can be found here: https://reolink.com/security-camera-cmos-vs-ccd-image-sensors/

What features do you need?

If anything causes analysis paralysis, it's evaluating the features of different cameras, and figuring out what claims reflect realistic performance and what is just marketing.

On-board storage is an attractive option due to the fact that the owner has physical control of the footage. The vulnerability lies in the fact that an intruder can also access the footage, stealing either the memory card or the entire camera if the system is not well hidden.

More elaborate systems may have several cameras recorded by a central unit with a hard drive, monitor and options for either wifi or wired connections, sometimes both. The benefit over on-board storage is that the central unit can be hidden away, so that if the cameras are stolen the data will be safe. Of course as with all forms of “security through obscurity” your data security is only as good as your creativity in hiding the unit. Also, wired cameras can sometimes lead intruders to your control unit, so consider this when planning placement.

DVR control unit obscured in basement joists

WiFi is certainly the most convenient option for accessing cameras, but remember that anything you broadcast has the potential to be intercepted. Look for cameras with encryption features to prevent this, and of course employ good INFOSEC: Use strong passwords and change them regularly. This is particularly important if you have cameras running in your living areas 24/7. Depending on the size and construction of your home, WiFi may not be evenly available throughout your house. Older houses with metal lath and plaster walls are notorious for essentially being a Faraday cage that blocks or interferes with radio signals. Wireless extenders are usually available from your ISP for this purpose.

Cloud storage has become more and more popular due to the ease of use and access. In fact, many camera systems now offer only cloud storage with a subscription service, with storage being a separate recurring fee. Ring doorbells are a popular example of this business model.

The main concern with cloud services is that cloud really means, “someone else's computer.” You have no control over who accesses your data on cloud servers, and you also have no idea who has access to the cameras connected to your account. Amazon has had numerous instances of their Alexa units recording private conversations and then playing them back to another unrelated unit in another household.

Regardless of the service, nearly everyone has had the experience of data disappearing from online accounts with no explanation or recourse. This is a big problem when the data might be needed as evidence in a crime. Remember, when using a WiFi dependent system, your connection is the weak link. If your internet service is interrupted, footage won't be sent to the cloud, and if there's no local storage option, you won't have coverage for that period.

When installing multiple cameras, decide whether you will want the option to add more units at a later date. If you're running a DVR setup, you will be limited by the number of connections on your control unit. If using multiple standalone WiFi units, determine if multiple cameras can be used together on the same app. This way you can decide exactly how much equipment you can buy, and not have too few cameras for your needs.

Custom open source camera and security systems are an attractive, but intimidating option. These systems consist of open-source surveillance software using simple “dumb” cameras and your own DVR or computer as a recording station. The downside to this option is that it's not a straightforward, “out of the box” project, and you will need to do your own research to determine what components best fit your needs, and how they interface with the software. Fortunately there are many guides and forums full of enthusiasts that can point you in the right direction. It's an excellent choice for anyone concerned about privacy.

Many home security providers will bundle cameras into their monitoring services. You may have limited choice as to the hardware they provide, and it's possible you won't be able to integrate your own cameras into their system. As with cloud storage, you also don't have control over who can access your footage and cameras, and if you don't have physical custody of your data, it's not solely yours.

Finally, regardless of the system, always try and find actual footage from the cameras you're considering. This will often mean consulting a third party site for examples, since manufacturer websites can be misleading, showing cherry-picked or images shot in ideal conditions. YouTube has many camera review channels that provide detailed comparisons of many different models, and is a good source of information to guide your purchase.

— Jon

Turning Our Home into a Castle: Cameras - Part One

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