Security cameras are sold on resolution and night vision. Neither is usually what makes a camera useful or useless in practice. What matters is where the footage lives, how the camera behaves when the internet drops, and whether the alerts are trustworthy enough that you still read them after a month.
Where the footage is stored decides most things
- Local storage. A card in the camera or a recorder in the house. No monthly fee, works without internet, and is stolen along with the camera unless the recorder is hidden.
- Cloud storage. Footage survives the camera being taken, and almost always requires a subscription. Without one, many cameras keep only seconds of clips.
- Both. The sensible arrangement, and increasingly common: record locally, push events to the cloud.
Check what the camera does with no subscription before buying. Some become live-view only, which means no recording of the event you bought it for.
False alerts are the reason cameras get ignored
A camera that notifies you about headlights, rain, moths and passing cats trains you to dismiss notifications, and then you miss the real one. This is the single biggest difference between a camera that helps and one that becomes wallpaper.
What reduces it: person and vehicle detection rather than raw motion, adjustable activity zones so you can exclude a road or a tree, and sensitivity that can be tuned per zone. Infrared night vision reflecting off rain and insects is a common cause of overnight noise, which is where a camera under an eave outperforms one on an open wall.
Placement beats specification
Mount at a height where a face is visible rather than the top of a head — roughly two to two and a half metres, angled down. Cameras mounted very high produce excellent footage of people’s hats. Avoid pointing into direct sun or a bright light, which blows out exactly the part of the frame you need.
Cover approaches rather than open ground: a gate, a path, a driveway entrance. A camera watching an empty lawn records an empty lawn.
Privacy is a real consideration, not a formality
Cameras capturing neighbouring property or public pavement carry obligations in many jurisdictions, and rules differ considerably. Audio recording is frequently treated more strictly than video. Angle cameras to cover your own property, and check what applies where you live before mounting anything facing a shared space.
Common questions
Is 4K worth it? Rarely. Higher resolution means larger files and more bandwidth, and placement and lighting affect identification far more than pixel count.
Wired or battery? Battery cameras are easy to place and need charging, and they often delay recording as they wake. Wired cameras record continuously and are more work to install.
Do cameras deter break-ins? Visible cameras displace opportunistic attempts somewhat. Treat them primarily as evidence, not prevention.
What happens when the internet drops? The important question. Cameras with local storage keep recording; cloud-only cameras stop entirely.
Join the discussion