Buying guide
How to Choose a CCTV Camera
Choose by the shot you need, not by the brochure. This guide walks through resolution, lens coverage, night vision, backlight, build quality and the site conditions that quietly override every spec on the box.
Start with the shot, not the spec sheet
Before any specification matters, answer one question for each camera position: what must this camera prove?
There are broadly three answers. Some cameras only need to show that something happened and roughly where, which is detection. Some need to show that the person was the guard, the driver or a stranger, which is recognition. Some need to produce a face or a number plate clear enough to act on, which is identification.
Identification needs pixels on the subject, and pixels on the subject come from resolution plus a tight enough field of view at that distance. This is why a single wide-angle camera watching an entire lawn and gate is a false economy: it gives you a good overview and a poor face. Once you know what each position must prove, the rest of the choice becomes mechanical.
Match the camera to the job it has to do
Typical positions and what usually suits them. Final selection is confirmed on survey.
| Position | What you need from it | Camera type to consider |
|---|---|---|
| Front gate or shutter | Face and, where conditions allow, plate at a known distance | Higher resolution with a varifocal or longer lens, plus wide dynamic range for daylight glare |
| Boundary wall and side alley | Detection of anyone approaching, along the wall line | Fixed lens bullet aimed along the wall rather than across it, with strong night performance |
| Porch, driveway or car standing | Recognition of people and vehicles, colour detail at night | Dual light or full colour night vision model |
| Main door or reception | Clean face capture at chest to head height | Fixed lens camera mounted at face height rather than high on a ceiling |
| Stairs and roof access | Who went up and when | Compact indoor or weather-rated camera with a wide view of the landing |
| Shop counter or cash till | Hands, notes and the customer at the counter | Tighter view over the counter, never a wide corner shot from the far ceiling |
| Large yard, plaza or factory ground | Overview plus the ability to zoom into an incident | PTZ or speed dome, supported by fixed cameras that keep recording while it moves |
| Empty plot, farmhouse or site with no power | Presence detection and a recorded clip, without cabling | Solar and 4G SIM camera with onboard or cloud recording |
Six specifications that genuinely change what you see
Resolution, read as pixels on target
2MP, 4MP and 8MP are not quality grades so much as coverage budgets. The useful question is how many pixels land on a face at the distance you actually have, which is why distance and lens must be decided together with resolution.
Lens and field of view
A wide lens sees more and identifies less. A narrower or varifocal lens sees less and identifies more. A common cause of disappointing footage is a wide lens used at every position because it covered more area on paper.
Night vision technology
Infrared gives clean monochrome images and is efficient. Dual light switches to colour when it detects activity. Full colour with warm light records colour continuously but adds visible light, which suits a porch and annoys a bedroom window.
Wide dynamic range
A gate camera looking towards bright daylight while the subject stands in shade produces a silhouette without WDR. At a gate this feature often matters more than resolution does.
Build, sealing and vandal resistance
Metal bodies, proper glands and sealed cable entries survive monsoon and dust far better. At reachable heights, in a shop front or a shared corridor, a vandal-resistant dome is worth the difference.
Audio, used carefully
Built-in microphones are common, but recording conversations in a workplace or a clinic raises fair objections. Enable audio deliberately, where it serves a purpose, and tell people it is on.
Answer these site questions before you shortlist anything
The site decides more than the catalogue does. Each answer removes options and speeds up your choice.
- How far is the subject from the mounting point? — Measure it roughly in paces. Distance drives lens choice and infrared requirement more than any other number.
- What is behind the subject at noon? — A bright sky, a white wall or an open gate means you need wide dynamic range at that position.
- How lit is the area at 2am? — Many Lahore lanes have weak or intermittent street lighting. That is what decides infrared against full colour, and it is a decision per position, not per package.
- Where can cable realistically run? — On an already plastered house, the honest answer is usually surface casing or a roof-level route. Agree the route before work starts, not during.
- What happens during load shedding? — If you have an inverter or solar with a battery bank, the recorder, switch and router should sit on the backed-up circuit. If you do not, budget a small UPS for them.
- Whose property will be in frame? — Cameras that overlook a neighbour's courtyard are a common cause of local disputes. Aim tightly and use privacy masking as standard.
- Can the position be reached again later? — Mount where a ladder can safely reach and where the bracket can be re-aimed without opening a wall. A camera nobody can reach is a camera nobody maintains.
Night is where most systems disappoint
Most of the picture quality complaints that reach us are night complaints. In daylight, current cameras generally look acceptable. After dark, design choices show.
Infrared bounces. Point an infrared camera at a nearby white boundary wall and the reflected light will wash out everything beyond it. Aim along the wall rather than into it, and keep the first two metres of the frame clear of bright surfaces.
Full colour night vision needs its warm light to be somewhere it is welcome. Over a porch, a gate or a shop front it works well and doubles as a deterrent. Facing a bedroom window or a neighbour’s terrace, it becomes a nuisance that gets switched off, and a camera that is switched off protects nobody.
Dual light models are the sensible middle for most homes: infrared as standard, colour when something is detected. Where deterrence is the point, active deterrence cameras add a light and siren, which is often the right choice for a rear wall or a service alley.
Do not choose the camera before the recorder and the cable
A camera is one part of a system, and the other parts constrain it more than buyers expect.
If you already have coaxial cable in the walls from an older system, analog cameras on a DVR let you reuse that cable and put the saving into better cameras. If you are cabling fresh, network cameras on a PoE NVR give you one cable for data and power and a cleaner path to expansion.
Ethernet has a practical limit of about 100 metres per run. On a kanal or two kanal plot in Lahore, the gate to recorder distance regularly approaches that limit, and the correct answer is a PoE switch near the gate or a second distribution point, not a longer cable and crossed fingers.
Recorder channel count deserves headroom. Filling every channel on day one means a second recorder the first time you add a camera. Choosing the next size up is usually cheaper than buying twice.
How we help you decide
Send photos and a rough layout
Message us on WhatsApp with the frontage, gate, roofline and the spot where a recorder could sit.
We propose a specification per position
Each camera gets a reason and a model suited to its distance, lighting and exposure.
Survey the cable route
For retrofits and larger plots we walk the route so the quotation reflects the actual work, not an assumption.
Written quotation, Contact for Price
Model codes, cable and containment, power arrangement and labour, itemised so nothing is hidden.
Install, configure and hand over
Recording rules, user accounts and mobile viewing set up at handover, with time spent showing you how to retrieve footage.
Not sure which camera suits your gate?
Send your requirement on WhatsApp for a same-day quotation.
Frequently asked questions
Is a higher megapixel camera always better?
No. Higher resolution helps only if the lens and mounting distance put those pixels on the subject, and it increases storage and bandwidth demand. A well-placed 4MP camera with the right lens usually gives you more usable footage than a badly aimed 8MP camera.
Bullet or dome, which should I pick?
Bullets suit outdoor runs along walls and driveways because they are easy to aim and their infrared reaches further. Domes suit ceilings, corridors, shops and any reachable position where a vandal-resistant body matters. Most sites use both.
Do I need full colour night vision everywhere?
Rarely. It works well at gates, porches and shop fronts where colour detail and deterrence both help. Along a quiet boundary wall or facing a neighbour's window, infrared or a dual light model is usually the better neighbour.
How high should cameras be mounted?
High enough to be out of easy reach, low enough that the camera sees faces rather than the tops of heads. For identification positions such as a main door, mounting closer to face height gives a far more useful image than a high ceiling corner.
Can one camera cover my whole front?
It can cover it, but covering is not identifying. A common and effective pattern is one wide camera for the overview plus one tighter camera aimed at the point everyone must pass through, such as the gate.
Should I choose WiFi cameras to avoid cabling?
WiFi suits indoor positions and quick installations. For exterior cameras that must run all night through load shedding and weather, a wired PoE or coaxial camera is more dependable. Where there is neither cable nor reliable power, a solar and 4G camera is the honest answer.
Will the camera work if the internet goes down?
Recording continues on the DVR or NVR because that is local. What stops is remote viewing and app alerts, which return when the connection does. This is why the router and ONU deserve backup power along with the recorder.