Commercial Security Cameras: 5 Things to Consider Before You Buy

Com­mer­cial secu­ri­ty cam­eras pro­vide an essen­tial lay­er of pro­tec­tion for busi­ness­es, offices, indus­tri­al sites and oth­er com­mer­cial sites. But since there are numer­ous sys­tems to choose from, it’s essen­tial to eval­u­ate your options care­ful­ly.

When prop­er­ly imple­ment­ed, com­mer­cial secu­ri­ty cam­eras will enable you to mon­i­tor your prop­er­ty 24 hours a day, record­ing any sus­pi­cious activ­i­ty or crimes. Even the pres­ence of cam­eras alone can act as a pow­er­ful deter­rent for theft, break-ins or van­dal­ism. Which types of cam­eras are suit­able for your needs? As you eval­u­ate your options, here are some things to con­sid­er.

1) How will you be able to view camera footage?

Regard­less of all the oth­er fea­tures on your cam­era sys­tem, it’s crit­i­cal that you can view footage quick­ly and eas­i­ly.

Can you view it from your smart­phone? How about a desk­top or lap­top? Will you need to man­u­al­ly trans­fer any stor­age cards or dri­ves from the cam­era to your com­put­er? Will you need to be con­nect­ed to your local net­work, or can you view it from any­where with an Inter­net con­nec­tion?

For greater secu­ri­ty and ease of use, choose com­mer­cial secu­ri­ty cam­eras that allow you to watch live or record­ed footage on vir­tu­al­ly any device, no mat­ter where you are.

2) Does the system offer continuous recording? Do you need it?

Some cam­era sys­tems are com­plete­ly motion-acti­vat­ed. Some offer con­tin­u­ous record­ing around the clock. And some offer a com­bi­na­tion of both (for exam­ple, the cam­eras will record 24/7 but also alert you with clips of motion-acti­vat­ed events).

Not every com­mer­cial envi­ron­ment will need con­tin­u­ous record­ing, but it’s an excel­lent fea­ture to have if you want to have com­plete vis­i­bil­i­ty into your prop­er­ty, 24 hours a day. But here is anoth­er vital ques­tion to con­sid­er, espe­cial­ly in regard to con­tin­u­ous record­ing.

3) Where is footage stored? And for how long?

This ques­tion is cru­cial because it deter­mines how much secu­ri­ty footage you can retain and who con­trols it.

For exam­ple, some cheap store-bought cam­eras might only store your secu­ri­ty clips “in the cloud” via the man­u­fac­tur­ers’ servers. This may put severe lim­its on how much you can store and how it stays avail­able.

 Anoth­er option is stor­ing video on your own on-site NVR or DVR sys­tem, con­nect­ed to the Inter­net, so you can view footage remote­ly. But you’ll still want to con­firm the stor­age space on these sys­tems to ensure you can retain your footage for as long as you need it, espe­cial­ly if you’re using con­tin­u­ous record­ing.

4) What’s the video quality?

The camera’s res­o­lu­tion is the pri­ma­ry fac­tor deter­min­ing your video footage’s clar­i­ty. So it’s essen­tial to check these specs before you buy.

Some of the most com­mon res­o­lu­tions for today’s com­mer­cial secu­ri­ty cam­eras are 2MP (1080p), 4MP (1440p), 5MP (1920p) and 8MP (4K/2160p). In most cas­es, the high­er the res­o­lu­tion, the bet­ter. How­ev­er, pic­ture qual­i­ty can also be influ­enced by video com­pres­sion and how it’s viewed (i.e. over the inter­net vs a local net­work, etc.). As a rule, stick to well-known, high­ly-rat­ed brands to ensure the best qual­i­ty.

5) Is it right for your environment?

Can it be used out­doors? Is it weath­er-resis­tant? What about night-time view­ing? Can it enhance pic­ture qual­i­ty in dark envi­ron­ments?

Not all cam­eras are right for every envi­ron­ment, so choos­ing the right sys­tem for your needs is impor­tant. This is espe­cial­ly true for out­door cam­eras, which need to be built to with­stand harsh weath­er con­di­tions and lim­it­ed light avail­abil­i­ty.

Get more information on commercial security cameras

Con­tact us at PROTECTION PLUS for more infor­ma­tion on secur­ing your busi­ness with today’s best com­mer­cial secu­ri­ty cam­eras.