Securing business premises is a major concern in today's society. There are many ways to safegurd your premises. One of them being CCTV. However, when you are considering installing CCTV at your business premises you should consider what security measure would be best for your business as well as taking into account the legal aspects to it.

Normally the purpose of having CCTV cameras is to protect against theft, trespass, vandalism or to protect high value goods or high quantities of lower value goods. Recorded video footage of criminal activity can include shoplifting, vanalism, breaking and hod ups. This is often the prime reason a business will install a CCTV system. Business owners also use it to catch customers who leave without paying for example at a petrol station or resturant. Anoter purpose of CCTV may be to keep an eye on staff.

The overall light level of the environment you're going to be filming in has a definite impact on your camera choice. If your video surveillance will be taking place in bright, well-lit areas, your choice of camera has very few limitations, because ample light makes it easy for just about any security camera to capture clear footage. On the other hand, dim lighting conditions require a little extra consideration, because not every video surveillance camera is built to handle them. Look for a camera that has a light sensitivity rating of 1 Lux or below – it will either be labeled as a Day and Night camera, or will list low-light compatibility among their specifications. Day/night video cameras give you the most flexibility, as they allow you to consistently monitor a given space, even if light levels continually fluctuate.

Indoor and outdoor environments not only differ in lighting conditions (like the ones we mentioned above), but also have another big differentiating factor: weather. While the indoors tends to be climate-controlled with heating, air conditioning and humidity-control, outdoors it's a whole different story. Wind, rain, UV rays and contaminants can all take an indoor-use security camera down in no time, so if you need to film outdoors, be sure to go with a tougher outdoor-grade camera. Keep in mind that even though most indoor cameras can’t be used outside, many outdoor cameras are suitable for both indoor and outdoor surveillance. .

Do you plan to keep your security camera fixated on one specific view, or would you rather have the ability to look around? If you only need to focus on a certain section of a room, entrance or parking lot, then a standard-format fixed camera will do just fine. However, if you’d rather have the ability to remotely swivel and zoom your camera to follow the action or cover a wider area, then opt for a Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) surveillance camera. Unlike their stationary counterparts, PTZs are designed to freely move their lenses back and forth horizontally (that's the "panning" part), vertically (aka "tilt"), and adjust lens focus (zoom). All of this can be done at your command, as needed, but there are also PTZ cameras that can be programmed to automatically pan, tilt and zoom whenever movement is detected.