Camera and motion floodlights in one hardwired housing that lights what it records.
also: floodlight cam, security light camera
The basics
What to know about security cameras & video doorbells
Three products in one shell
A connected security camera is three products in one shell: an image sensor behind a lens, a network device that has to hold a link through an outside wall, and a recording service that decides how far back you can look. The hardware is usually the cheapest part of it. Where video is stored, how many days it survives, and which features stop working when you stop paying will shape ownership more than any number on the box. Your style choice settles most of that: a Video Doorbell watches one entrance at face height, a Local-Recording System keeps the archive inside the building, and Wired Cameras and Battery Cameras differ mainly in whether the device can afford to stay awake.
Detail is pixels spread over ground
Detail is pixels spread over ground, so calculate it instead of trusting a resolution label. Divide the horizontal pixel count by the width of the scene in feet. A 1080p camera lays 1920 pixels across the frame, so a 30 foot driveway gets 64 pixels per foot while a 12 foot porch gets 160. Around 40 pixels per foot lets you recognize someone you already know, and 60 or more gives you a chance with a stranger. Widening the lens from 110 degrees to 180 degrees doubles the ground covered and halves the detail everywhere in it. One wide camera rarely replaces two aimed ones.
What happens after dark
After dark most cameras switch to infrared, invisible light from LEDs ringing the lens, and give grayscale video to roughly 20 to 30 feet. Color at night needs either a visible spotlight or a large sensor working under street light. Detection is a separate system again. Battery models usually watch with a passive infrared sensor that reads moving heat, so it triggers well on someone crossing the frame and badly on someone walking straight at it. Waking the radio, sensor and encoder takes half a second to two seconds. This is how a battery camera ends up recording an empty porch. Cameras on constant power never sleep, and the better ones hold a few seconds of pre-event buffer so the clip starts before the trigger.
Renting, or drilling holes
Rent, and you want no holes and no cable: Battery Cameras cover a side gate, a shed or a back door and move with you. Own the building, and a wire is the better long answer. Power over Ethernet, which carries power and data on one network cable for runs up to 100 meters or 328 feet, gives one wire per camera, nothing to charge and no reliance on Wi-Fi reaching an outdoor corner. Deliveries and visitors are a doorbell problem: only a Video Doorbell gives you the button, the chime and the conversation. Past three or four cameras, or once you want more than a month of history, the arithmetic swings toward a Local-Recording System.
Subscriptions add up
Every convenience here bills you later. A plan for one camera often costs more across five years than the camera did. Plans are where person detection, longer history and useful alerts usually live. Cloud storage also spends upload bandwidth: a 1080p event stream needs roughly 2 megabits per second, so four cameras triggering together want 8 megabits per second going out, which some connections do not have. Local storage removes the bill and hands you the work, because drives fail, clocks drift after outages and careless remote access exposes your network. Recording audio without consent is restricted in many places, and aiming a lens at a sidewalk, a shared hallway or a neighbor's window falls under rules that vary by country and sometimes by city.
Walk your own ground
Judge a camera on your own ground at the distance you care about. Walk the approach at night and see whether the porch light blows out the exposure and leaves you a silhouette. Ask the question reviews skip: what still records, and for how long, with no subscription at all? Then check the stated end of security update support, two-step sign-in, and whether switching on end-to-end encryption disables the features you bought it for. Weather ratings cover the assembly, not the shell alone, so an IP65 body, where 6 means dust-tight and 5 means protected against water jets, is undone by an unsealed cable joint below it. Confirm that clips export as ordinary video files with accurate timestamps.
The parts that age out
Plan for the parts that age out. Rechargeable packs lose capacity after two to three years, so a camera you charged twice a year starts asking every six weeks. Save clips that matter before the retention window closes, since a lapsed plan usually deletes history within days. Firmware matters more here than on most household devices, because the camera sits on your network and faces the internet. Review who still has access after a move, a housemate or a contractor. When a model reaches the end of updates, retire it instead of leaving an unsupported camera watching your hallway.
Buyer checklist
Before you buy security cameras & video doorbells
Electronics combine hardware, software and services. Compatibility and support life matter as much as the headline specification.
01
Map the whole setup
Confirm the ports, operating system, network, accessories, apps and services the product must work with.
02
Check the support period
Look for a clear security and software-update policy, especially on connected products and discounted older models.
03
Separate included from subscription
Find out which recording, storage, analytics, content or remote features need an ongoing payment.
04
Plan for repair and data
Check battery and spare-part service, warranty handling, account controls and how personal data can be exported or deleted.
Mount an outdoor camera 8 to 10 feet up and tilt it down until the horizon sits in the top quarter of the frame. Below 7 feet it is within reach of anyone; above 12 feet you record the tops of heads. Photograph the view from that exact spot before you drill, because a neighbor's window in the frame is a problem to solve now.
Work out pixels per foot before you pick a lens width. Divide the horizontal resolution by the width of the area in feet: 1920 pixels across a 20 foot gate gives 96 per foot, which identifies a stranger. By comparison, the same camera on a 60 foot yard gives 32 and shows you only that a person was there.
Leave at least 4 inches between the lens housing and any eave, soffit or wall that sits inside the frame edge. At night the infrared light bounces off that nearby surface straight back into the lens and washes the whole image to gray, and no software setting fixes it.
Set a video doorbell about 48 inches above the porch floor so an adult face lands in the middle of the frame, and use a wedge bracket if the door frame aims it sideways. In the US the existing transformer usually needs to supply 16 to 24 volts AC at 10 VA or more; doorbell voltages differ by country, so check yours, and leave anything beyond low-voltage doorbell wiring to a qualified electrician.
Test the network at the mounting point, not at the router. Stand there with a phone and run an upload test: you want at least 2 megabits per second holding steady. One brick wall or a metal screen door between the camera and the router is enough to turn a working link into dropped clips.
Measure the full cable route for a wired install, including the climb into the roof space, and add 15 percent slack. A single Power over Ethernet run can go 100 meters or 328 feet from the switch; past that you need a switch closer to the camera, not a longer cable.
Care
Caring for security cameras & video doorbells
Wipe the lens and the infrared window with a dry microfiber cloth every three months. A film of pollen or road dust is invisible by day, but at night it scatters the infrared light into a gray fog across the whole picture.
Clear spider webs off the housing monthly. Warm camera bodies attract spiders, and a single strand 2 inches from the lens triggers motion alerts all night, which flattens a battery in a few days and buries the real event in a hundred false ones.
Leave automatic updates on and confirm every six months that they are still arriving. A camera runs an internet-facing computer on your home network. An unpatched one is the weakest device in the house, not just a camera with old features.
Audit who can view your cameras twice a year and remove anyone who has moved out, finished a job or left the household. Shared access is granted once and forgotten, and it survives the reason it was granted.
Export the clips you would ever need before the retention window closes, usually at 30 or 60 days. Storage is deleted on schedule whether you have looked at it or not, and cancelling a plan can wipe the history within days.
On a local recorder, play a random week-old recording every three months and check drive health warnings and the clock after any power cut. A green status light proves the unit is powered, not that anything was written. Drives rated for continuous recording last far longer than desktop ones.
Questions
Common questions
Do I need a subscription, or is that just an upsell?
Assume yes until you check the exact model. Many cameras record clips to a memory card and show live view for free, while the plan buys history beyond a few hours, person and package detection, and richer alerts. Across five years a single-camera plan often costs more than the camera did. Ask what still records with no plan at all before you buy.
Is a 4K camera worth it over 1080p?
Only across distance. 4K puts about 3840 pixels across the frame against 1920, doubling detail per foot of scene. That matters on a 40 foot driveway and is wasted on a 10 foot porch, where 1080p already gives 192 pixels per foot. The costs are more upload bandwidth, roughly four times the storage, and weaker low-light results if the sensor stayed the same size.
How long does a battery camera really last on a charge?
Far less than the quoted three to six months, which comes from a quiet test position. A front door triggering 40 to 100 times a day, plus live views and two-way talk, brings that down to three to six weeks. Cold weather cuts it further, since lithium cells give less below freezing, and a weak Wi-Fi signal drains the radio faster than the camera itself.
Can I point a camera at the street or my neighbor's door?
The law varies by country and sometimes by city, so check yours rather than trusting a forum answer. In practice, aim so your own property fills the frame and use software privacy zones to black out a neighbor's window or door. Audio is treated more strictly than video in many places. Recording conversation without consent can be an offense, so turn the microphone off if in doubt.
Will anything keep recording when the internet goes out?
That depends on where recording happens. A Local-Recording System keeps writing to its drive, though you lose remote viewing and phone alerts until service returns. A cloud camera keeps nothing, because no upload means no clip. Neither survives a power cut unless the camera, the recorder and the router all sit on battery backup, which is the step most people skip.
What does Power over Ethernet actually get me?
One cable per camera carrying both power and data, for runs up to 100 meters or 328 feet. Nothing to charge, no dependence on Wi-Fi reaching an outdoor corner, and enough power for a camera that stays awake and holds a pre-event buffer. The cost is installation work: pulling cable through walls or a roof space, which is a weekend or a paid trade.
Why do my alerts arrive after the person has left?
Three delays stack. A sleeping battery camera needs half a second to two seconds to wake and start encoding, the clip then uploads over whatever signal it has. The notification service adds its own queue. Time it yourself: walk past and watch the phone. More than about five seconds usually means the Wi-Fi at the mounting point is marginal, not that the camera is slow.
