A good camera security system is essential for your retail store. When a camera is visible at a cash register, it keeps your employees and customers honest when it comes to cash transactions. A camera also provides photographic evidence of crimes and criminals that you can turn over to police. You'll probably want multiple cameras around your building for monitoring and crime deterrence. Buying the right type of camera system can be overwhelming since there are many options. Here are a few things to know about indoor and outdoor cameras.

Indoor Security Cameras

Basic features are usually sufficient for indoor cameras that will be kept in consistent lighting and weather conditions. Indoor cameras tend to have shorter ranges, too, unless they are mounted in a large warehouse. You can mount indoor cameras in fixed locations with set angles of viewing so your entire store is under surveillance at all times. You can also install cameras that can be controlled remotely with a pan/tilt/zoom function.

This allows you to zoom in closer on a shopper you may think is shoplifting, and you can move the same camera around the store to keep the suspect in view for continuous video monitoring. Indoor cameras can also be concealed in a variety of ways, which might be useful if you want to monitor an employee you might think is stealing. You can place a microphone and tiny camera in a framed picture by the cash register or place them in a pencil holder on a desk.

Outdoor Security Cameras

One of the most important things you'll want in an outdoor camera is a weatherproof housing so the cameras will hold up in wind, rain, and extreme temperatures. Also, an outdoor camera should have night vision so you can get clear pictures all day and night. You may want to install motion-detecting cameras outdoors to save on hard drive space, since these begin recording only when movement is detected. Outdoor cameras may need lenses capable of viewing long distances since the cameras have a longer range to cover than indoor cameras.

In order to get crisp images at long distances, you'll want a high definition camera. Security cameras differ in the frames per second that they record. The more frames recorded, the more storage space you'll need on the hard drive. High-end cameras produce video equal to what you would see in a television show, while cameras that record at fewer frames per second provide choppier recordings. Another thing to consider about outdoor cameras is going wireless. Since the cameras will be far from the building, you would need to run long cables for a wired system, which wouldn't be practical. A wireless camera can be mounted anywhere and moved around when needed.

The type of cameras you choose will probably depend on your budget and the level of theft your store faces. However, one feature that you definitely want is remote viewing capability. This allows you to watch multiple cameras at once from various off-site locations on a tablet, PC, or smartphone so you can always keep an eye on your store.

For additional advice, contact companies like Coastal Burglar Alarm Co Inc.