The first step in video surveillance would be to determine what level of techology is needed. Basic components will be a part of each system. Cameras that will cater to the needs of the areas that need surveillance whether they be internal or external to any building or structure have to be selected. Most of the time footage from the cameras will need to be recorded in order to review when needed. Live monitoring of the sytem may also be required in the event that human eyes are deemed necessary to keep an eye on things. Local vs cloud storage or a combination of both may need to be considered based on the goals of retaining and managing footage over time. The following are some basic options for considering video serveillance:
Once you have a basic understanding of what level of surveillance you need, then reviewing all the options for camera coverage needs to be considered. Simple cameras with various resolutions exist that can be combined to provide the right coverage for your surveilled area(s). Operational time and conditions will also need to be reviewed. If surveillance is only done during daylight hours, then cameras that are equiped with infrared technology may not be needed. But if it is significant to capture footage in dark envrionments, infrared technology will be necessary.
Cameras come with different resolutions and field of view. The field of view specifies how many degrees both horizontally and vertically the camera will capture. The resolution will be distributed across that field of view to yield what will be the pixels per area that is seen. The amount of details that is desired within a given area will help with deciding what cameras and how many are needed. If the desired area for coverage is a good distance away from where a camera can be mounted, optical zoom may be necessary to actually gain the proper surveillance.
If live monitoring is done, PTZ (pan, tilt, zoom) cameras could be considered in order to have more coverage with less overall camera technology in place. But in general it is considered good to have more cameras that will capture all significant areas of interest so footage will always be available instead of requiring the movement of a camera on demand.