Over the last couple decades, the popularity of surveillance cameras has soared, and for good reason. Installing cameras provides you with a few important types of security. For starters, cameras provide you with both live and recorded footage of your property at all times. This allows you to check on things in real time, as well as after an event when needed. In addition to capturing crime or suspicious activity, cameras also act as a deterrent. After all, criminals seeing a visible surveillance presence will often choose a new target. Of course, installing any type of camera will increase security on a property with no surveillance. However, many applications create difficult conditions for the majority surveillance devices, and we must choose our equipment carefully in these instances. In this post, we show you how we go about installing surveillance in difficult conditions.
First, we’ll reveal how we go about choosing cameras for difficult outdoor environments. Luckily, we have an industry-wide standard scale to help us make these decisions, which we’ll explain. From there, we’ll discuss your options to add cameras that can capture footage of far-away targets. Then, we’ll shift our focus to choosing cameras that provide security even in dark conditions. Finally, we’ll go in depth to detail how we choose cameras that can withstand extreme abuse and vandalism attempts. Now, let’s dive in with a look at installing cameras to withstand anything Mother Nature may serve up.
Preparing for Rough Weather
As you can probably guess, some — if not the majority — of the cameras we install get installed outdoors. As you can also likely guess, not all cameras get built to withstand outdoor conditions. Furthermore, some cameras even need more than the usual ability to withstand bad weather based on where we install them. For example, cameras in extremely bad weather climates, on docks, or near dams may end up getting more than their fair share of abuse. In these instances, we need to select our cameras carefully!

Understanding your options when it comes to your cameras’ ability to withstand extreme conditions can help you choose the right products for your application.
One way to make sure you select the proper camera is by checking its “IP Rating.” The “IP” stands for “Ingress (or ‘Entrance’) Protection.” A camera’s IP rating is shown with the letters “IP” followed by two digits with varying values (e.g. “IP 67”). The higher the number of each digit, the more resistance provided by the camera. The first digit represents protection against solid objects, on a 0-6 scale. To achieve a “6” on this scale, an object must display resistance to dust. Most cameras are dust-tight, so almost every camera has an IP rating that starts with a “6.” The second digit generally ranges from a “5” to an “8.”
An IP65 camera can withstand jets or sprays of water, while an IP68 camera can withstand continuous water submersion under specific conditions. Obviously, IP66 and 67 cameras lie in between those two extremes. If you do have reason to believe your cameras face potential weather or element damage, we recommend installing cameras with an IP67 or IP68 rating. Doing so will ensure that your cameras can withstand the wear and tear of outdoor use for years to come. Now, let’s see how installing surveillance in difficult conditions also involves choosing cameras with the right type of lens for your application.
“Long-Distance” Surveillance
Many of our customers’ surveillance “targets” lie quite a ways away from their camera locations. In this case, we have to make a couple important choices. For starters, choosing cameras with the necessary resolution greatly increases your chance of a successful security experience. As we pointed out in our post on Choosing IP vs Analog Cameras, every image captured by a camera is made up of hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of smaller images. Each of these images is called a pixel, and one million of these pixels is called a megapixel.
Full high-definition television screens project an image containing 2.1 megapixels. Therefore, you may think a 2.1-megapixel camera would project about the best picture possible. However, cameras with higher resolutions allow you to zoom in closer on an image before the image begins to “break up,” a process known as “pixellating.” For those looking to have the ability to zoom in closer on an image, we recommend cameras in the 4- to 8-megapixel range.
After choosing your cameras’ resolution, we still have another equally important decision to make. A camera’s viewing capacity can vary greatly based on its lens. Some cameras have lenses that we cannot adjust at all after installation. These cameras, called “fixed lens” cameras, do not allow for any picture adjustment once we mount them. Other cameras do give us the ability to zoom in and out, as well as left and right, after installation. These cameras have “varifocal” lenses that allow customers to change what their cameras see after installation. This allows us to install varifocal lens cameras, then zoom them in on what you wish to see. We recommend varifocal lenses for any customers looking to view more than 50 or so feet away from their camera locations. Coming up, we’ll show you how we can increase your cameras’ effectiveness in dark environments!
Working an All-Nighter
As you can probably expect, customers want their cameras to provide security in both light and dark environments. After all, crimes often occur under the cover of night. This rings especially true in the commercial security world, where businesses sit vacant all night. While any ambient light will help cameras see at night, we install some cameras in settings with extremely low light. Homes in rural areas and businesses in the woods, such as camps and game clubs, often get very little light. In these circumstances, we need to make sure we choose effective cameras for the job.
Cameras have different technologies to “see” in the dark. The most common (and perhaps most effective) method involves placing infrared (or “IR) illuminators around a camera’s lens. These lights help improve a camera’s night vision tremendously. When designing cameras, manufacturers create some products with added IR illuminators for installation in extremely dark areas.
In very dark environments, an extra boost of infrared illumination can help. For this reason, we sometimes install infrared illuminators (or “IR illuminators”) to create effective video surveillance at night. These illuminators contain several dozen infrared lights. In turn, these lights help any cameras installed in the vicinity record clearer video of their surroundings at night. Many customers settle for inferior nighttime video footage because they do not know about IR illuminators. However, we recommend them for anyone wishing to monitor areas with very small amounts of ambient light. Next up, let’s look into installing surveillance in difficult conditions when facing the threat of camera vandalism!

Vandal-Resistant cameras, such as this model by Everfocus, provide a strong measure of resistance against physical attacks.
Fighting Back Against Vandalism
As you can imagine, vandals and burglars often target low-hanging surveillance cameras. Of course, many of them wish to cover up a future or in-progress crime. Some of them simply want to vandalize your property. Either way, installing exterior cameras without vandal-proof measures can invite trouble. Vandal-proof cameras (such as the one pictured) generally feature a sturdy, metal base. Additionally, these cameras come with a hard-to-penetrate covering over the lens itself.
These surveillance cameras have their own “vandal-proof” rating system. The “IK code” measures impact protection. IK Code ratings range from 1-10, and the rating improves as the numbers go up. Unlike with the IP rating that we described earlier, IK Code ratings do not measure performance against specific environmental dangers. Rather, this rating measures a camera’s ability to withstand specific levels of force, measured in joules. For example, an IK10-rated object must withstand 20 joules of force. Examples of 20 joules of force include 10 kilograms of force from a height of 20 centimeters, or 5 kilograms of force dropped at 40 centimeters. This Axis impact test of a 10k-rated vandal-proof camera shows the type of protection these cameras provide.
Optimizing Security When Installing Surveillance in Difficult Conditions
We hope that this post helps you see how we go about installing surveillance in difficult conditions. As always, we encourage you to contact us with any questions this post may raise for you. We will happily answer any and all of your security-related inquiries. Moreover, we also provide site surveys free of charge in case you want to take advantage of the security mentioned in this post. Perhaps you already have some cameras in place, but wish to beef up your surveillance. Or, maybe you don’t have much in the way of security now, and want to put a plan together. Either way, we are here to help! Together, we can put together a complete security plan to keep your property — and everyone on it — as safe and secure as possible!