Some cameras can be expensive to purchase and install which is why you can get dummy cameras to give the illusion that you have a security surveillance system installed.

These can be bought for under £20 and look very like a standard security camera.

Some versions also feature a light sensor so that an inbuilt LED will flash at night. This makes it look even more like an actual camera but does require periodic replacement of batteries which may be awkward or impractical.

You should note that under closer inspection it is possible that it may be exposed as a dummy camera.

Some of the latest camera systems provide smart features by connecting to the internet via your broadband to provide remote live mobile, tablet or computer viewing.

Popular brands available are Ring, Nest, SkyBell, Canary and Hive but there are a lot more available, so decide on all of the features that you want/need and go from there.

Alerts

Alerts can generally be received via text, email or through an app to either a single person or even multiple people of your household.

Infrared Night Vision

Most will have an infrared (IR) night vision feature so that you can see in all conditions - these are often black and white video as opposed to the daytime full-colour video.

Motion Detection

Motion detection in another popular feature so that it will only record and/or send alerts when it detects movement. Without this, you would be continuously recording which is inefficient and makes it difficult to find specific events at a later stage.

Two-Way Audio

The ability to hear and talk to whoever is near the camera is a great way to provide greater security and additional features.

This two-way audio means that you can have a conversation with visitors via your mobile, tablet or computer from anywhere in the world with an internet connection.

For example, you might get an alert that someone is at your front door - so you look on your phone and see it is someone acting suspiciously. At this point, you could speak to them to inquire what they want and potentially ward off any criminal activity.

Lights

You could also decide to combine security lighting with a smart camera by purchasing a floodlight camera system.

This means that upon the detection of motion, your floodlights will be activated and you can also see via the camera what it was that set it off. The added bonus is that your night time views and recordings will be in colour instead of black and white.

Cloud Recording

A great feature you may want is the ability to automatically record events to the internet so that you can access them from anywhere in the world at your leisure.

Additionally, you don't have to worry about a home recording system being stolen or damaged, the cost of the recording unit itself or any maintenance it may require.

Note that some systems only allow recording to the cloud if you subscribe to their service which might be something like £25 for a year and will save recordings for 2 months. You always have the option to download these recordings to your computer for a permanent archive.

Some "free" services will provide access to your recordings for up to 14 days.

Regardless if you are paying for cloud storage or not, you will still always get live access and alerts.

Resolution

Most good cameras offer 720P which is commonly known as "HD Ready" but some now come with the better 1080P "Full HD".

And we are only just now seeing what is known as 4k or Ultra HD cameras which are 2160P - these offer a much higher resolution, coming in at 4 times the resolution of Full HD.

This does, however, mean that the amount of data it would need to save is very large so that is why they actually still record at 1080P.

Cleverly, they then use the additional resolution to allow you to digitally zoom in on a specific area of your home but retain the 1080P resolution.

This is used in conjunction with motion detection to zoom in on people to get a close and detailed image which on a standard camera would traditionally result in a blocky pixelated image.

Please note that the clarity of the higher resolution systems is great for identifying people's faces but this also requires more bandwidth from your broadband and may also reduce the length of time between required battery changes.

Face Recognition

Some cameras have face recognition built in so that the camera's motion detection will see a person, identify them and alert you. For example, the alert could be if it is an unknown person or simply when your children arrive home.

These small cameras can be installed either over an existing peephole, to replace an existing peephole or as a brand new installation.

You can get spy hole cameras that wirelessly transmit a live view to your TV, smartphone, tablet or computer.

Another option is to have a small LCD screen on the inside of your door for you to view live or recorded footage. This is normally done by plugging in an additional memory card which you could then use to later transfer footage to your computer.

These cameras are quite often powered by batteries which will need frequent replacement as the camera and especially the screen can be reasonably power hungry.

Some systems are available that require a wired power supply which will be difficult to route to your door and may look a bit ugly. However, if you already have your powered doorbell on your door rather than at the side of your door then this may be a viable option.

Having looked at what is available it may be a better option to use a video doorbell in conjunction with a standard spyhole / peephole.