Where the camera is intended to be positioned, whether indoors or outdoors or either.

Wire-free cameras are powered by batteries.

Power is either mains or battery

We recommend models that score 75% and more.

CHOICE Expert Rating is made up of Image quality score (60%) and ease of use score (40%). Image quality score takes into account normal light (50%) and low light (50%) conditions Ease of use includes installation (30%) plus recording and motion (70%) features. Recording and motion takes into account image and video capture ability, cloud storage and remote access, as well as alerts and notifications.

Image quality score takes into account normal light (50%) and low light (50%) conditions.

Ease of use score includes installation (30%) plus recording and motion (70%). Recording and motion takes into account image and video capture ability, cloud storage and remote access, as well as alerts and notifications.

'Tested models' should still be found in shops. 'Discontinued models' may be available on sale or second hand.

Recommended retail price.

The ongoing costs incurred by subscription service for cloud storage and access to recordings.

Some cameras can be bought stand-alone or in a kit, while others only come as part of a kit.

Some cameras need to be used as part of a kit with a hub.

The manufacturer's claimed life of the battery (where applicable) in months. Note that these figures may be based on different amounts of usage.

Weatherproof rating: IP55 offers protection against dust; IP65 and IP66 are dust-tight. All are protected against water, the higher the number, the better the water protection.

In pixels, width by height.

The image resolution of the camera, expressed in Megapixels.

The field of view (Horizontal/Vertical or diagonal) in degrees. A wider field of view shows a greater area captured by the image.

Higher figures give smoother video. Standard video is 30fps.

The standard formats for saved video footage.

The Wi-Fi band used – 2.4GHz band or 5GHz band or both, or neither in the case of 3/4G models.

Whether the battery can be removed from the camera for charging.

Some battery-powered cameras are compatible with a solar-powered charging accessory. Usually this is separate, at extra cost, but may be provided in some kits.

Night vision allows the camera to see in low-light conditions using infrared technology. The distance for night vision is in metres. In some models, the night vision distance is not specified by the manufacturer (labelled as not stated).

Whether the camera has an ethernet port for wired networking.

The capability to change the horizontal position of the camera remotely.

The capability to change the vertical position of the camera remotely.

The capability to change the image magnification of the camera remotely. This can be either optical or digital zoom. In some cases, the amount of zoom (e.g., 10x) is stated by the manufacturer.

The camera can email a captured image automatically once motion is detected.

Motion detection registers movement either within the entire field of view, or a user-specified area.

Motion detection registers movement either within the entire field of view, or a user-specified area.

Lets the camera make recordings at predetermined periods.

Lets you restrict motion detection to a particular part of the viewing area provided by the camera.

The camera can be set to either home or away mode for disabling/enabling motion detection. This can happen automatically with some models via geofencing (detecting when you move outside a perimeter) or be set manually.

Can trigger an alert on detection of noise.

If the camera can store pictures and video footage locally (rather than in the cloud) and where this is located, whether in built-in internal memory or on memory card and whether in the camera or the hub (where applicable).

FTP enables the camera to upload video and images to a network server using FTP protocol.

Uploading of images and video to an internet-based storage server, usually provided by the vendor or a third party agreement.

Whether remote access is enabled automatically or manually.

Whether the camera works with Google Home devices for home automation.