Guides
Camera positions that pay for themselves in a business
Four positions cover most business losses: the counter with cash, the customer entrance, the stock room doorway and the delivery point. Set the entrance camera near face height so it records faces rather than hair, and size the hard drive to how long a discrepancy takes to surface — usually a month.
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The entrance shot is the one you will need
When something goes wrong, the clip everyone asks for is the entrance. A dome in the ceiling looking straight down records the tops of heads; a camera at roughly two metres, angled gently down, records faces you can put a name to. Glass-fronted shops in the markaz face a second problem — daylight behind every customer turns them into silhouettes — so the entrance camera needs wide dynamic range or an angle that keeps the glare out of frame.
Counter, doorway, delivery
The counter camera should look across the till towards the customer, taking in hands, notes and the drawer — mounted the other way, it films your own cashier's back. On the stock room, watch the doorway, not the shelving: one camera tells you who went in and when, which is the question that actually gets asked. The delivery point rounds out the four, because stock that disappears before it is counted leaves no paper trail at all.
Retention decides the drive
Choose storage from how long problems take to show. A mart that counts stock monthly needs thirty days of footage, which for four 2MP cameras means roughly a 2 TB drive. An office keeping footage for HR or client disputes may want sixty. Buying the smallest drive that fits the quote is the commonest planning mistake we see in Islamabad businesses — and the cheapest to avoid.
Where should CCTV cameras go in a shop or office?
Will cameras actually reduce staff theft?
They shift behaviour at the counter and settle disputed transactions, but they are evidence, not stock control. Pair them with counts and till reconciliation; anyone promising cameras alone will end shrinkage is overselling.
How many cameras does a small shop need?
Most markaz shops are covered properly with four: entrance, counter, floor and stock door. A 4-camera package installed runs PKR 55,000–85,000, and adding a delivery-side camera later is straightforward if conduit is planned for it now.
Rather have it done?
Business CCTV is built around the counter, the entrance, the stock area and the back door, with storage long enough to catch problems you only notice at stocktake. Systems for Islamabad marts, pharmacies, schools and offices start at PKR 85,000, and can tie into access control and your point of sale.
Business CCTV systems in Islamabad — prices and scope