CCTV Camera Types
Dome vs Bullet vs Turret vs PTZ, Lens and Resolution (2026)

The four camera shapes at a glance

Walk into any CCTV shop and the cameras sort into a handful of shapes. The shape decides where a camera mounts, how easy it is to aim, how obvious it looks and how well it stands up to knocks and weather. It does not, on its own, decide how sharp the image is.

Other shapes exist: box cameras with a separate lens, fisheye cameras that see a whole room from the ceiling, and small consumer Wi-Fi cameras. Our Wi-Fi camera vs professional CCTV guide covers the last group, which records to a memory card rather than a recorder.

Dome cameras

A dome hides the camera under a bubble, so it is hard to see which way it points. That makes it a good choice for a porch ceiling, a shop, a lift lobby or anywhere a passer-by could reach it: vandal-rated domes are built to take a knock. The trade-offs are practical. Aiming a dome means opening it, and at night the infrared light can bounce off a dusty or scratched bubble and wash out the image, so the bubble needs cleaning and careful fitting. Domes are the natural choice for ceilings and less natural for a long view down a wall.

Bullet cameras

A bullet camera is the classic tube on an arm. It is easy to aim at a long, narrow scene such as a side lane or a driveway, and its shape tells anyone approaching that the property is watched. The sun hood keeps rain and glare off the glass. Its weaknesses are that it is an obvious target, and that spiders, wasps and birds make homes on and under the hood; a web across the lens at night can trigger motion recording all night. Mount bullets high enough to be out of reach.

Turret (eyeball) cameras

A turret camera sits in a ball-and-socket mount with no bubble in front of the lens. That avoids the dome's night-time reflection problem, and the ball swivels easily for aiming. It mounts neatly under eaves, on walls or on ceilings and suits most home positions. It is a little easier to knock off aim than a dome if it is within reach, so it belongs above head height.

PTZ cameras: when you need one, and when you do not

A PTZ (pan-tilt-zoom) camera turns and zooms on command or on a patrol pattern. It is useful where one operator watches a large area, such as a factory yard, a car park or a guardhouse gate, and wants to zoom in on something happening. On a home it is usually the wrong tool: while it is pointing one way it records nothing the other way, and it costs more than a fixed camera. Two or three fixed cameras covering the same ground normally record more of what matters, all the time.

Fixed lens or varifocal: wide view versus detail

The lens decides what a camera sees. A wide fixed lens shows a lot of the scene but makes a face or a plate small; a narrower view shows less but in more detail. A varifocal lens can be adjusted during installation to frame exactly the area you want, which is useful at a gate or an entrance where you need to recognise a person rather than just see that someone was there. A good quotation states the camera type per position, including whether each one has a fixed lens or a varifocal lens, and whether it is indoor or weather-rated.

Resolution: 2MP, 4MP, 4K and the cost you do not see

Our CCTV installation cost guide is honest about resolution: between a decent 2MP camera and a 4MP one there is a real difference in the image, but on a six-camera job it is rarely the line that decides the total. The bigger cost is on the hard disk. More pixels mean more data every second from every camera, and the recorder holds a fixed amount, so putting 4K on every position shortens how many days of footage you keep.

The sensible way to specify resolution is position by position. The gate, the front door and anywhere you need to read a plate or recognise a face earn the extra pixels; a camera that only needs to show whether someone walked down a corridor does not. Our hard disk recording days guide shows how to work out the days of footage for your mix.

At night: one more choice

Every one of these shapes comes in versions that see in the dark using infrared, which gives a black and white image, and versions that stay in colour using a small white light or a very sensitive sensor. Which one suits each position is a separate decision from the camera's shape, and worth asking about for positions that face a dark lane or a garden. Mounting matters too: infrared from a camera aimed at a nearby wall or eave bounces back and blinds it.

Which camera for which position at home

Condo owners also need to check what the management allows on corridors and common areas; our condo CCTV rules guide explains the limits.

What cameras cost to add or install

These are the published ranges on ClickBina guides (indicative 2026, Klang Valley). They depend far more on cabling and access than on whether the camera is a dome or a bullet.

A dome and a bullet from the same range usually cost about the same. What moves the price is the resolution, the lens, whether the recorder has a spare channel, and how far each cable has to run.

How ClickBina can help

CCTV work is quoted case by case. WhatsApp us your job details for a quote: landed or condo, the positions you want covered, whether you already have a recorder and how many channels are spare, and whether you need to recognise faces or plates at the gate. We reply within the hour, the price we agree is a flat price with no hidden charges, and a site visit is RM150, waived if you go ahead.

Sources & methodology

• ClickBina CCTV installation cost guide — package, add-a-camera and install-your-own prices; 2MP vs 4MP; what a quote must state per position.
• ClickBina IP vs analog CCTV guide — resolution is paid for on the hard disk; specify it position by position.
• ClickBina Wi-Fi camera vs professional CCTV guide — consumer Wi-Fi camera price.
• ClickBina convenience store fit-out guide — site visit wording.

How we estimated prices: every RM figure on this page is quoted unchanged from the ClickBina guides named above. They are indicative Klang Valley market ranges for 2026, not fixed rates. Camera shapes are described generically; no brand is ranked.