4MP, 6MP or 4K: how much CCTV resolution do you actually need?
By Namra Shah · Cabling For U · Auckland · Updated September 2026
Resolution is the number every CCTV brochure leads with, and it is the number that misleads the most people. A 4K camera pointed at the wrong place, on the wrong lens, will give you worse evidence than a 4MP camera positioned properly. Megapixels are not the same thing as useful footage.
Short answer: for most Auckland homes 4MP and 6MP do everything you need, and the money is better spent on lens choice, camera position and the recorder. 4K earns its place on wide scenes you may need to zoom into later, or where you expect to read a plate or a face at distance.
The number that actually matters is pixels per metre
Forget megapixels for a moment. What decides whether footage is usable in an investigation is how many pixels land on the subject. That depends on three things together: the sensor resolution, the lens field of view, and how far away the person is standing.
The same 8MP camera can be excellent or useless depending on the lens. Spread across a wide 93-degree view, those pixels cover a huge area and a face at 15 metres is a smudge. Narrow the field of view with a zoom lens and the same sensor puts far more detail on the same face.
This is why a camera at your front door on a modest sensor routinely produces better identification than a 4K camera on the corner of the house trying to watch the whole property.
What each resolution is genuinely good for
4MP
The sensible default for doors, gates, hallways and anywhere the subject comes within a few metres of the camera. At short range it produces clean, identifiable faces, it is kind to your recorder’s storage, and — this part matters — 4MP sensors often perform better in low light than higher-resolution sensors of the same physical size, because each pixel is larger and collects more light.
6MP
The middle ground, and an underrated one. It gives you meaningful extra detail over 4MP for wider scenes like a driveway or a shop floor, without the storage penalty of 4K. If you are covering a space rather than a doorway, 6MP is often the better buy.
8MP (4K)
Worth it where you need to zoom into recorded footage after the event. Wide frontages, car parks, yards, loading bays. The sensor gives you room to crop in on a plate or a face that was not the main subject of the shot. That digital headroom is the real benefit of 4K, not sharpness at the centre of the frame.
9MP, 12MP and beyond
These resolutions almost always belong to panoramic and fisheye cameras rather than standard ones, and the high pixel count is there to compensate for an enormous field of view. A 12MP fisheye is not 12MP worth of detail on a face; it is 12MP spread across 360 degrees.
Not sure which of these applies to your place? That is what our CCTV installation Auckland service is for. We walk the property, plan the camera positions with you, and email a fixed price within 24 hours — no charge, no obligation. Book a free site walk.
What higher resolution costs you
Every step up costs storage and bandwidth. A 4K camera recording continuously fills a drive far faster than a 4MP one, which means either a bigger drive, fewer days of retained footage, or heavier compression that gives back some of the detail you paid for.
It also costs low-light performance if the sensor is not physically larger. Packing more pixels onto the same chip makes each pixel smaller, and smaller pixels gather less light. A well-specified 4MP camera at 2am can genuinely beat a poorly specified 8MP one.
The honest framing: resolution is a budget you spend, not a score you maximise.
Where resolution is not your problem
We get called to plenty of systems where the owner is convinced they need to upgrade to 4K, and the actual faults are:
- The lens is too wide for the job. Nine times out of ten this is it.
- The camera is too high. Mounted under the gutter, it films the tops of heads. Faces need the camera nearer eye level on the approach.
- Backlight. A camera pointed at a glass door with daylight behind it silhouettes everyone. That is a wide dynamic range problem, not a resolution one.
- Infrared bouncing off a nearby surface, washing the whole night image grey.
- Compression set too aggressively on the recorder to stretch storage.
Upgrading the sensor fixes none of those.
How we spec it on a real Auckland job
A typical house ends up mixed. Doors and gates get a moderate resolution on a tighter lens, because that is where identification actually happens. The wide shots — driveway, street frontage, back section — get the higher-resolution cameras, because that is where you will want to crop in later.
On commercial sites the logic is the same but the stakes are higher: entrances and till points get identification-grade coverage, and the open floor gets wide cameras with enough sensor to zoom into afterwards.
Three questions worth asking your installer
- What will a face look like at the distance this camera is actually mounted? A good installer can tell you, and will have chosen the lens around it.
- How many days of footage will I keep at this resolution? If nobody has calculated it, the answer is “fewer than you think”.
- Is this camera for identification or for context? Every position is one or the other. Cameras trying to be both are usually good at neither.
We will spec resolution where it earns its keep
We walk the property, work out what each camera actually has to see, and email a fixed price within 24 hours. Every install is Fluke-tested, configured with your own passwords rather than factory defaults, and carries our 12-month workmanship warranty.
Book a free site walk or call 0800 222 546.
The models we fit
Resolution only helps if the lens and the light support it. Here is the ladder we actually quote from, low to high.
| Model | What it is | Resolution | Where we fit it |
|---|---|---|---|
| DS-2CD2346G2P-ISU/SL | Panoramic dual-sensor, AcuSense | 4MP | Wide frontages where coverage matters more than detail |
| DS-2CD2T67G3-LIS2UY/SL-4MM | ColorVu 3.0 hybrid light bullet | 4MP | Standard residential — the default |
| DS-2CD3666G2HT-LIZSUY | DeepinLight bullet, motorised zoom | 6MP | The step up most people actually feel |
| DS-2CD2T87G3-LIS2UY/SL-4MM | ColorVu 3.0 hybrid light bullet | 8MP (4K) | Where faces and plates matter at distance |
| DS-2CD6395G1E-IVS | Fisheye dome, DeepinView | 9MP | Large indoor floors, dewarped |
| DS-2CD63C5G1-IVS | Fisheye dome, DeepinView ImmerVision | 12MP (4K) | Biggest floors — detail survives dewarping |
More megapixels on the same lens means a wider, softer picture, not a sharper one. Beyond 4K on a domestic job you are usually paying for storage, not evidence.
Full list on our Hikvision camera range page.
Related reading
- The Hikvision camera range we install from — every model and what it is for
- Bullet, turret, dome or fisheye: which shape belongs where
- Hikvision ColorVu explained: when full-colour night vision earns its keep
- Security camera night vision: the key differences
- CCTV and security camera installation in Auckland
Frequently asked
Is 4K CCTV worth it for a house?
On one or two wide positions, yes — a long driveway or a street frontage where you may want to crop into the footage afterwards. Fitting 4K on every camera including the back door is usually paying for storage you will never use. A mixed system is almost always the better spend.
Will 4K cameras fill my recorder faster?
Yes, considerably. More pixels means more data per second. You either fit a larger drive, accept fewer days of retained footage, or compress harder — and heavy compression undoes part of what the higher resolution bought you.
Does more resolution mean better night vision?
No, and sometimes the opposite. If the sensor is not physically larger, adding pixels makes each one smaller and less sensitive to light. Night performance is driven by sensor size, aperture, and whether the camera uses infrared or white light — not by the megapixel count.
Can I read a number plate with a standard camera?
Occasionally, in good light, at short range, with a bit of luck. Reliably reading plates on moving vehicles is a job for a purpose-built plate-recognition camera with the right lens and shutter settings. If plates are the reason you are installing cameras, say so at the site visit — it changes the spec.
Can I mix resolutions on one system?
Yes, and you generally should. Cameras of different resolutions from the same range share one recorder, one app and one configuration. Matching every camera to the same number is a habit, not a requirement.
Is 4MP CCTV good enough?
For most Auckland homes, yes. At normal residential distances a well-positioned 4MP camera with the right lens gives identifiable faces. Resolution is rarely what ruins footage — position, lens choice and lighting usually are.
Is 6MP good for security cameras?
6MP is the step up most people actually notice. It leaves room to crop into a frame after an incident without the image falling apart, at a storage cost that is still sensible.
Who wrote this
Namra Shah installs CCTV and structured cabling across Auckland through Cabling For U. PSPLA Company Licence 25-132031 (Security Technician), SiteSafe Passport holder, Impac pre-qualified, $5M public liability. Cabling For U is a trading name of HARIKRUPA LIMITED, NZBN 9429046975126, incorporated 22 August 2018. Every install carries a 12-month workmanship warranty and Fluke-tested cabling.
The models named on this page are ones we hold accounts for and fit on Auckland jobs. If you want one specced for your property, ask for a free site walk.