Infrared cameras were first used in the forests of Korea, and were instrumental tools for US soldiers seeking out enemy infantry skilled in the art of stealth and concealment amidst the trees. Since then, the devices have found application in fields as diverse as archaeology, building inspection and astronomy. Incidentally, the infrared security camera has become the absolute cream of home security surveillance technology.

Still, many people don't really understand the difference between infrared security cameras and so-called 'night vision' cameras. The latter use a number of lenses to enhance the intensity of light six or seven fold. This is a technology that's been around since the Second World War. More recently, the term 'night vision' has also been used to describe cameras utilizing so-called 'active' infrared technology. These cameras are equipped with a CCD lens, sensitive to light on a level just below the wavelength perceptible to humans, as well as a torch that shines light at just this wavelength, illuminating the scene before the camera even as it appears unchanged to human observers.

Both these designs are known for producing images of inferior quality. Much of the time, the resultant footage is monochromatic, fuzzy and about as clear as the imagery you'd expect from a video game console in the 1980s.

True infrared security cameras do not provide any illumination of their own. Instead, they read and record the black body radiation of objects. This radiation is brought about by the heat emitted by objects, and as such can be detected totally independently of lighting conditions by use of the camera's microbolometer. Of course, the imagery they produce doesn't look much like ordinary video footage - it's not going to tell you the color of a person's hair, skin or clothes. What it will do is assist you in determining their height, build and gender, what they did and where they might have left any traceable evidence such as fingerprints. What's more, adding this state of the art technology to your home security surveillance system needn't force you into completely rewiring your pad. The existence of wireless surveillance cameras of the infrared type means that you can have any footage captured transmitted to a remote location, and thereby uploaded to a storage cluster online, where you can view it through a private website.

White the footage they record might be difficult for the average person to puzzle through, properly trained thermographic analysts can often formulate accurate pictures of those caught on camera. As such, infrared security cameras can be a great boon for home security surveillance where ordinary wireless surveillance cameras are rendered insufficient due to inadequate outdoor lighting conditions.

Thermal cameras from FLIR, the leading manufacturer of infrared security cameras in the world, start at about $2000. Since even the most basic model is, obviously, a substantially pricey piece of technology, you should do a thorough evaluation of your home to determine if an infrared security camera is even really necessary. If you live in a very well lit area with good visibility even during the night, an ordinary wireless surveillance camera should do the trick. You can further eliminate the need for infrared security cameras by having motion activated lighting on all sides of your home (instead of just in the standard location by the driveway or front door).

There is, of course, also a cost-saving element to infrared security cameras. All you need to do is have your infrared security cameras set up in such a way that they alert the fire department when the ambient temperature in your home rises above a certain level, and they can double as fire detectors, eliminating the need for a smoke detection system.