All camera's are affected by laser pointers I'm afraid. I don't know to what degree but it isn't supposed to be easy to blind the camera all the time (one would sure need a steady aim). Funnily, people tested this already on youtube.
It just so happens I've been looking for a CCTV-solution too. I'm assuming you want a IP-camera which usuallly comes with megapixel (or higher!) resolution (although this need not be the case, they also come in SD-resolution).
I think secretive is out of the budget and perhaps even difficult to achieve. Good optics (lenses) are somewhat larger an thus unsuited for a secret camera (I wouldn't know what to look for really). Unless you are trying to catch a suspect employee, I would go the 'normal' route. Camera's often scare criminals away. And in a business , you should be very aware of legislation. You may need to put up a sign, sometimes laws get more strict if you record audio, you may have to register your setup officially, ... I also think it is not allowed to secretly record employees (it is allowed to record criminals invading your building though).
The next thing you should consider is IR-illumination (unless the room is always lit sufficiently when you want to record). B/W camera's are more sensitive at night than a colour camera. If you go colour you need an IR-sensitive camera if you want to see in the dark.Some camera come with build in IR, some don't and need external IR-lighting.
You could opt for a dome camera and more or less pick a vandal proof housing (domes are inherently harder to molest).
I think it is always critical that you demo the camera you want to buy in order to see whether you get the desired results. That way you don't go all crazy buying expensive stuff. Too bad demoing in my country is rather hard because of the lousy service you get around here but you may be more lucky.
Now for storage, many camera's now include SD-storage. No need for a NAS, the SD-card is on the camera. I know this makes it rather easy to steal the evidence but you are not supposed to remove the card all the time. The software will allow you to retrieve what it has recorded via the network. With a dome camera you will have a hard pressed time removing the card anyway
. And a vandal proof housing for 'regular' camera's won't open up that easily either. Plus this gives you the room to add a recording solution later when budget allows you to.
Second option is a NAS but rule out any NAS specially made for CCTV as the cost of them starts at $500. You could still use a 'normal' NAS just for storage IF your camera allows to write directly to network shares of does FTP upload.
Third option is a NDVR (network digital video recorder). It's like a DVD-recorder in size. It's hardware and software rolled into one (rather than going the PC-router for the software side).
I hope my rantings will be of some use here
.
cheers,
Jeroen
