Wait how is it that the HFW5241E-Z12E does so well with a 1/2.8" sensor? I thought the standard these days was 1/1.8"? My current cameras have that and do remarkably well, especially considering they have a 111 degree FOV and still managed to catch the last two letters of that plate from 50 feet away (which was pretty impressive IMO considering that's not what they're intended for.)
I'm guessing the only reason the IPC-B5442E-Z4E is inferior because of its shorter maximum zoom range?
For plate reading, or any IDENTIFY at distance, focal length is more important than MP. I linked a thread I did previously showing how a D1 resolution at the right focal length can capture plates.
2MP on the 1/2.8" sensor is an ideal MP/sensor ratio, just as 4MP on the 1/1.8" sensor is an ideal MP/sensor ratio.
The reason most opt for the Z12E is because it's optical zoom is double that of the Z4E that has half the optical zoom. The goal is to get clean capture of plates without having to digital zoom and guess.
Look - you luckily caught two letters of the plate from 50 feet away in the daytime from a slow moving vehicle with some digital zoom and guessing. Daytime on a slow moving vehicle is ideal conditions. How many robberies are going to be under ideal conditions in the daytime with a rented U-Haul pickup. Tell me how many you get at night. Can you get any letters of a plate of a vehicle going by at night with your current cameras?
What do you want, partial plates or the whole plate? Do you want to digital zoom and still have to guess or have an optical zoom and take the quess work out of it?
There is an entire subforum dedicated to capturing plates. If it could be done reliably and consistently with cheap 4K 2.8mm fixed lens Lorex cameras on a less than ideal MP/sensor ratio, do you think any of us would waste our time and money buying another camera and tweaking it just to capture plates? Sure some of my overview cams under ideal daytime conditions can capture plates with a lot of digital zoom and some guessing, but forget about it at night.