Camera to capture license plates at 35-40 feet?

[RJF]

New member and new to IP cameras. Have been super impressed with the knowledge on this board, and after searching could use some additional guidance from the gurus here.

There have been some recent serious crimes around where I live (on the outskirts of Capitol Hill in Washington, DC), and I'd like to set up a camera that can capture the license plate numbers of cars that drive by my house. (I have no interest in being able to log or look up license plate numbers; I just want to be able to hand over video to the police that they can use to track somebody down by license plate number if necessary.)

I have tried both of the following cameras for this task, which I thought were pretty nice but are not doing the job:
--Amcrest 4MP: Amcrest ProHD Outdoor 4MP POE Security Bullet Camera - IP66 Weatherproof, 4MP (2688 TVL), IP4M-1025E (Black)
--Lorex 8MP 4K camera: 4K Ultra HD resolution 8MP Outdoor IP camera, 130FT Night vision

Neither one of them is anywhere close to capturing good footage of the license plate, even if the car is parked. Based on my searches on this forum, it seems the real issue is not the MP but instead the focal length of the cameras. (Both of these are 4 mm.) I am wondering if a varifocal camera that can optically zoom to 12 mm will do the trick. Perhaps something like this:
Lorex 3MP 2K : https://www.lorextechnology.com/hd-ip-camera/2k-hd-ip-security-camera-with-motorized-varifocal-lens/LNB3373SB-1-p

Would be very grateful for thoughts. I've included some pictures below of what the Lorex 8MP camera sees from its position both day and night. Also a diagram from IPVM to give you an idea of my setup.

FYI, the camera is mounted 15 feet high, and the center of the street is 25 feet away from my house. That makes the car about 35-40 feet from the camera depending on how far up the street it is. I have a Blue Iris setup.

 

[bigredfish]

Both of those are fixed wide angle cameras (the Amcrest is 2.8mm), great for wide area overview, both suck for LPR.

Yes you will need a vari-focal, zoom to 12mm probably even more, but frankly with the height, obstruction from the tree, and resulting angle of attack, it will be difficult to be able to capture tags with any camera from that position. Your only real possibility would be a tight focus in the area just short of the manhole cover/to the left of the no parking sign.

If you want to capture tags, you need to think along the lines of a camera being dedicated to nothing but that. You can't get wide area coverage AND tight car-width zoom at the same time from one camera. The LPR camera will need to be zoomed to the width of a car or a bit more but you wont see much else.

I do think if you had a lower mount position, and less of an angle of attack (Like 2 more parking spaces to the left of and beyond the manhole cover) you may be able to get tags with a 8MP cam and some surrounding area but LPR by nature requires some zoom or very straight-on placement to the tag.

 

[bigredfish]

Looking at it again after sleep and coffee, your best bet would be to cut down that tree

Even better would be to move to a free area of the country where you're allowed to own firearms and defend yourself .....

 

[happf]

I would start with at least the Dahua Starlight 7-35mm HFW5231E-Z5. Zoomed all the way in, 115' away I am at the threshold of barely being able to read the plates (in the day time), so for you at 35-40', should be much easier. I would zoom the camera to the far left and try to get it at that point from behind. Biggest issue is that angle and if you end up with that pickup or van parked in just right the spot, it could block the view.

 

[RJF]

I would start with at least the Dahua Starlight 7-35mm HFW5231E-Z5. Zoomed all the way in, 115' away I am at the threshold of barely being able to read the plates (in the day time), so for you at 35-40', should be much easier. I would zoom the camera to the far left and try to get it at that point from behind. Biggest issue is that angle and if you end up with that pickup or van parked in just right the spot, it could block the view.

Thanks very much. Reading your post at the link, it sounds like the Z12 might be a better option. It also appears to be cheaper at AliExpress than the Z5. Any reason not to go with the Z12?

 

[looney2ns]

Read the LPR section of this forum, it's an art to accomplish.

 

[RJF]

Thanks for all the great information. I'm starting to think that this is a fool's errand for what I need to accomplish, and perhaps I should just focus on high-resolution cameras that will get good pictures of people and cars.

 

[happf]

Thanks for all the great information. I'm starting to think that this is a fool's errand for what I need to accomplish, and perhaps I should just focus on high-resolution cameras that will get good pictures of people and cars.

I don't think it's a "fool's errand". Just keep expectations in check. Like you, I am not trying to use OCR or automatically database license plate numbers. We just want to be able to read the plate with our own eyes should the need arise. If the images in your 1st post were taken with a 4mm NON-starlight camera, I would think with a 35mm starlight Z5, you'd be able to easily read them, just keep in mind, when you zoom in with the 35mm, you're not going to have such a wide view, you're going to zoom in to just the middle part of the road all the way to the left. I'd think in daylight, you should be able to easily read plates. Nigthtime is another matter, hopefully there is enough lighting.

Between the Z5 and Z12, hard to answer. My Z12s are on order still. I recall reading somewhere that the Z12 IR is more of a hot spot since it's designed for long distance.

 

[pozzello]

at 40ft, you'll want at least a 25mm lens to read license plates clearly, 35mm even better.

for night-time capture, you'll want decent IR and will need to set the exposure to 1/1000 second max
(most cams will reduce as needed for brighter daylight) to get sharp plates at night. such a cam
will see NOTHING but plates and head/tailights at night, so you'll need other cams for the general
'overview' of what's going on...

totally do-able, though...