Thank you for your replies.
I may be doing something else wrong then. So far I have been experimenting over a couple years, and have not found the proper settings/solutions yet.
Note: The cameras themselves IR lights are highly visible as you drive toward them at night. (I wish this wasnt the case!) It makes them a highly visible target unfortunately.
As example:
1. Camera 1: I turned off the IR lighting function on one camera (Hikvision DS-2CD2T32-I8). The frame rate is set to 1/1000, Smart IR enabled and captures the license plate great during the day. (30-50 feet away from camera, 12 degree angle of camera toward car). I even put black electrical tape over the actual IR lights on the camera, but NOT on the camera's sensor.
2. My second camera (Hikvision DS-2CD2032-I) has an exposure time of 1/2000 frame rate, Day/Night set to Auto, again, black electrical tape over the actual IR lights on the camera, but NOT on the camera's sensor.
External illumination experiments:
1. 850nm external light placed on the ground, aimed toward oncoming traffic. VERY visible, but doesn't allow any night time License Plate capture to take place. The image shown through
BlueIris is black and then you will see the headlights of the vehicle coming and going (all in black and white of course).
2. 940nm external light source. Again, no image captured. Same black screen at night, with only headlights being visible.
As a secondary check, I have a camera on the front of my garage facing forward toward the street. I have all the IR's on and the red glow is visible. It clearly shows the external 850nm light source (wide angle light) doing a great job of illuminating the area. It barely shows the 940nm light working. (I didn't expect it to do much at that IR range).
Given how I am setting these up, any changes I can make to my existing cameras that could allow them to work at night? I can provide all the settings I have done on the Camera's themselves if it will help figure out how to utilize either of these two existing cameras!
Question: Do you folks capture night time license plates?