Good LPR Camera Choice?

[Thegamedaddy]

I'm looking for an LPR camera recommendation. The stop sign right near my house has huge issues with people regularly not stopping. My son almost got killed with someone stopping right in the middle of the crosswalk. The police said they can send notices in the mail when I send them a license plate number of someone that is a blatant violator.

The street is a 25 mph speed limit. Camera will be about 30-50 feet from one end of the stop sign and 50-70 feet from the other end. Would love to also capture plates at night. There's a little angle from the camera and the stop sign. Probably a little less than 45%.

I'm thinking of using OpenALPR and hopefully at some point being able to create some software that automatically recognizes the blatant offenders and captures just those license plates. I am only slightly technical but I've got some friends that can help code it.

What is a good recommendation of a camera? And should I hook it up to a computer or DVR?

Any tips would be awesome.

 

[JNDATHP]

I am just now going down this rabbit hole.

I have a 5321 that I thought would have enough zoom for my application but, alas, no. After setting up @MikeLud1 ’s ALPR software and configuring it correctly, I am getting partial plates in BI.



To correct the lack of zoom, I ordered an IPC-HFW5241E-Z12E.

I am by no means even competent with LPR so I’m sure others who are the experts will chime in.

There is a LPR forum on this site that will help.

 

[Thegamedaddy]

I'm thinking this one may be good. What do others think?

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1472951-REG/hikvision_ds_2cd2683g1_izs_8mp_outdoor_day_night_ir.html

 

[Justin Blackburn]

Not enough zoom on that one. Also you don’t need 8MP for license plates. This is the camera that seems popular for LPR. Amazon.com

 

[Justin Blackburn]

Here is a good video to watch featuring that camera.

 

[Thegamedaddy]

That's very helpful! So 2mp should be good enough for a little bit of an angle and the distance? Do you have experience using OpenALPR or something similar?
I'm going to check out that video.

 

[Thegamedaddy]

Still watching that video. But that distance and angle are almost exactly what I have!

 

[Justin Blackburn]

I haven’t set up a license plate reader yet myself, but I’ve researched it some and I know that’s one of the most popular options.

 

[wittaj]

2MP is more than enough for LPR. Focal length, distance to plate, and shutter speed are more important. Heck I have an old analog camera at 720P that works just fine, and OpenALPR recommends 720P in some instances.

The biggest thing we see is people always underestimate the actual distance. 50 feet turns out to be 75 feet and then the camera selected isn't the right one.

The Z12E is capable of reasonable distances of 150 feet, but people have been able to get it to 220 feet, especially with additional IR.

The Z4E is the next camera that people have tried, but most have found beyond 50 feet, it is difficult to make out the plates because the optical zoom of that camera is half of the Z12E optical zoom.

After that, it would be one of the varifocal turrets, but those will only reach about 30 feet, but do work well on a mailbox at the street. About half the price of the Z12E.

The Z12E and Z4E are the same price, so between the two, why not buy the one that provides the best opportunity to get a longer distance if needed.

During daytime it may act as an overview, but at night the shutter tends to need to be faster to capture the plate, and the faster the shutter, the darker the image.

Most of us run B/W to take advantage of the reflective properties of a plate which is why we can run a faster shutter to get the plates. Once you decide to keep it in color, the shutter speed slows way down and might not be fast enough to actually capture a plate.

At night, we have to run a very fast shutter speed (1/2,000) and in B/W with IR and the image will be black. All you will see are head/tail lights and the plate. Some people can get away with color if they have enough street lights, but most of us cannot. Here is a representative sample of plates I get at night of vehicles traveling about 45MPH at 175 feet from my Z12E camera (that is all that is needed for plates):

 

[samplenhold]

Like others above, I use the Dahua 5241 Z12E for LPR. See my threads on designing and implementation below:

New to LPR? Considerations Before You Begin

Thought I would throw together a post on my experiences so far with LPR in an effort to help others that are considering running down that rabbit hole. There are some practical considerations you should know about LPR. I am approaching this from the position of using Blue Iris and Plate...

ipcamtalk.com

LPR Case Study: Scoping, Planning, Proof of Concept, Installation, & Results

Introduction This thread is about my journey into LPR (License Plate Recognition) after having about 18 months of experience with IP cams and having quite a bit of my system finished. I am not an expert on LPR, or IP cameras either. But I have spent a lot of time working with my system and...

ipcamtalk.com

Use of Overview and LPR Cams to Document Midnight Vehicle Distributing Offensive Flyers on Lawns

We were out of town and I was checking my cams remotely one morning and noticed one of the Deputies that regularly patrol my subdivision had been at my front door. She has come to me a few times requesting video as she knows I have fairly good coverage of the streets at my corner. I noticed that...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[Flintstone61]

5241 z12

 

[Flintstone61]

 

[Thegamedaddy]

I am so glad I found this community. It's so helpful.

I'm going to be reading through a lot of the linked threads. And most of my questions should get answered.

I did have one question in the meantime. Is this the same as the Dahua that everyone is mentioning?

https://www.amazon.com/Loryta-IPC-HFW5241E-Z12E-Starlight-Network-English

It was difficult to find where to purchase the Dahua camera.

Now, to start figuring out other hardware and software to set it up.

I'm so excited to work on this project. If I can get something to work well, I'll share with others (as the police in my city are approving of it). My city is 90 square miles and only two part time traffic police. They can only do so much, but I'm pretty sure once people start seeing letters in their mail from the police, some of them will start driving differently.

 

[Justin Blackburn]

That link doesn’t work for me, but I posted a link above that video posted earlier. But looking at the text of the link that’s the correct model.

 

[wittaj]

Yes that is the camera. It is Dahua OEM sold by @EMPIRETECANDY.

 

[Thegamedaddy]

Sorry about the wrong link. Appreciate such a quick response.

Also, does anybody have any thoughts on height angle? The place I'm thinking of putting it might be blocked by cars in a driveway, so I'm thinking of putting it about 10 feet high.

 

[wittaj]

The image in my Post #9 is a good 30 feet above the road. It comes down to the best angle to try to get the plates straight on. If going higher can give you that and not be blocked, go for it.

 

[Thegamedaddy]

I read through a bunch more posts(especially the very informative ones from samplenhold). But I wasn't able to find one about hooking up the camera to an nvr/computer. Are there any posts about that? Sorry if I missed it.

 

[Steve.L]

Jump in with both feet guys. I was up-and-running with my 5241's in no time at all with the help of these ^^^ guys. You won't regret it.
@samplenhold 's settings worked out wonderfully for my scenarios.

 

[wittaj]

I read through a bunch more posts(especially the very informative ones from samplenhold). But I wasn't able to find one about hooking up the camera to an nvr/computer. Are there any posts about that? Sorry if I missed it.

You hook it up the same way you do any camera.