If you

[JustAnotherCameraGuy]

Hi folks. New member here, I’ve been trying to soak as much information I can in. Looking for some feedback here. I have a location that I want to cover my driveway to the main road with.
Mounting height will be ~ 12ft
I need to detect/observe @ ~100ft
Want recognize/identify and possibly do some light LPR anything less than 80ft. (40ft wide @ 80ft distance)

I understand there’s not a once size fits all camera and plan to add more soon. For now I need this one to mostly focus on vehicles and people entering.
I am in a rural area with low light but do have some low exterior lighting in this location.

I am in aarea that sees high winds and blowing dust so I need something that has a well made enclosure and easy to clean/protected lens.

I’m currently considering these two cameras:

• 5442 Z4E - varifocal
• 5241-Z12E - varifocal
  
  
  Appreciate and feedback or suggestions

 

[fenderman]

Hi folks. New member here, I’ve been trying to soak as much information I can in. Looking for some feedback here. I have a location that I want to cover my driveway to the main road with.
Mounting height will be ~ 12ft
I need to detect/observe @ ~100ft
Want recognize/identify and possibly do some light LPR anything less than 80ft. (40ft wide @ 80ft distance)

I understand there’s not a once size fits all camera and plan to add more soon. For now I need this one to mostly focus on vehicles and people entering.
I am in a rural area with low light but do have some low exterior lighting in this location.

I am in aarea that sees high winds and blowing dust so I need something that has a well made enclosure and easy to clean/protected lens.

I’m currently considering these two cameras:

• 5442 Z4E - varifocal
• 5241-Z12E - varifocal
  
  
  Appreciate and feedback or suggestions

you will not be able to accomplish your objectives with one camera...

 

[sebastiantombs]

No single camera will do both jobs. LPR is a specialty and requires very specific settings, especially at night, I believe that any of the Dahua cameras will hold up with winds and dust although the faceplates may cloud over time due to dust abrasion but that is true of any camera.

 

[wittaj]

+1 above

Regarding plates, keep in mind that this is a camera dedicated to plates and not an overview camera also. It is as much an art as it is a science. You will need two cameras. For LPR we need to OPTICALLY zoom in tight to make the plate as large as possible. For most of us, all you see is the not much more than a vehicle in the entire frame. Now maybe in the right location during the day it might be able to see some other things, but not at night.

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 2MP 5241-Z12E camera (that is all that is needed for plates):

 

[JustAnotherCameraGuy]

understood, scratch LPR then as I can get a camera closer to the targets for that purpose. For vehicle, personnel do the cameras I’m looking at work or is there something else more appropriate?

 

[JustAnotherCameraGuy]

I should add, anything 80ft or less means they are in my driveway, directly facing the camera and not moving at significant speeds.

 

[wittaj]

The 5442-Z4E would be the better choice, but recognize that at 80 feet it will not be IDENTIFY, but it will be OBSERVE and maybe some RECOGNIZE

Speed of the vehicle is immaterial. In a rural area at that far out, you will be using infrared and if you set the shutter speed to be able to see people, then the plate will be washed out.

 

[ptzman]

Have you considered using an enclosed POE box camera with a 100 - 120 mm zoom lens with a POE IR attached to the enclosure. I can read license plates over 100 feet away day or night.

 

[samplenhold]

See the below threads on LPR. They cover both of the cams you are thinking about.

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

 

[samplenhold]

For the 5442 Z4E cam, below are some sample shots at different zooms and distances. Realize that the max zoom is 32mm.