I picked up the IPC-Color4K-X-6MM in spite of some complaints with image quality and overall I've been happy with it for watching wildlife, both day and night. However, I tested it for watching the end of my driveway it is just a little too wide FOV to make license plates clearly visible so I think I'm going to keep it as a wildlife camera. If I want something with comparable night performance but maybe 1.5-2x more zoom, what should I be considering? Should I be looking at fixed or varifocal?
IPC-Color4K-X-6MM alternative with longer focal length?
- Thread starter saratoga
- Start date
4K cameras are not needed for plate reading.
Are you talking about a car coming up your driveway or out on the street?
You would have to set the camera up specifically to read plates. You need the proper camera with OPTICAL zoom for the distance you are covering and the angle to get 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):
See the LPR subforum for more details.
Are you talking about a car coming up your driveway or out on the street?
You would have to set the camera up specifically to read plates. You need the proper camera with OPTICAL zoom for the distance you are covering and the angle to get 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):
See the LPR subforum for more details.
bigredfish
Known around here
bigredfish
Known around here
Exactly right. I have both a 4K-X 6mm and B54IR-Z4E-S3 focused on different parts of my driveway. The 4K-X is amazing, even with its built-in warm light at night; and the Z4E is fantastic with its IR. If those aren't long enough, the B52IR-Z12E-S2 would be the one to get. Just make sure you stay away from the S1 of the Z12E. The S2 is greatly improved.
Here is a quick video demo of the 4K-X 6mm, B54IR-Z4E-S3, and SD49225 PTZ from a couple nights ago. They were all focused on the same driveway. You can see how important color is with the 4K-X and how the Z4E works in complete darkness with the IR. .