Yep. I wasted a few hours watching various "bait" videos, too! I was laughing out loud, for sure!
Eventually, though, I began to wonder why some of these pranksters haven't been slapped with civil actions for purposly causing injuries, and criminal charges for setting a "man trap", kidnapping for trapping a guy in a box van, etc. Their own footage would convict them easily.
So as satisfying (and easy) as it would be to rig up some "instant justice" to my mailbox, and as hilarious as the resulting footage might be, I wouldn't do it myself.
I wouldn't likely miss most of my junk mail if it got stolen, but we do receive a lot of smaller packages these days with the USPS doing the final deliveries. And identity thieves may well find a lot of good information by going through a person's mail.
So I would like to think that the postmaster would be quite interested in pursuing a case like this.
But it really is hard to get court-worthy footage at night, and at a distance.
Heck, at the distances from my front eave to the street, with 4MP, approximately 80 degree field of view cameras, unless the car drives up perpendicular to the street, aimed right at my house, I'm afraid reliable license plate ID is not going to happen, even in good daylight. The resolution just isn't there. And at night, it isn't even close.
So I'm enjoying this forum's recommendations for camera setups that can yield solid face ID and/or license plate images, especially at night. It's not as easy of a task as one might wish it was.
As a photographer (at times, professionally) for over 50 years, I've always been amused at the Hollywood/TV fantasizes of "enhancing" crummy video surveillance cam footage. If the data isn't there, you can't create it out of thin air... Something everyone on these forums understands very well.
To cover a wide area and get the high resolution required, especially in adverse lighting, is just plain expensive! The answer in this mailbox scenario is, as has been recommended, to concentrate at least one camera and light source right at the zone of interest. So in this case, it really is practical to get good face images because you have a situation where you know right where the perp will have to be. But a savvy thief can still avoid ID with very simple disguise techniques. The old ski mask and hoodie, for a few dollars, is all that would be reqired.
And capturing a readable license plate will be difficult if they're parking in one random place and then raiding the mailboxes on foot from there.
Again, you need a "pinch point" that vehicles must pass through, where you can locate your license plate camera. Of course, this isn't always practical.
Fun thread, everyone. Now off to watch more of the "sharter" videos. One thing leads to another on YouTube, doesn't it?
