new member struggling with lorex 4k motorized varifocal trying to read license plates at night

[crays1991]

upgraded from older dvr to a lorex nvr system (N843 series). overall was satisfied with my purchase but definitely still wanted some better tech/ or image quality more so.... i stay in a corner lot house about 130yrds from the main road. a lot of the neighborhood traffic and trouble tend to come this way and right past my home.frustrated at the lack of compatible cameras on lorex list, and not fully understanding just what specs i was looking for,i next day ordered a lorex 4K Nocturnal 4 Series Bullet with Motorized Varifocal Lens (LNB9393) and again happy with the quality, But would like to be able to read license plates at night. ive accessed the GUI and played around with settings, learned a few things. but there seems to be endless possibilities of setting combinations to adjust. CAN ANYONE PLEASE HELP?

 

[samplenhold]

Welcome to IPCAMTALK.

A 4K cam, at night, is really not an optimum cam for LPR. This particular cam is on a 1/1.8" sensor, which is what we usually say is good for a 4MP cam, not an 8 MP cam. The lens is a 2.7mm-12.0mm varifocal which really does not give you much optical zoom.

See the below threads on setting up LPR:

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]

Also, you say your house is 130 yards from the road? How far is the cam from the road, really. Trying to read plates from a moving vehicle with a 12mm lens from 390 feet is not going to happen.

 

[crays1991]

Welcome to IPCAMTALK.

A 4K cam, at night, is really not an optimum cam for LPR. This particular cam is on a 1/1.8" sensor, which is what we usually say is good for a 4MP cam, not an 8 MP cam. The lens is a 2.7mm-12.0mm varifocal which really does not give you much optical zoom.

See the below threads on setting up LPR:

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

View attachment 150506

will look into those when I can, thank you. and sorry I might not of described the distance and all correctly. I'm not interested in the main intersection 100+ yards away. I was trying to say that's where everyone comes into the neighborhood from and right past my house. I'm on the corner so I have a view that can see up to the main intersection 100+ yards, but the lorex is aimed about 25 ft away from where the vehicles plate comes into frame..

 

[wittaj]

25 feet starts to make it a little easier, but it is still a stretch.

All great advice and links above. The 4K is actually a detriment because it is on the same sensor as a 2MP so it needs 4 times the light to produce a comparable image. You would be better off with a 2MP varifocal.

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):






Here was someone with a similar Lorex focal length and you can see the struggles.

Lorex LNB8963B is this a LPR?

Hi members, new to this site looking for as much help as possible for a newbie who just wants an LTR to work. Seems like every unit ive bought doesnt give me the clarity I want. The Lorex LNB8963B is my latest challenge, is this an LPR, if not can someone help me setup a low cost system? Any...

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