Recommendation for 400ft

[gooberpile]

I have about 400ft to the road at the end of my driveway. Any recommendations for an IP camera at that range? I'd like to at least be able to make out the make and model of vehicle driving by day or night. I don't necessarily need the license plate but that would be a plus. A fixed zoom bullet would be fine. I'm trying to avoid a giant PTZ if I can.

thanks in advance.

 

[mat200]

I have about 400ft to the road at the end of my driveway. Any recommendations for an IP camera at that range? I'd like to at least be able to make out the make and model of vehicle driving by day or night. I don't necessarily need the license plate but that would be a plus. A fixed zoom bullet would be fine. I'm trying to avoid a giant PTZ if I can.

thanks in advance.

Welcome @gooberpile

perhaps this would be good: Look for one of the Dahua OEM 2MP starlight PTZ models, perhaps the x25 zoom version.

Search the forum for reviews.

 

[Q™]

https://us.dahuasecurity.com/product-technologies/epoe-technology/

 

[gooberpile]

https://us.dahuasecurity.com/product-technologies/epoe-technology/

Are you suggesting the only solution is a long cable? I'm hoping to find a camera that'll work from 400ft away... Running a cable down my driveway would be quite a challenge.

 

[gooberpile]

Welcome @gooberpile

perhaps this would be good: Look for one of the Dahua OEM 2MP starlight PTZ models, perhaps the x25 zoom version.

Search the forum for reviews.

Hello - Thank you.

Looks like a nice camera but i'm hoping to avoid the big pendulum's though. I'm not trying to draw attention and I know my wife would hate seeing it. Any chance those specs come in a bullet?

 

[gooberpile]

Hi Goober,

You could try a Dahua HFW5231Z12, it's a bullet whose varifocal lens zooms to 65mm, I think. According to IPVM Camera Calculator V3, you would get about 55 PPF at full zoom.

You *should* be able to determine the make/model of cars in the daytime with that camera.

If you have a LOT of light down at the end of your driveway shining on the road, you might be able to get make/model at night. Motion blur would be your enemy, you need a lot of light in order to use short/fast shutter speed. The camera's built-in LEDs would not help in this case, you would need lights installed all the way down at the road.

Is the road perpendicular to your driveway? If so, you definitely would not get plates, even in the daytime. If the road is oriented in such a way that the cars' plates are angled mostly toward your camera, then you *might* be able to get plates in the daytime.

Even if you can get plates in the daytime, you won't get them at night unless you use two different cameras, or unless you have a HUUUGE amount of light down by the road.

You would probably be better off with an EPOE camera (or 2) and bite the bullet and dig a trench out to the end of the driveway.

Great info, thank you. I'm out in the country. The road is not lit but it is a 90 degree turn at the end of my driveway so I'll get direct shots of the front or back of the vehicles as they pass. Running a cable might be the only way to do this but I'm also concerned about the camera simply being stolen or, believe it or not, shot. That's a thing in the country...

 

[Q™]

or, believe it or not, shot

Then hide it.

 

[bigredfish]

Dahua HFW5231Z12 at 309ft to me, approx 80%+ zoom

 

[samplenhold]

So if I get this right, your driveway is 400 feet long? Street is at a 90 degree angle at the beginning of the driveway such that you get a flat view of the front or back of the cars going along the road.

If this is the case, mount the camera 100 feet from the road on your property. That gives you 300 foot of cable to run and only 100 feet of needed zoom. You could hide it in say a birdhouse (someone here has done that) or something else. The camera that bigredfish recommended would probably work just fine. For night, maybe an IR illuminator 50 feet from the road would give you enough IR light to get the make/model and possibly plate.

Checkout IPVM Camera Calculator V3 for a fairly good interface to see what you could expect at your location from different cameras.

 

[bigredfish]

It will be tough to get reliable tag captures at 400ft with that camera IMHO. Biggest problem being you'll be at max zoom and the camera has a known problem holding focus at anything beyond about 80% zoom..

At 400+ft I'd be looking at something with more zoom. HiK makes a good tag camera with 18X zoom- 84mm lens...otherwise you're looking at 25X PTZ

But to just make out make and model I think the Z12 would be fine. The big problem as mentioned will be lack of IR at night at that distance

 

[gooberpile]

So if I get this right, your driveway is 400 feet long? Street is at a 90 degree angle at the beginning of the driveway such that you get a flat view of the front or back of the cars going along the road.

Exactly.