250 ft - am I nuts?

[Robert G.]

I have been playing with plate recognition for a couple of years, love it.

I'm buying a new house and plan to put up camera for reading plates at a distance of 100 - 125ft. The longer the distance, the less angle which is the reason I go out that far. The cameras are mounted on the house which is set back from the street.

I just noticed today that IF I could capture plates at 225 - 250ft distance, I could capture plates from a much busier cross street as well. I have an IR light that can hit that distance, no problem.

Has anyone attempted this craziness at this distance?

 

[wittaj]

Yes, it is "possible" with the Z12E and certainly possible with a higher powered PTZ set up for LPR.

I am able to hit 230ft with my Z12E at about 100% during daytime. Night time dropped to about 60%, but that was more because I didn't have enough IR at that distance. It is certainly possible if you have an IR blaster designed to cover that distance.

I moved it to 175 feet and can get 99% at night with just the IR of the camera.

 

[Robert G.]

The light I use is Axton (this one) which claims to have a reach of 540ft at 10° - at a shorter distance it is even less than 10°. I find it to be really amazing, so much power. The amount it lights thigs up is actually too much for normal camera modes but for capturing plates it is great.

I do use the Z12E already, and will be ordering a couple more for the new building unless a camera with more zoom comes out. I guess I can test at the 225ft distance if it works, buy another. It would be super cool to be grabbing plates from that cross street.

 

[Robert G.]

I think I just killed my dream :-(

Looking at Google maps, the angle would be way too much. I would be fighting against the distance & an angle that would not be conducive to capturing plates.

 

[Robert G.]

I just can't give this up... at least not yet.

I have ordered a PTZ with x25 zoom, I have this camera already at a different location.

In my new location I would be 250ft away, so I tested with this PTZ to see just how far I can see.

Here is a license plate, 450ft down the road.



The focus is a bit rough, that camera never performs well at full zoom which is what this is.

Here is another vehicle at 305ft, can certainly read the license plate. In my new location, there will not be all those wires to look through.



Still a few more months before I can try this in real, but I gotta try. ALPR from 250ft, would be so cool.