Any way to get 3mp 12mm camera capture license Plates?

[bigbadw]

I picked up a Hikvision 3mp with a 12mm lens. I got the correct placement viewing the mailbox and road. I don't seem to be able to find settings within BlueIris allowing video or grabbing a picture that can capture a license plate.

Any advice?

 

[fenderman]

What is the issue you are having? What setting are you looking for? Are you trying to get blue iris to read the plate?

 

[bigbadw]

Yes, I'm trying to use BlueIris to get a "clear enough" picture of the license plate to make it readable. I've set the camera itself to 1/30 frame rate (hoping that would help) and set the BlueIris to 15 frames. I have tried the highest resolution as well as dialing down to 720x480. Still not a clear picture of the plates.

 

[vector18]

Why would you even think lowering the resolution would actually help?

 

[fenderman]

how far is plate from the cam? is it on an angle? post a screen shot..this thread may help
http://www.ipcamtalk.com/showthread.php?516-Dedicated-License-Plate-Cam-project&highlight=plate

 

[bigbadw]

Why would you even think lowering the resolution would actually help?

I read that the higher resolution wasn't that important, instead frame rate (capturing the image quickly) was. I did as many experiments as possible to see if anything helped.

- - - Updated - - -

I'll grab some shots tomorrow and post them. Thanks to all in advance.

 

[bigbadw]

how far is plate from the cam? is it on an angle? post a screen shot..this thread may help
http://www.ipcamtalk.com/showthread.php?516-Dedicated-License-Plate-Cam-project&highlight=plate

How far: The camera is 30 to 40 feet from the cars. It is at about a 30 degree angle.

 

[Git]

This is about 75 to 80 feet away. Camera is mounted about 9 1/2' above ground on the eves of first floor garage roof


Here is a close up of the license plate from the above pic - no problems in good light, very pleased with it. 2048 x 1536, video quality highest, frame rate at 20

 

[bigbadw]

fenderman, here is some info and pictures.
Issue:
Attempting to configure Hikvision 3mp 12mm lens camera to get clear enough video/snapshot of vehicle to read licesne plate.
Background and settings:
This installation has two cameras. One facing front, at the gate, and the second aimed at the street/mailbox to attempt to capture license plates.
Triggering:
The cameras are in its own BlueIris "group", so that if either camera is triggered by motion, both cameras will start recording video and grab a snapshot.

Blue Iris configuration:
driver: Hikvision DS-2CDxxxx RTSP
receive buffer: 4.0 MB
Image format: 1280x1024
frame rate: 30fps
adjust automatically

In the camera itself: Camera settings:
video:
type: video stream
resolution: 1920*1080P
Bit rate: variable
Video Quality: Highest
Frame rate: 15
Max. Bitrate: 4096 kbps
Video Encoding: H.264
iFrame Interval: 50
image:
Image: Exposure Time: 1/250

 

[bigbadw]

Git, great pictures and clear license plate photo! Your camera captures are definitely my goal!

 

[bigbadw]

fenderman, as comparison, here is a picture of a slow moving vehicle just captured. (the mailbox itself is 30 feet from the camera)

 

[fenderman]

Did you install the lens yourself? It seems that the shot is out of focus (aside from the motion blur itself)..Also blue iris should automatically adjust to 1080p im not sure why its not adjusting on your end. First focus the lens...then try increasing the frame rate and playing with the exposure time (higher and lower)..

 

[bigbadw]

fenderman, I purchased the camera with the 12mm lens directly (did not install myself). I'm not sure how to focus the lens. Is that a physical thing I do on the camera, or a setting within the camera software? (sorry for the noob questions)
Note: I just checked, and yes, blue iris did adjust it to 1080.

 

[razorseal]

I'm not a 100% if you can adjust focus, but I'm certain you will need to manually focus it IF you can focus it.

now that being said, my police car has 4 ALPR cameras on all 4 corners and they are actually rather low resolution, but it's in constant IR mode (never color IIRC) and contrast is VERY high. However it senses where the numbers are, crops the image to that area and adjusts the contrast all the way

perhaps you can try doing B&W picture with very high contrast and see what happens... I also suggest you raise the shutter speed (try 1/100 and up maybe)

however my town has built in cameras (like yours are) which I believe are much higher resolution. I have no idea what the shutter speed for those are though. They are color in the day, and B&W at night with strong IR

try the highest resolution, highest quality and fastest FPS with heavy contrast (so it can differentiate between white plate background and dark color letters)

 

[bigbadw]

I'm not a 100% if you can adjust focus, but I'm certain you will need to manually focus it IF you can focus it.

now that being said, my police car has 4 ALPR cameras on all 4 corners and they are actually rather low resolution, but it's in constant IR mode (never color IIRC) and contrast is VERY high. However it senses where the numbers are, crops the image to that area and adjusts the contrast all the way

perhaps you can try doing B&W picture with very high contrast and see what happens... I also suggest you raise the shutter speed (try 1/100 and up maybe)

however my town has built in cameras (like yours are) which I believe are much higher resolution. I have no idea what the shutter speed for those are though. They are color in the day, and B&W at night with strong IR

try the highest resolution, highest quality and fastest FPS with heavy contrast (so it can differentiate between white plate background and dark color letters)

Thank you for the information. I will start a new set of experiments and see where that takes the pictures.

 

[fenderman]

You need to remove the front cover...I have never done it but there should be instructions around here somewhere...sometimes they arrive out of focus...

 

[bigbadw]

fenderman, I have been working with the camera and think I have gotten it to focus better. I would not have known about that if you hadn't brought it to my attention, thank you!

Please look at this picture and see if you agree. Look at the mailbox itself for a comparison of focus.

 

[fenderman]

Look a bit sharper at the mailbox but worse at the trees across the street...print out the star and use it to focus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siemens_star#mediaviewer/File:Siemens_star.svg

 

[bigbadw]

Thanks fenderman! It may take me a bit to figure out how to adjust the lens. I have printed out the star and will use it to test/adjust the lens.

Note: I had placed the camera inside a homemade birdhouse, so that it wasn't as obvious and hopefully not so annoying to the neighbors. Attached are a couple of pictures of how it was originally configured.

The camera was set back from the opening about 1 1/2 inches. After you alerted me to the focus issue, I began to suspect that was messing with any autofocus that may be in the camera, so I now have the camera set completely through the hole. That was why the second picture had a crisper mailbox focus. Now I will test with the star and get it adjusted correctly.
(original installation before moving camera forward inside of the birdhouse)

 

[fenderman]

Cool hiding place...the camera does not have an auto focus..it may have been installed improperly at the factory....before opening the camera ensure that its actually out of focus by using the star. If you need to refocus it, it requires ungluing the lens . Check out this thread
http://www.cctvforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=38943
There is some really good info there. Particularly from user MaxIcon.