Anyway to prevent overexposed license plates at night

[Brandon1994]

Hello,

New to the whole world of security cameras and still learning as I go. We had a suspicious car enter our parking area and go past our camera an Amcrest 4k POE and I noticed that the plate was totally overexposed. Is there a way to help so we could possibly read a plate? It's not very far from the camera. My night settings are the following

 

[wittaj]

Wrong settings.

Plates are reflective and need a fast shutter to knock down the reflective. But then that fast shutter darkens the image.

You would have to set the camera up specifically to read plates. You need the proper camera with OPTICAL zoom for the distance you are covering and the angle to get plates.

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):



See the LPR subforum for more details.

 

[bigredfish]

Yes, but you cant expect it to do Overview AND capture plates with IR at night

Gotta choose one.

Thats why it takes two cameras

 

[Brandon1994]

Thank you everyone!

 

[Brandon1994]

Yes, but you cant expect it to do Overview AND capture plates with IR at night

Gotta choose one.

Thats why it takes two cameras

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Which camera are you using to capture plates?

 

[bigredfish]

5442-Z12 about 110-120 ft

 

[bigredfish]

Which camera are you using to capture plates?

Note you may be close enough to use the Z4 instead of the Z12. Its even better but only good to about 60ft