Dahua PTZ camera for no light

[dastrix]

Hi All

I need to set one up in a rural area, where there is zero light. We want to capture the license plate of cars at night moving about 15-20km/hr up the driveway

The camera will be pole mounted approx 30meters to 50meters from where we want to film

Require PoE, IP67/IK10 and PTZ.

Any suggestions? Budget is around $1100 Australian dollars. Going into Blue Iris

This looked interesting:

SD6AE233XA-HNR

Thanks!

 

[bigredfish]

Why PTZ if I may ask? The camera will be parked in one position to capture plates no?

 

[dastrix]

There may be a need to swing it around up the driveway ie tracking.

But I could entertain non PTZ also

Most important is image quality., cost secondary

 

[bigredfish]

Ahh ok.
Im a "simpler is usually better" kinda guy when it comes to technology.

I and many others successfully capture license plate with a Dahua IPC-HFW5231E-Z12E
https://www.dahuasecurity.com/products/productDetail/14191
or the newer version
https://www.dahuasecurity.com/products/productDetail/32757

If cost isnt a factor, you may look at dedicated LPR and AI cameras such as:
https://www.dahuasecurity.com/products/productDetail/35767
https://www.dahuasecurity.com/products/productDetail/12241

LPR is a bit tricky. Lost of variables will help decide what camera/lens.
Distance, Angle, speed.. as long as you have a good angle from camera to plate (less than 30degrees, straight on is ideal) based on your info, Id want a 50mm lens or bigger.

 

[dastrix]

Yeah re: LPR, im not fussed. I dont need to automatically recognise a plate, just capture it correctly in darkness for review later.

 

[pinko]

I'm in a rural area, zero light @ night.
As bigredfish suggests the Z12's are a sold choice for LPR. I am using both Z12 models to capture plates at the same distance as you need. they are around $300 AUD each.
Can you post google image of you driveway? It might help with PTZ selection.

 

[dastrix]

Sure

Camera to be on a pole about 3meters high, pointing at X

Camera at the red dot

I need the absolutely BEST possible image quality, the $300 ones wont cut it.

Image here:

 

[pinko]

Yeah re: LPR, im not fussed. I dont need to automatically recognise a plate, just capture it correctly in darkness for review later.

Unless you have 2 cameras covering area this you will have to choose between capturing licence plates (right image) or capturing the vehicle (left image) and probably no licence plate details.

 

[dastrix]

The image on the right is what i need. Im aware I cant do both scenarios with 1 camera. How far away was that image taken from the camera?

 

[pinko]

Thats at about 50m. The Z12 is not zoomed in tight. Its probably around 6x zoom. (also have adjusted setting since then so image is much better now)

 

[tech101]

The way I have setup is the Dahua HFW5231E-Z12 for the LPR and I am now doing Dahua HFW5241E-Z12 for overview of the cars. You will need an overview specially at night.

These cameras are great to capture plates and also You can configure open alpr on a PC so you will have 2 days of data on the cloud .. Meaning plate numbers..

You can also get more than 2 days However I have not set that up myself so Do not have details on how exactly that is done. But I do have it running on cloud for 2 days with openalpr. Now Blueiris also started doing LPR stuff which is great...

Here is a 5213 In action in day time..

Another one at night

Hope this helps I think these camera go above and beyond what they are priced at

 

[bigredfish]

What quality image do you need?

120ft, vehicle speed 20-25, angle 30 degrees



100ft, vehicle speed 5-7, angle 5 degrees

 

[pinko]

This looked interesting:

SD6AE233XA-HNR

Thanks!

How much is that camera? Its gotta be around/ or north of $1000 AUD .

 

[dastrix]

Those images look good! I think you're right, two would be advisable for this location. One for the overall area, one for the plate! Thanks for the info Pinko, very helpful!

Ive no idea on cost, I can find any info. It may be more

 

[pinko]

Just remember Auto tracking is a bit of a gimmick. It works ok, but by having a second camera, you can call in the PTZ to a preset position as soon as your dedicated gate cam (or any other cam) is triggered.

 

[dastrix]

nice idea! Got any video of it tracking? or failing to track haha!

 

[pinko]

Uploaded this when 1st got PTZ

Most of the time tracking works well. I find that on occasions, when a target gets to close to the camera (like a car passing right underneath the camera) then it may get confused, concentrating on some random part of the car instead of the whole car, other time it just loses the object it 's tracking.
The AI in Newer PTZ's are able to identify cars and people as objects, tracking should work better in newer PTZ's I've got older and newer PTZ's but have not done comparative tracking tests.
I'm sure a large part of the issue, comes down to user setting and rules set on camera. If you have them right, the autotracking works much better.

 

[pinko]

@dastrix I make a video for you.....camera is SD6AE240V-HNI

 

[dastrix]

Does a great job of tracking, but i guess if it was a number plate it would be different! Thanks pinko very useful! and nice video