You need OPTICAL zoom not DIGITAL zoom....
You may get away with some digital zoom in daytime, but the less the light, the less the ability to DIGITAL zoom.
Realistically if you want to capture plates consistently at that distance you need a
varifocal OPTICALLY zoomed to that area.
This isn't Hollywood and the sensors are too small for a lot of digital zoom.
Now those
Amcrest are cheap budget cams that put an 8MP on the same sensor as a 2MP, so it will not perform very well.
You would have better luck with the
5442 series or the
4K/T. But the 4K/T cannot see infrared, so you need to have available light or be willing to use the built-in white LED. But both will have a problem with digital zoom at night at that distance...
A 2MP varifocal optically zoomed to that distance will outperform a 2.8mm 4K camera at that same distance being digitally zoomed.
At the urging of several folks here, I created a thread to show the importance of focal length and how focal length can be more important than megapixels (MP). I mentioned some of this in the post regarding The Hookup’s latest video demonstrating different cameras, including one sold from a...
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