My night identification when there is movement is terrible - I have a 5442T-ZE

[mattyp]

After repeated incidents that happen at night it is high time I stop complaining and see if I can fix this. I bought this camera and used the setting recommended in here long ago and hoped it would be a lot better TBH. I know there is a lot of technical stuff.

SO for example, this guy drove by and threw a beer bottle at my neighbors house. People are so terrible sometimes. Anyway, I want to see the license place. I can barely tell what model vehicle it is much less the plates. In this video he was traveling about 15-25 MPH.
1) Is this camera even technically capable of capturing this at this speed in this setting? If not, then I want to invest in a camera that can so looking for suggestions.
2) If it is capable, awesome so hoping with your help I could tweak the settings.

 

[wittaj]

Yes that camera is capable to capture plates under the right settings.

You need more zoom and a faster shutter.

The ZE at full zoom is good for maybe 25ish feet. It doesn't look like you are full zoomed? If you are then you need a camera with more zoom.

What is your shutter speed? It should be 1/2000. That image looks too bright for 1/2000, so if it is then you have it set for shutter priority and not manual and thus the gain is cranked up. You probably need to be running infrared and b/w and won't really see much except a plate that goes by.

Remember if you want to capture plates, then the camera has to be set up with that as the primary goal. Your image looks like you are trying to capture other things as well.

 

[Alaska Country]

This FOV works well for plate ID. As stated above, one camera can not do everything. If interested in plate ID's then one camera must be dedicated to that function.



At night, in B/W, the camera uses IR to light up the plate. Without any vehicles in the FOV the image will be totally black. If also interested in color, make and vehicle model then use another camera for that function.

The camera used in this example is the Dahua HFW-5242HN-Z6E-MF set at 48mm and 125 feet away from the target. It is a 8mm to 48mm zoom.

The below, using a different camera, is basically how a night image for plate ID should look using camera IR.



The IPC-HFW-5442E-Z4E-S3 bullet is an 8 to 32mm zoom while your model is most likely a 2.7 to 12 mm zoom turret.

 

[mattyp]

Very help full thanks guys!! Yeah I am mainly using it for door security (and deterrent for whatever that amounts to these days albeit almost nothing). Like you guys said, it appears I am asking it to do too much. Appreciate the responses.