Which camera for license plates @ 100'?

[LittleBrother]

I've not been around here much last couple years because my 3MP Hikvisions are still killing it. Super happy with them.

Yesterday a car not from the neighborhood passed a school bus while it was getting kids on it, and that does not fly in front of my house. Unfortunately without a plate I couldn't do a thing, because of course my cams are never getting plates at this distance.

I need to be able to fairly reliably get license plates at 100', 45 degree angle, cars driving up to 30 mph. I know getting them at night is extremely hard so that's not a strict requirement, but would definitely be a bonus.

I want to be more discreet than a huge PTZ camera would be, and would prefer not to even have a bullet cam. I currently have a turret installed and would be fine with something similar next to it just to pick up cars driving, if at all possible.

Questions:

1) Is there a suitable cam for this? Note: I do not use any DVR software and I need a camera that can write to a networked hard-drive itself, like my hikvisions can

2) I know there is no legal issue filming my property and picking up traffic inadvertently, but is there one if my goal is specifically to monitor cars off my property? To be clear, this is only cars on a public street and nothing else.

 

[mat200]

Hi LittleBrother,

Look at the varifocal Dahua OEM 2MP starlights, test them with the IPVM calculator
IPVM Camera Calculator V3

 

[bigredfish]

The Dahua 5231E-Z12E (64mm) is fine at 100-120ft for LPR but your 45 degree angle is going to make it challenging. The HIK Darkfighter 2MP's are also some good cameras and I see zoom out to 32mm but not familiar enough with HIK to know if they have a VF with more zoom than that or not?

 

[LittleBrother]

Dumb question: what is the use case for a camera that zooms and does not pan/tilt? It's simply to assist in initial setup and get things exactly right with focal length, right? I can't imagine you'd ever be zooming in and out when it's actually deployed?

Here's that dahua, it does look pretty good at night on these cars' plates.

Seems like it may be the forum's golden child right now? I will check out the big thread

 

[pozzello]

I've had some decent results with Hik 2032f bullets with 25mm conversion lens, out to 60-70feet or so.
but at 100 feet, you'll want more zoom. at least 50mm. I now use a couple of 2MP Huisun Mini-PTZ's for
plates at ~80 and ~100 feet and a decent angle off the street (abot 40 degrees). Similar units are still available, tho some
folks here will say they are 'junk' compared to Hik or Dahua's for the same job. While they are parked for license plates,
it is nice to be able to pan them around when needed...

That said, probably can't go wrong with the 12x version of the Dahua 5231 VF bullet Z12 version.

 

[bigredfish]

Dumb question: what is the use case for a camera that zooms and does not pan/tilt? It's simply to assist in initial setup and get things exactly right with focal length, right? I can't imagine you'd ever be zooming in and out when it's actually deployed?

Here's that dahua, it does look pretty good at night on these cars' plates.

Seems like it may be the forum's golden child right now? I will check out the big thread

Correct

 

[looney2ns]

I've not been around here much last couple years because my 3MP Hikvisions are still killing it. Super happy with them.

Yesterday a car not from the neighborhood passed a school bus while it was getting kids on it, and that does not fly in front of my house. Unfortunately without a plate I couldn't do a thing, because of course my cams are never getting plates at this distance.

I need to be able to fairly reliably get license plates at 100', 45 degree angle, cars driving up to 30 mph. I know getting them at night is extremely hard so that's not a strict requirement, but would definitely be a bonus.

I want to be more discreet than a huge PTZ camera would be, and would prefer not to even have a bullet cam. I currently have a turret installed and would be fine with something similar next to it just to pick up cars driving, if at all possible.

Questions:

1) Is there a suitable cam for this? Note: I do not use any DVR software and I need a camera that can write to a networked hard-drive itself, like my hikvisions can

2) I know there is no legal issue filming my property and picking up traffic inadvertently, but is there one if my goal is specifically to monitor cars off my property? To be clear, this is only cars on a public street and nothing else.

I suggest you go here: LPR

 

[Wildcat_1]

@LittleBrother as @bigredfish pointed out the 5231-Z12 does really well for this situation just be aware of the caveats some of us see such as focus issues from day to night, problems focusing beyond 80% of the zoom range etc. Even with that, a number of us are getting LPR captures in excess of 140'. Just be prepared to put the work in, 'play' and learn as LPR (as many others have stated) is an art. You have to put the time in as I learnt first hand when I set mine up. Thanks to the great input from others here you can get real close and then have to dial in for your specific situation / area of installation.

You can also hook into OpenALPR for great LPR captures and license plate / description matching if you are interested.

Definitely check out the LPR sub forum as @looney2ns mentioned and if you do go with a different cam then share the model, settings and success rate with it.