Equipment security cameras

[LouNY]

No camera is going to get a readable license plate from 100 feet unless it is zoomed in and only getting the plate. Close up many can get a good picture.

Edited;
a picture from one of my cameras,

and a zoom in of the same picture, Yes I am aware that my plates are quite visible, big deal, not concerned.

 

[stevem5215]

A 5mp camera isn't going to get license plate numbers. Even a 4k resolution camera won't get them at 100ft. They must be zoomed in for enough pixels to be available for detailed people pictures or license pictures. The baloney you see on TV shows is just that. They can't make a picture clearer without the camera having the capability to do so. Lost pixel data can't be recovered.

Reolink does make a 12mp camera. I have not tried it yet to see what the quality is like on .jpg images or from the video feeds which are still compressed h .264 or .265. Full resolution of any high resolution camera would be HUGE data storage problems. Hence the compression that comes with these things.

 

[Camofurever1]

A 5mp camera isn't going to get license plate numbers. Even a 4k resolution camera won't get them at 100ft. They must be zoomed in for enough pixels to be available for detailed people pictures or license pictures. The baloney you see on TV shows is just that. They can't make a picture clearer without the camera having the capability to do so. Lost pixel data can't be recovered.

Reolink does make a 12mp camera. I have not tried it yet to see what the quality is like on .jpg images or from the video feeds which are still compressed h .264 or .265. Full resolution of any high resolution camera would be HUGE data storage problems. Hence the compression that comes with these things.

I beg to differ that you can't get a license plate read at 100'. Chasing Mega Pixels on cameras does not give you better resolution for LPR events. Some of the best LPR cameras available today are 2 MP with a larger CCD and a reduced frame rate (15 fps ) on the video feed. Also, your shutter speed needs to be above at least, 1/60s with decent IR illumination for night time. The higher the shutter speed, the better the capture. That is why you can't setup a camera with everything set to automatic. You have to manually tune each cameras settings to available light, shutter speed, and frame rate.

A DORI rating would tell you how good the camera optics and CCD are. If a camera seller does not advertise it's cameras DORI rating in it's technical specs, that is a key indicator that the camera is a cheap consumer grade camera and you should stay away from it, unless you are just after a pretty overall picture. That camera is just going to give you a pretty overall picture during the daytime, at best. Most consumers think a pretty overall still picture is all they need. That is, until an event happens and they need license plate numbers, facial recognition and a clear nightime capture in complete darkness to give to the cops. The internet is full of blurry, blobby pics with a caption: Do you recognize this person?

This is the DORI documentation on a decent quality 4MP 25X optical zoom PTZ camera with a 1/1.8" CMOS sensor. It has a 500' IR night time illumination range. Based off the DORI numbers, this camera is more than capable of capturing moving license plate numbers of distances of greater than 100'.

If a camera seller doesn't have DORI documentation, just look elsewhere. Is the DORI documentation exact? No, but by the manufacturer posting this data, at least it is going to be in the ballpark and you can get a feel of how good of quality the lenses and CCD is.

I agree, you can't make a bad, pixely picture better by running it through secret software that doesn't exist.

 

[Camofurever1]

Sample pics of one of my 25X PTZ cams. It has a optically zoom ratio of 4.8-120mm. It is a 4MP camera. The first pic is optically zoomed all the way out @4.8mm or 1X. The pole with the transformer on it is 175' away from the camera.
The second picture is the camera optically zoomed in at 10X. The last picture is the camera zoomed all the way in @25X or 120mm.

This is the DORI rating of this cam.

PTZ cameras are not typically used as a LPR, due to the mechanical zooming in and focusing time lag. My PTZ's can capture license plates as far as 300' from my camera, all day and all night, provided it is not raining, snowing or foggy. Dedicated fixed bullet cams are normally used as LPR's, with a internal trip wire setup and a narrow field of view window to capture the plate in.

 

[LouNY]

When you throw in optical zoom it changes a great many things, yes you can capture details but you have a very limited field of view.
My little 4k cams have an optical zoom capability, of 5 wich reduced the field of view from over 100 degrees to a little 32 degree field of veiw.

 

[stevem5215]

Those are some high quality camera shots. They were not achieved with consumer grade inexpensive products. What is the cost for yours ? I'm assuming it's in the 500-1000 buck range. Those products don't come with a cheap price tag for sure. Just like you mention that license plate reading devices are lower resolution just because those are tuned for success at it.

What the OP was asking about is for a low cost solution and that's an issue with most people. Personally I'm not trying to get license plates read with my camera setups. Low cost cameras is what I use to take scenic pictures used for determining conditions for snowmobiling. Usually including a snow stick of some type.

If I could get a camera like that one at a low cost I'd be buying them instead. Got a link to who offers it ?

 

[Camofurever1]

Those are some high quality camera shots. They were not achieved with consumer grade inexpensive products. What is the cost for yours ? I'm assuming it's in the 500-1000 buck range. Those products don't come with a cheap price tag for sure. Just like you mention that license plate reading devices are lower resolution just because those are tuned for success at it.

What the OP was asking about is for a low cost solution and that's an issue with most people. Personally I'm not trying to get license plates read with my camera setups. Low cost cameras is what I use to take scenic pictures used for determining conditions for snowmobiling. Usually including a snow stick of some type.

If I could get a camera like that one at a low cost I'd be buying them instead. Got a link to who offers it ?

Sure. Search the Web and e-bay and you can find this model all day long. It is a Dahua 6C3425XBPV. You can pay full retail, or with a little shopping around and wheeling and dealing, I got this one for $200.00 on e-bay. It retails new for $1k. This one was new, still in the factory sealed box. It replaced a 8 year old Hikvision 5MP 30X optical zoom PTZ that I paid $1,700.00 (full retail) for 9 years ago.

DahuaWiki

dahuawiki.com

When you start delving into the professional category of cameras, you get what you pay for. High quality cameras don't come cheap. I have one 45X PTZ cam I paid over $2,200.00 for (discounted retail). I can count the ticks on a deer standing 400 feet away with it. Great for wildlife observation.

 

[Camofurever1]

45X Optical Zoom Ultra Smart PTZ | EmpireTech

EmpireTech's Ultra Smart Series boasts a 45X optical zoom and employs AI chips and DL algorithms for AI-powered solutions. It can detect people and vehicles quickly and accurately, while providing intuitive functionality through its wide selection of products and services.

empiretech01.com

Empiretech is about the best cameras you can get for a smaller amount of money. Andy has all of his cameras private labeled by Dahua. Andys cameras have more features enabled in the cams with his custom firmware than Dahua brand labeled cams do. Customer service is top notch. I can contact Andy directly and have an answer from him on an issue within minutes to hours.

These two PTZ cams shown above are identical, except for the price and the MP. The cheaper cam is going to give you a much better quality of picture at night under IR. The daytime picture will be good, also. The more expensive cam is going to give you a crisper picture during the day, but night time IR viewing is going to be noisy and ghosting of moving objects.

When selecting cameras, you need to determine what your primary objective is for that viewing scenario. Is night time IR viewing more important? Go with a lower MP and the largest CCD you can get. If daytime viewing is the most important, you can get away with a higher MP and smaller CCD. Don't expect good IR nighttime results from a high MP camera with a small CCD. If you rely on viewing a good night time IR image, stay away from dome cameras. The IR light bounces around the inside of the dome and right back into the lens, giving you a non-removable halo effect in your night time image. I have a box full of old dome cameras that I had to learn that lesson the hard way years ago.

 

[LouNY]

About like an Amcrest camera, same specs. Maybe better support.

 

[Camofurever1]

About like an Amcrest camera, same specs. Maybe better support.

Kind of.