Looking for a Camera that can see License Plates at Night

[silicuda 0]

I am looking to add a camera on the top of my house to monitor cars (and their license plates) passing in front of my house.

 

This is my situation I am trying to solve: Had a shady encounter few days ago, where someone slowed down and stopped and then sped up when I ran outside, and when I watched the camera video back, their plate was completely whited out (night time).

 

Any help on an affordable solution would be great. Thanks

[Owain 0]

ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) and affordable tend not to go together.

[silicuda 0]

That's not what I need

I just need a camera that will show me the license plate when I playback the video frame by frame, rather than a completely whited out image where the license plate is.

[Al Drake 0]

I am looking to add a camera on the top of my house to monitor cars (and their license plates) passing in front of my house.

 

This is my situation I am trying to solve: Had a shady encounter few days ago, where someone slowed down and stopped and then sped up when I ran outside, and when I watched the camera video back, their plate was completely whited out (night time).

 

Any help on an affordable solution would be great. Thanks

 

From what I have learned here the problem might be the reflection caused by the IR.

 

http://www.homesecurity361.com/recognition-camera-cm-s34909bg.html

[ssnapier 0]

This is just about the hardest thing to accomplish with CCTV. You need the right angle (usually less than 20 degrees) the right height (typically cameras mounted at less than 8 feet) and usually the exposure turned down, plus a filter to get rid of all the rest of the "stuff" in the image. That camera has to be dedicated to that purpose, and even if you get all that right the average result is still only get about 75% accuracy!

[shockwave199 0]

What's your idea of affordable? And for that matter, what's your idea of shady! I think I'd speed away if someone came barreling out of a house at me! Were you over reacting, or was it really shady? Not every car that slows down in front of your house is shady. However, when possible I take note of such things as well, and the later it gets at night the more I try to record. I use this ptz at work, the 700tvl version-

 

http://www.dahuasecurity.com/products/sd6923-6930-6936-6970-h--86.html

 

It has such good low light vision that just a bit of exterior light from street lights and such is enough to be able to keep the IR's off. And that allows it to act as quite an effective LPR camera, and of course you can follow and re-position as needed. But it's not a cheap solution, which is why I ask what's affordable is to you. I'll post some pics later if I can of how well it can work for LPR.

[ak357 0]

This is just about the hardest thing to accomplish with CCTV. You need the right angle (usually less than 20 degrees) the right height (typically cameras mounted at less than 8 feet) and usually the exposure turned down, plus a filter to get rid of all the rest of the "stuff" in the image. That camera has to be dedicated to that purpose, and even if you get all that right the average result is still only get about 75% accuracy!

"Hardest" may be

Here is example

Avigilon camera is about 200' away

with IR shooting at Lic plate

and sample when you zoom in using software

One of the number on Lic plate was removed for forum

[ronp 0]

Do a websearch for "PLATECAM2".

 

Ron

[wattwire 0]

Even with a good LPR camera, it's going to have to be aligned almost directly in line with vehicle travel direction. This is going to be hard to achieve on a public street unless your property is at the end of a "T" intersection.

[shockwave199 0]

Here's some from the cameras I use. If you have an analog system, I like a quality ptz to help with LPR. But you gotta be on it with the camera mostly, not running out your front door. Or, you could dedicate a preset position for it.

 

From the Dahua, arrow security about 140' on an angle pulling away-

 

This is from my home PTZ, and Inesun camera [Hong Kong]. 150' zoomed in, my 'shady car' episode one night. Plate number obscured-

 

Dahua 250' zoomed in, plate obsured-

 

This is one is the Dahua. It's me parking with the inside dome on. I didn't realize it until I played back the file how perfect the shot is. Perfect, but extremely unlikely you can catch a shot like this on the fly-

[wattwire 0]

Nice shots Shockwave!

 

What Dahua model are those from?

[shockwave199 0]

I linked to it a couple posts up. I have the 700tvl 23x version. It's been excellent.

 

Btw- I found another shot from my Inesun ptz at home of that car, only this shot has the IR on- a great shot as well.

 

[silicuda 0]

What's your idea of affordable? And for that matter, what's your idea of shady! I think I'd speed away if someone came barreling out of a house at me! Were you over reacting, or was it really shady? Not every car that slows down in front of your house is shady. However, when possible I take note of such things as well, and the later it gets at night the more I try to record. I use this ptz at work, the 700tvl version-

 

http://www.dahuasecurity.com/products/sd6923-6930-6936-6970-h--86.html

 

It has such good low light vision that just a bit of exterior light from street lights and such is enough to be able to keep the IR's off. And that allows it to act as quite an effective LPR camera, and of course you can follow and re-position as needed. But it's not a cheap solution, which is why I ask what's affordable is to you. I'll post some pics later if I can of how well it can work for LPR.

 

lets just say someone sent me a sniper rifle bullet, and a death threat saying they will kill my 2.5 year old son if i dont pay them

 

so yes it was very shady, and i need a solution that will get me license plates at night

[shockwave199 0]

I think you may need more of a solution than that dude.

[silicuda 0]

I think you may need more of a solution than that dude.

 

unfortunately i live in serbia, where the cops don't do anything or care .. land of anarchy

 

i've been reading, and should i considering perhaps an IP camera?

[wattwire 0]

silicuda,

 

Man, your situation really sucks. I can't imagine the stress you must be going through.

 

I have a high resolution (700tvl) analog license plate camera that I've been meaning to test (for resale purposes) for quite awhile and this seems like the perfect excuse to get going on this project.

 

If you conduct the following information gathering exercise, I'll do my best to simulate the conditions at my local and post test images:

 

1. Determine the best location at your place to mount the LPR (lic plate recognition) camera. This spot will be the best for seeing cars head on or from the rear--with an angle that is most direct. Of course, the closer you can get to the road, the better....but should also be able to mount the camera about 3m high (to make it out of reach of the general public).

 

2. We will call the above spot "Pt A". From Pt A, measure the distance to the middle of the road where a captured license plate might travel. Note, this isn't where the camera will be focused; but rather the shortest distance at a perpendicular angle (90 deg) from the camera to the middle of the road. We'll call this "Pt B". I'm assuming that there's a road in front of your place that runs in a straight line.

 

3. Now take a second measurement, the distance from Pt B to where the camera will be focused for capturing plates. My camera has a 6-60mm varifocal lens, so the overall length from this point to the camera shouldn't be more than 35m. We'll call this "Pt C".

 

4. Take / post the following digital pictures:

 

a) From the camera location (Pt A) to Pt C during the day, preferably of a car passing by.

b) Same as above, but at night

c) Daytime: from A to B, B to A, C to A, just to see if there are any other factors such as branches, mounted lights, or anything else that might interfere with capture.

 

I also have a Dahua 1080p 8-22mm with IP camera with 36IRs I can test.

 

I should also explain that the above Points A,B, and C form a right triangle which will allow me to calculate the camera angle (to the straight line of the moving vehicle) and the distance from the camera to the capture area. I mentioned 35m above as the maximum distance because with a 60mm lens fully zoomed, the horizontal view area is about 3M wide. This can be figured out with a lens calculator, like the one on Pelco.com.

 

Also, this might be a silly question, but do you currently have a DVR installed? If not, you have to think about how all this is going to be recorded an retrieved later.

 

 

-d

[Al Drake 0]

I think you may need more of a solution than that dude.

 

unfortunately i live in serbia, where the cops don't do anything or care .. land of anarchy

 

i've been reading, and should i considering perhaps an IP camera?

 

Maybe you need a camera that mounts onto your rifle scope.

 

 

[Kawboy12R 0]

No cameras for that job. Shoot, Shovel, Shut up.

[dtmcnamara 0]

Best camera we have used for LPR (license plate recognition) is the Axis Q1604 (1MP) or the Q1602 (D1). Its a little pricey but when LPR is needed its the best out there. Good luck

 

http://www.axis.com/products/cam_q1604/

[brebenac 0]

I think maybe take the dahua speed dome and mount a gun along with the dome itself, then connect the alarm output of the speed to some triggering device... zoom in... and pow! Surprise strikes! They'll never bother you again )

Of course this is not a solution. If you need one, a 700TVL camera helps. Also you can opt for the speed dome version because the lens is different and can have different angles/zoom levels to look from. You can even set a patrol scheme for it as a "home position"...