KCM 5611 zoom

[RustyJL 0]

I have seen a few Youtube videos showing the 18x zoom ability of these cameras, however I can not discern how far away the objects are from the camera. Also, these shots are always in well lit areas in the middle of surburbia.

 

Would the KCM 5611 be able to zoom in far enough from 150m to read number plates on vehicles doing 60kmh in broad daylight travelling at an angle of 60 degrees or less?

 

Given the excellent night time ability of this camera, at what distance would the camera be able to read the number plate of a vehicle travelling at 10kmh directly away from it? This being without the IR function working and no external lighting available. I know this is a massive ask of any camera... please don't shout me down for asking so much

 

How bright are the IR LED's on this camera in total darkness? Would they stick out like the proverbial from 50m to the casual observer if the camera were seen front on, but mounted 2-3m above ground?

[bigglebowski 0]

Full zoom at 150 meters gives you about a 28 horz x 21 vert field of view which would be tough to identify a plate standing still.

 

The effective range of the built in IR is 20 meters but the zoom will be able to view your driving away from camera scenario well beyond that distance. Search for a field of view calculator to test some scenarios your self, the max zoom on the camera is 84.6 mm.

 

The IR LEDS are very bright in darkness when viewed directly, they are less noticeable at a tangent though considering the housing hides them somewhat.

 

Since you mentioned casual observer I will mention the camera also has a very loud audible click when switching in and out of day/night which would be accompanied by the LEDS going on/off.

[RustyJL 0]

Full zoom at 150 meters gives you about a 28 horz x 21 vert field of view which would be tough to identify a plate standing still.

 

The effective range of the built in IR is 20 meters but the zoom will be able to view your driving away from camera scenario well beyond that distance. Search for a field of view calculator to test some scenarios your self, the max zoom on the camera is 84.6 mm.

 

The IR LEDS are very bright in darkness when viewed directly, they are less noticeable at a tangent though considering the housing hides them somewhat.

 

Since you mentioned casual observer I will mention the camera also has a very loud audible click when switching in and out of day/night which would be accompanied by the LEDS going on/off.

 

Mate, you sound like you are operating one of these cameras. Any chance you could take a photo of it operating at night facing front on to give me an idea about the brightness of the LED's and another pic at say 50m? Also, could you put some footage up publicly to show the zoom on moving vehicles at a distance?

 

The part of Australia I am in is not flush with suppliers of this equipment, to get a demo of this stuff is next to impossible.

 

Thanks.

[bigglebowski 0]

I just realized I did not convert that FOV I gave you from feet back to meters so adjust that.

 

The camera is on a construction project that is out of my control at the moment. I will probably get it back in a couple of months.

 

The IR should be similar to other illuminators that operate in the same spectrum. But in front of them at 50m you will see them in the dark.

[EarlT 0]

Can those IR's be disabled in software?

[bigglebowski 0]

Can those IR's be disabled in software?

 

Pretty sure there is not an option within the camera settings, not sure if there is a command that you can send to disable. Certainly it would be easy to just disconnect the wire harness inside the camera.

[3RDIGLBL 0]

Can those IR's be disabled in software?

 

Yes there is an IR_OFF command.

[EarlT 0]

Good to know. Thanks. " title="Applause" />

[Razer_SE 0]

I'd say the odds of catching a plate at that distance at night with cars moving is close to zero. I have 20+ of these cameras out in the field specifically to catch LPs at exit gates where the car is stopped. There are still plenty of times where I'll have issues at 20m due to lighting conditions and such. The camera is great, but I've had to add lighting and do lots of camera tweaking to get the plates even that close at night. During the day there is no issue at all though, but the night will still mess with it.

 

Worst of all is when there is just enough light to keep it from going into night mode, then you get a blocky color view that sucks, and has a lot of motion in it when trying to only record motion events. I have to keep upping the shutter speed to get it to go into night mode, then I finally get a night mode that is darker than it should be. I wish I could make a schedule the camera to go into night mode at say 9pm, and come out at 7am for example, ACTi does not have that option for some reason. The IR for me anyway is close to useless as it is pointing at black asphalt, the IR is not very strong at all in my opinion and is very limited on what it can do.

 

Still, it is the best LP I've used for our needs and I have 6 more on the shelf getting ready to go to more of our properties!

[blakem 0]

Worst of all is when there is just enough light to keep it from going into night mode, then you get a blocky color view that sucks, and has a lot of motion in it when trying to only record motion events. I have to keep upping the shutter speed to get it to go into night mode, then I finally get a night mode that is darker than it should be. I wish I could make a schedule the camera to go into night mode at say 9pm, and come out at 7am for example, ACTi does not have that option for some reason.

 

Can you not adjust the day/night threshold in the camera firmware? I thought that is what that value controlled allowing you if your application required to adjust it from the default.

[Razer_SE 0]

I swear that adjustment does nothing lol, I normally set the adjustment to go into night mode at 1 out of 100 and I still have issues. Even set at one, with the auto exposure adjustment to 1 to keep gain as low as possible and still get get bad color images. It would be fine if it'd would go into night mode, but it stubbornly clings to day mode.

[blakem 0]

I swear that adjustment does nothing lol, I normally set the adjustment to go into night mode at 1 out of 100 and I still have issues. Even set at one, with the auto exposure adjustment to 1 to keep gain as low as possible and still get get bad color images. It would be fine if it'd would go into night mode, but it stubbornly clings to day mode.

I have an ACM3701 and from my observation I believe its idea of night mode is lose color data by going to B&W and drag the shutter as much as possible. If I had a true night camera then I would worry about night mode transition but since I have 2 13w fluorescent lights just out of frame which is enough to keep the noise down and stay in color, but there is still lots of grain in the shadows. Your camera my have a better night mode but my camera's "night mode" is not worth it since it is still just as noisy, but in black and white. Now this thread has got me very interested in the KCM5611.

 

Forgot to mention that ACTi has a great event handler, you should be able to transition from day to night on a schedule, but I would image as the sunrise/sunset times change you will have to adjust it frequently.

Edited February 22, 2013 by Guest

[bigglebowski 0]

I swear that adjustment does nothing lol, I normally set the adjustment to go into night mode at 1 out of 100 and I still have issues. Even set at one, with the auto exposure adjustment to 1 to keep gain as low as possible and still get get bad color images. .

 

Same experience here, isnt it great at dusk or dawn to have the came switch back and forth and the 1-100 settings seem not to help at all. The camera is great in color with good light and great with no light and IR lighting but in between meh.

[Razer_SE 0]

Yep, that is a perfect explanation, the in-between sucks bad everything else is great.