I need a camera suggestion...

[diy-man 0]

I am in need of color outdoor cameras that are day/night capable and I'd like to be able to read a license plate from 50-70 foot range. What brand/models would you suggest and what should I be looking to spend in order to get decent pic quality?

 

many thanks in advance..

diy-man

[jisaac 0]

extreme cctv

reg d1816xe

You can expect to atleast pay $4,000.00

Probably more like 4,500.00 to 5,000. Plus installation.

http://www.extremecctv.com/product_detail.php?producttype_id=6&page=1&product_id=71

[securitymonster 0]

If you want good percentage of capturing plates, you'll want the Extreme setup like mentioned, its a little more spendy but its the best out there.

 

I have a few customers using a long range infrared camera with a 5-50mm lens and they are getting decent results. In oregon the plates are very distinct and the IR reflects off them nice. It maybe captures 15% of what the Extreme setup will.

[rory 0]

the thing is Infrared Can work against you in most cases, it has to be exact as to how much IR is being placed in the Plate, if there is too much IR, such as a power full bulb at a close distance, you wont see anything but glare.

 

Extreme's Reg line not only puts out only the neccassary IR at specific distances (depending on which camera you order for which distance), but the camera itself does alot more. They also place a dark tinted glass plate infront of the camera to cut out as much light as possible. You can get a pretty decent result with something like a Wide Dynamic camera such as the pano, Bosch models, with only enough IR or True light placed on the area of Capture .. a dark black tint (almost pitch dark) also helps. If using certain IRs like the UF100 (too much IR for close up though) you can use higher spectrum filters to cut back the amount Of IR produced, as well as a wider lens and also "tapping" the power supply to adjust the IR power outage. For closer capture you could use smaller IR Leds .. you only need enough for it to reflect .. some camera adjustments are also required.

 

Course Extreme's setups for Reg simply work out the box. .. makes life easier..

 

Rory

[diy-man 0]

that is some great advice thanks to you all...

 

to be more specific with the situation, my friend owns a gas station and with the gas prices sky rocketing people are filling their tanks and running away at the pump. In order to get his money back he wants to install cameras facing the pumps. Bulding is 50 feet away from the pumps thats why I need something with a pretty good zoom capability. 5-50mm lens should take care of that however I believe the chip itself is also very important in terms of pic quality. I have used a model called CL-550 with one installation but i was very disappointed with the picture quality.

would I be able to find something in $250-$750 range that is going to make me and my friend happy?

 

PS: The area where the pumps are standing is pretty well lit so a nightvision camera may not be completely necessary

 

once again thanks to you all for your time

[rory 0]

Okay .. more specific .. Isaac can vouch for this more than myself .. but..

 

Panasonic Super Dynamic Camera .. Box camera in a housing with a 5-50mm AI lens .. Their Vandal Dome would be nice but thinking of weather conditions plus the lens .. so box would probably be best. Get a High quality Weaterproof housing though, not one of those $20 OEM ones ..

 

Okay thats one method .. another thing you could do a little cheaper would be a Zoom camera .. the all in ones ... doubt can find it with wide dynamic but should work fine in the day and maybe a little at night .. comes with built in Zoom lens .. just use the OSD to auto focus/zoom when you install it.

 

Basically the Super Dynamic (or even wide dynamic with other brands) cuts down the glare from the car lights .. Also for any camera you choose you will need to zoom the lens into at least the width of a car to stand a chance of getting the plate.

 

basically if you use Sanyo, GE, Bosch, Panasonic. .. those type of brands .. you will be okay... though i personally prefer to quote Panasonic for the Wide Dynamic jobs ..

 

Rory

[jisaac 0]

you stated that the place is pretty well illuminated at night and that you did not think that the night vision was necessary.

Just to clarify as alot of people make this mistake. The leds on the extreme camera are not primarily for night time viewing. You see the obstacle you must overcome with License plate capture is that fact of the glare that the sun will create when it bounces off of the plate. Well these leds on the reg will be on all the time. And the filters on the reg will be used to filter out the sun light which creates an image of extreme contrast. So the leds will be used to put the illumination on the plate and allow that light to pass through the filter so you can see the plate regardless of the light level in the environment surrounding the camera.

 

The panasonic sdIII cameras are excellent cameras. But dont expect a license plate more than 60% of the time if the install was perfect. The extreme will get you about 95%. I dont even install the panasonic for lpr. Thats because I dont like things to kind of work. But if he does not mind getting a shoot and miss type of scenario than the panasonic 484 would be good.

[diy-man 0]

you guys are great, this really helps.

 

well this is how I look at it, not all the customers that show up at the station is running away w/o paying therefore 100% license capture rate is not completely necessary. If 2 or 3 out of 100 cars that show up try to run away and I get to capture more than 50% of that I'd be happy.

I have checked out the Panasonic cameras and they seem much better than those no name brands i've tried earlier. So I will definitely give it a shot and see if they serve the purpose.

In the mean time if anyone has a specific brand/model name you would like to suggest I'd be more than happy to hear about it.

 

hope you all have a great weekend...

cheers,

[rory 0]

By the way here are some snapshots from the Extreme Reg cameras .. this is an older model, the newer one is even better.

 

http://www.bahamassecurity.com/Gallery/Cameras/Extreme_REG.htm

[Johnb143 0]

I know this is a CCTV camera forum, but has he considered moving to prepay-only pumping? Most of the stations around here are now on a prepay system.

 

Just to complete the thought, I own a self-storage facility, and I have lots of cameras and lots of disk space in my GeoVision box, but my facility is still fenced and I have a coded access gate for people to get in and out. What I'm saying is that it's nice to capture video evidence, but it's even nicer to prevent the theft in the first place.

[vf702 0]

On that note, around here most gas stations are prepay for all of the outer pumps and only the ones easily seen by the cashier can pump before paying. The cashiers just use scratch paper to log the cars. Not to say that this isn't prone to occassional errors, but what project involving humans insn't. Video cameras work at a redundant system to confirm the identities of the drive-offs.

[rory 0]

here we have pump attendants, they pump the gas .. then collect the money .. and people still drive off

 

Prevention is only half the cure .. they shouldnt be driving off in the first place .. but hey this is how the world goes ... so if you cant physically stop them then at least catch them on video and throw them in jail so they [may] not do it again ..

[diy-man 0]

prevention is very important I totally agree with that.. this is a full serve station that I'm talking about by the way, even with 2 attendents at the pumps people still look for a moment when no one is paying attention and then they just take off... I really dont know how to explain that mentality I guess stealing is not only saving money for them but also a way of having fun/excitment in their lives thats as best as I can explain it.

 

Now with all that said If I could print out pics of those license plates that ran away without paying and stick those on the store window or maybe even on the pumps themselves I'm sure that would serve the purpose and scare people off.

[jisaac 0]

it is good to always try to prevent as much as possible. But like I always tell people, criminals are going to do what they want no matter how much you try to prevent it. So you might as well get it on good video when they do. Prevention is something you should try. But you should not depend on it. Video surveillance is your insurance in case your safety measures did not prevent your accident. You should never put all your eggs in one basket.