License plate cameras

[CSCOUT2001 0]

Is there another camera out there that will capture license plates... other than the Extreme. I can not get the convienent stores to bite on a camera that is that expensive.

 

Thanks

[rory 0]

if there is alot of light then you can try a wide dynamic box camera like the Panasonic Day Night SD3, then need a 5-50mm lens, housing, and alot of hours spent installing and tweaking in day and night .. you could add Infrared, but its gotta be the exact amount, not too much or too little or you would get glare or nothing at all. And even then you may only get the plate 50% of the time, even Extreme's cameras dont guarentee 100% capture.

 

Whats is the application and lighting there?

[CSCOUT2001 0]

The camera is on a 8 ft pole. The exit lane is 60 feet away, the current camera is a ganz 401 with a Rainbow 5 -50 vari focal lens.

 

Yes I know it should work but the customer has issues with the set up. If you are watching the DVR "live", you can read the license plate as they pass. When you go into playback the license plate and video is distorted and unreadable.

 

I have not seen it at night, I would assume it is even worse.

 

Looking for help... different camera???

 

Thanks for the help

[CSG 0]

why are you handicapping yourself with a 5x50 lens? the f stop sucks on those. move the camera closer

[jisaac 0]

at the point in which the license plate is largest on the monitor how much would you say ( % wise ) does the license plate take up in the monitor?

also what are you recording it on? what is the resolution and fps?

[kensplace 0]

If you are watching the DVR "live", you can read the license plate as they pass. When you go into playback the license plate and video is distorted and unreadable.

 

DVR is probably recording at a low res, or is a low res dvr to start with.

 

Seems common to see DVR's with crappy recording specs, live viewing always looks great, but your recording rubbish most of the time on lots of dvrs.

[CSCOUT2001 0]

I am not sure of the "Make" of the DVR. We are fixing a problem that someone else left behind. Always more fun and frustrating than they are worth, but it is a client we want to keep happy.

 

I am going to agree that the DVR is not the best, the client would like to upgrade to our DVR but he is not in control of the money. He is asking for the cash as of Friday (Aug. 11)

 

I found the 5-50 comment interesting. Would a 2.8 - 12 mm lens f stop be more advantages? What F-stop / lens / would be a better choice?

 

It may be possible to move the pole closer, will have to pull it out of the ground, concrete and all.

 

As to the size of the license plate on the monitor... not too much.

 

As I said, you can see it live without any problems... if we zoom in closer we may / will miss the driveoff by 2 ft and catch the taillights instead. Murphy's law, actually that is exactly what happened while we were on site. We were lucky, because a police officer was on site at the same time and shot out after the knucklehead.

 

Since the exit is fairly wide and not all people leave in the exact location, we had to guess / optimize the area that could catch MOST of the people leaving. Recording on a DVR, probably 2 fps and the resolution is set for high. (For what it is worth)

 

Thanks for the replies, I am taking notes...

[jisaac 0]

not to much is an opinionated answer. What percent?

Also did you say 2 fps? Well dang. Definitly need to up that.

[rory 0]

yeah that camera wont see much also without alot of light .. then there is the lens ... yeah a 2.8-12mm Fujinon Day Night would be better, but first you need to deal with the camera. And the DVR might not be any good for that application also .. need a model number.

[CSCOUT2001 0]

I agree with the upgrade for the DVR and the 2 frames / second... we are working on that one.

 

% wise = without question I am not zoomed in enough. If I had to put a % on it, I would say around 10%. However, since the exit / entrance is 30 ft wide and I am trying to catch them during the exit (15 ft wide). I have to cover as much area as I can. Since not all drivers exit at the same location.

 

It seemed to be an easy problem to fix when we started.

 

In a nutshell

camera is 60 ft from entrance and is about 8 ft in the air

exit is 15 + feet wide

actual license plate on monitor is approx 10% (must catch many different routes of exit, otherwise I would zoom in on a specific area)

DVR is ~2 fps

DVR says it is at its highest resolution

 

Just a thought.... don't know if there is camera out there, but I will ask anyway.

 

It seems you could get a outdoor bullet / cyl camera close to the ground with a ___ lens on it and have a straight shot at the license plate (camera would be at the height level of the license plates)

Any one done this in the past?

[Thomas 0]

You'll run into problems with blocked LOS and cars/trucks that differ on how high thier plates are.

[WirelessEye 0]

Your DVR's fps is too low for plate capture. You need somewhere around 7-10fps minimum (in my experience) to make sure you get every angle of that plate.

 

One other option is a multi-megapixel setup that allows you to zoom in digitally after the fact into a wider area for plate retreival. Or you can try Covi's HD setup.