Camera recommendation ?

hushpuppy · Post by **hushpuppy** » Fri Jul 31, 2009 6:20 pm

I've just had a couple of callers at the house, trying to flog pressure washers and generators.

Everything caught by ZM, and some really good images from one camera of one of the guys.

Unfortunatley I couldnt see the reg number of their van (it's just a cheapo maplin day/night cam), they were parked maybe 10 metres from the cam, but it's impossible to see the number.

Can anyone recommend a good camera that will be able to pick out reg numbers ?.

The lane to my house is maybe 300 metres long, and I'd like to be able to pick up the reg number from at least 20 metres.

TIA.

coke · Post by **coke** » Fri Jul 31, 2009 8:14 pm

Well, for $1300 USD, this would do the job quite nicely. 36x optical zoom and will track them as they come in and leave, zooming in on the moving objects. But I imagine that's not what your budget's looking for. Any idea how much you want to spend?

http://store.bluecherry.net/PTZ_AT_Auto ... at-36x.htm

kingofkya · Post by **kingofkya** » Fri Jul 31, 2009 8:24 pm

the mobotix cameras arn't bad but they require a small mod to zm

http://www.mobotix.com/region/index/

go look at there previews there crystal clear

Post by **Flasheart** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 7:12 am

The megapixel 207 from axis goes much more detail than the standard 640x480. 20m would probably be okay if well-lit.

I've found normal vga does number plates okay, even at speed, at ~10m if well lit.

kingofkya · Post by **kingofkya** » Sun Aug 02, 2009 7:18 am

Yeah don't forget positioning matters too as close as you can to the hight of the plate will yield a better pic

hushpuppy · Post by **hushpuppy** » Wed Aug 05, 2009 7:32 am

Thanks for all the replies, I'll look into each suggestion.

One problem I do have is that the camera points directly into the sun when it's setting, this certainly didn't help last week, is there any camera around that can adjust to sunlight ?.

kingofkya · Post by **kingofkya** » Wed Aug 05, 2009 7:48 am

i have seen the axis cams handle sun reflection really well dosen screw up at all

coke · Post by **coke** » Wed Aug 05, 2009 6:27 pm

A variety of the axis cams have auto-iris for such occasions. They also let you pick the region to decide the white point on, to some degree. So if the bottom of the picture (maybe your driveway) is set, it should find the right balance for it and the vehicle, and blow out the sun.

hushpuppy · Post by **hushpuppy** » Wed Aug 05, 2009 9:14 pm

OK, thanks for the help.