Ideal specs for a Night-Vision IP Camera to get a clear night-time number-plate capture?

[moheat]

I'm looking to get a CCTV setup to get a clear night-time number-plate capture of medium-speed (~30 mph) across 10 meters head-on.

Since ANPR and LPR cameras can get pricey, I was wondering what specifications I should be looking for in order to get a good enough IP cameras in terms on Focal length, Frame rate, bitrate, resolution, features, etc.

Greatly appreciate your input!

 

[Dan]

Hi @moheat

Does the area of road you want to get the plate reads from have any street lighting or other lighting illuminating it at night?

 

[cymruchris]

I'm looking to get a CCTV setup to get a clear night-time number-plate capture of medium-speed (~30 mph) across 10 meters head-on.

Since ANPR and LPR cameras can get pricey, I was wondering what specifications I should be looking for in order to get a good enough IP cameras in terms on Focal length, Frame rate, bitrate, resolution, features, etc.

Greatly appreciate your input!

From my own experience - you'll unlikely get an off the shelf camera to do what an ANPR camera does unless there's a good level of ambient lighting. With a head on camera of course, you'll also have vehicle headlights to contend with, which in themselves can be an issue. If the area is very well street-lit - you might get away with a regular camera at a push.

 

[moheat]

Hi @moheat

Does the area of road you want to get the plate reads from have any street lighting or other lighting illuminating it at night?

Thanks for the reply.

There's a series of street lights which are decently bright but not too bright. The area I want to capture is going to be decently lit although I'm not sure how to tell you the exact intensity of the lights. Is there any sort of a litmus test I could do to figure out if the lighting is sufficient?

 

[moheat]

From my own experience - you'll unlikely get an off the shelf camera to do what an ANPR camera does unless there's a good level of ambient lighting. With a head on camera of course, you'll also have vehicle headlights to contend with, which in themselves can be an issue. If the area is very well street-lit - you might get away with a regular camera at a push.

Thank you for your response.

The street is decently lit. I was hoping if features like HLC and such would help contending with vehicle headlights.

 

[cymruchris]

Thank you for your response.

The street is decently lit. I was hoping if features like HLC and such would help contending with vehicle headlights.

You also have the issue of infra red reflection - if you're looking head on - the IR lamps in most cameras would just reflect off the registration plate making it unreadable. ANPR cameras expose for the plate - regular cameras expose for the scene. If you're planning on it viewing a wide area I think you're really going to struggle. If you are zoomed in on an area where you pretty much only see the registration plate as full frame, again you might get away with it. I don't think there's any litmus test as such - other than buying a camera and trying it out in your specific circumstances - but that might lead to lots of headaches. If you really want a camera to record registration numbers I'd stick my neck out and say based on current technology, you need an ANPR camera for the registration captures and a regular camera for the scene. I don't think you'll successfully get one camera to do both to a level that you'd be happy with.

 

[moheat]

I could have it at an angle if that would be better in terms of IR reflection. Also, don't really care about a wide angle since getting the plate is the main priority.

 

[cymruchris]

I'd probably try a varifocal camera then with a decent zoom - that way if it doesn't work out as you want it to, you could still use it as a regular camera to cover a scene elsewhere. You can get bullet style cameras that can zoom to 12mm, or PTZ's that go a bit further (but they're a bit bigger in size). The DS-2DE4215IW-DE (S5) for example goes up to 75mm optical zoom and can be had for around £300 ish pounds. But I still say that you won't know the degree of success without a bit of trial and error. Most distributors wouldn't be happy with you ordering something, trying it out, it not doing what you want that it's not designed for, and then trying to send it back.

​

 

[moheat]

What specifications and features do you think I should be looking for to maximize my chances of getting a decent plate capture?

I'd probably try a varifocal camera then with a decent zoom - that way if it doesn't work out as you want it to, you could still use it as a regular camera to cover a scene elsewhere. You can get bullet style cameras that can zoom to 12mm, or PTZ's that go a bit further (but they're a bit bigger in size). The DS-2DE4215IW-DE (S5) for example goes up to 75mm optical zoom and can be had for around £300 ish pounds. But I still say that you won't know the degree of success without a bit of trial and error. Most distributors wouldn't be happy with you ordering something, trying it out, it not doing what you want that it's not designed for, and then trying to send it back.

​

 

[cymruchris]

Having never needed to achieve a decent night time plate capture from a non-anpr camera - I'll see if others can give recommendations. My only suggestion is to ensure the plate area takes up a fair percentage of your image area and hope for the best, ensure that the shutter speed is fast enought to capture a crisp image of a moving vehicle, and potentially use the options (depending on camera) to reduce highlights. There are issues to consider as well around cameras that have auto-focus as found on PTZ's when at the extreme end of zooms - a car entering view briefly and then exiting for a split second might be too quick for auto-focus to accurately capture it. As I say I think you're on a path to nowhere in terms of getting regular 100 percent plate catpures, but see how you get on and report back. There are lots of potential pitfalls - but sometimes you have to try to see if there's a workaround. I'm talking from my limited experience - there are others that have more in-depth knowledge I'm sure.

 

[moheat]

Having never needed to achieve a decent night time plate capture from a non-anpr camera - I'll see if others can give recommendations. My only suggestion is to ensure the plate area takes up a fair percentage of your image area and hope for the best, ensure that the shutter speed is fast enought to capture a crisp image of a moving vehicle, and potentially use the options (depending on camera) to reduce highlights. There are issues to consider as well around cameras that have auto-focus as found on PTZ's when at the extreme end of zooms - a car entering view briefly and then exiting for a split second might be too quick for auto-focus to accurately capture it. As I say I think you're on a path to nowhere in terms of getting regular 100 percent plate catpures, but see how you get on and report back. There are lots of potential pitfalls - but sometimes you have to try to see if there's a workaround. I'm talking from my limited experience - there are others that have more in-depth knowledge I'm sure.

Sounds like solid advice. I appreciate you.

 

[codlord]

I've only experience with HikVision ANPR cameras. Latest one I have is I think is this 2MP one:

Hikvision iDS-2CD7A26G0/P-IZHSY 2MP Varifocal ANPR Bullet Network Camera

Key features: - Varifocal Lens Options - 2.8mm - 12mm - 8mm - 32mm - 2MP Resolution 1920 x 1080 - 140 dB WDR Technology - Powered by Darkfighter - Built-In IR Supplement Lighting - Audio and Alarm I/O - Weather and Dust Resistant Rating of IP67 - H.265+ Video Compression - Max. Power...

www.use-ip.co.uk

we also have several equivalent older models in use.
I'm a bit disappointed in the new one, it actually seems worse than the older models at night. Meaning it seems to have a more sensitive camera which lets in more light which in turn means number plate glare is worse.
With the older ones I just need to set high exposure, with the new one I have to also set a high HLC setting and it still seems a bit worse.

These cameras happily pick out plates from larger scenes, but I think the more zoomed in the better so pick your focal length depending on how far away your camera is.

HikVision also now do 4MP ANPR cameras but when I looked they were almost twice the price of (the already expensive) 2MP ones. And as we capture "most" plates day and night with the 2MP ones I just stuck with those.

 

[moheat]

Thanks for the reply.

There's a series of street lights which are decently bright but not too bright. The area I want to capture is going to be decently lit although I'm not sure how to tell you the exact intensity of the lights. Is there any sort of a litmus test I could do to figure out if the lighting is sufficient?

Hey @Dan. I'd really appreciate your input on what features and specifications I should be looking for in order to maximise my chances of getting plate recognition in terms of 4MP vs 8MP, HLC, WDR, etc. Thank you.