What megapixel camera do I need...

[serverguy 0]

As the title, what IP camera do I need that will capture a license plate at 150ft?

 

It seems a relatively simple setup to me - long drive with farm at the end of it. Electric gate 150ft from house, with direct line of site from house to driveway, completely headon.

 

See my image here:

 

 

Gate is red line before junction in road, camera will be on house pointing straight down the road.

 

I want a camera that will be focused on the gateway area, that will capture numberplates. I don't need them automatically recognised, and it isn't mission critical. I want it to work at day and at night.

 

I am thinking of a Arecont AV3105DN with a 50mm lens on it.

 

What would your opinion be, or is what I want to do simply not possible.

[megapixel man 0]

It's an easy design.

 

Do you only want to cover the width of the driveway or do you want a greater field of view for that camera and still have the ability to read license plates? Can this camera be located so that is not directly "headon" to cars that will drive up to the gate. If it cannot be then thats OK, just adds to what equipment is required to do the job day and night.

 

With the other Camera locations what field of views do you require? and what type of resolution do you want at what distances. ie: General coverage to be able to see if someone is within the field of view of the camera?. Be able to Identify items of clothing or sex of person? Or be able to clearly id a person? Depending on what level of detail you require you may also need more cameras.

 

How do you plan on reticulating cable or camera signals between the two buildings? Whats the distance between the two buildings?

 

How many days recording do you want? Will you only access the footage from the site or do you need to have remote access, if so is there internet access at the site and what speed is it?

 

Can you jot down any other requirements you need from the system.

 

Will you get a licensed CCTV installer to carry out the work or will you attempt it yourself. I would strongly recommend that you get a professional CCTV company to assist and gather your own knowledge from this site so that you can communicate your design requirements with them.

[thewireguys 3]

You could do it with a 1.3mp and the 50mm or the 3mp with a 25mm. Your gonna need alot of light to get it at night. Also Axis's new 3MP camera works very well for LPR setups. But I agree with Megapixel Man hire a professional for the design and install.

[serverguy 0]

Thanks for your responses. I will try to answer your questions in line below.

 

It's an easy design.

 

Do you only want to cover the width of the driveway or do you want a greater field of view for that camera and still have the ability to read license plates? Can this camera be located so that is not directly "headon" to cars that will drive up to the gate. If it cannot be then thats OK, just adds to what equipment is required to do the job day and night.

 

I want a camera that will pick up the numberplates at the gate (and maybe get some details if people get out of the car to unlock the gate. A greater field of view would be nicer but not necessary.

 

Yes it can be located not directly head on to the gate if that would be better. Maybe up to 20 degrees off if it is on the other corner of the house.

 

With the other Camera locations what field of views do you require? and what type of resolution do you want at what distances. ie: General coverage to be able to see if someone is within the field of view of the camera?. Be able to Identify items of clothing or sex of person? Or be able to clearly id a person? Depending on what level of detail you require you may also need more cameras.

 

The other views on the diagram are less relevent. Mainly general coverage, the farm is too big to try and have closeups of everything. But this is why I think megapixel cameras will be advantageous in this situation. I will start with just 2 cameras and gradually increase.

 

How do you plan on reticulating cable or camera signals between the two buildings? Whats the distance between the two buildings?

 

Both buildings with green ticks have dual gigabit fibre backhauls to the main network. The bulding opposite will have the same as well soon, the fibre is in but the building is still being converted. There is no problem with networking I plan to have the cameras on a separate VLAN to segregate the network and will either have a NVR with it's own storage or if I go for Mobotix cameras I will use some of the existing SAN (10TB available, no problem there).

 

How many days recording do you want? Will you only access the footage from the site or do you need to have remote access, if so is there internet access at the site and what speed is it?

 

Well we live in the middle of nowhere so the internet is not good, but we get about 30Mbps down and 3Mbps up over 6 bonded DSL lines. Hopefully soon we will either get a wireless link or dedicated fibre.

 

But it is mainly retrospective surveillance, if we have problem we want to be able to see who was there at the time and a general overview.

 

Can you jot down any other requirements you need from the system.

 

Would like the numberplate camera to be able to work day and night ideally and the other cameras to be good in low light (we have floodights but most only come on on motion). Some ambient light.

 

Cost effective but I am prepared to pay for Mobotix M12s or the like.

 

Will you get a licensed CCTV installer to carry out the work or will you attempt it yourself. I would strongly recommend that you get a professional CCTV company to assist and gather your own knowledge from this site so that you can communicate your design requirements with them.

 

No, I plan on doing it myself. I am very experiencing in the networking / computer field and doing outdoor electrical work. I like to do things properly.

 

I have had one security company come and visit but I was not impressed with his attitude, and I mentioned megapixel IP cameras to him and he said they were not ready for professional systems and he could get better quality from analogue cameras. Hmmm. And the company wanted a lot of money for the system (I could buy Mobotix M12s for the same price as his anlogue cameras installed).

 

Second guy would do IP cameras but I was still not impressed.

 

 

 

So with all that out the way, what cameras!

 

Do I go for a Mobotix system, but have trouble with night time numberplate recognition? And the cameras are expensive, especially if I just need some cheaper cameras to do less important areas. I think Mobotix cameras need to be used exclusively to get the best out of them and their ability.

 

Or do I go for Arecont cameras, slightly cheaper, similar specs but how is their night vision (especially on the dual lens ones, compared to Mobotix) and software such as Milestone?

 

I like the Mobotix cameras as they look less like traditional cameras. They are also easy to install with PoE. Not sure how the Arecont housigns are on this front.

 

I will buy the cameras in the USA as they are 40-50% cheaper and I am in the US almost weekly and if I'm not I have family in Chicago.