People have repeatedly been throwing cups, cans, bottles, and other trash beside our road, usually in the exact same spot. My brother and I keep cleaning it up, but the littering continues. I want to install a camera that can identify the vehicle and clearly capture its license plate from roughly 50 feet away, possibly at night. What reasonably priced camera or setup would be suitable?
5 Answers
If you can reposition the camera so the vehicle is around 20 feet away instead, you’ll have many more affordable options. A good 4K camera with a suitable zoom lens and local recording should provide noticeably better detail than a basic low-cost camera. Avoid relying on digital zoom after the footage is recorded.
A regular security camera may struggle with a readable plate at 50 feet, especially if the vehicle is moving. Look specifically for a license-plate-recognition camera, and pay attention to its low-light performance, shutter speed, lens, and viewing angle. A cheap wide-angle camera may record the event but still leave the plate unreadable.
If there isn’t reliable power or Wi-Fi at the location, consider a battery or solar-powered camera. Some models use infrared or low-light color recording without a bright visible light. Adding a motion-activated floodlight can also improve the image and may discourage people from throwing things there.
Affordable brands such as Reolink, Tapo, Kasa, and Wyze have models that can record continuously to a memory card. For this distance, I’d look for at least 2K resolution, though 4K would give you more detail. Use a large card, such as 128GB or 256GB, if you want to keep several days of recordings.
That makes sense. I may have found a mounting spot that puts the road closer to 20 feet away, so I should be able to use a less expensive camera.
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