On 19/10/2016 23:17, dennis@home wrote:

You don't need a good camera to read number plates.

The better the camera the better the chance of success.

What you need is the correct lens for the distance you are at

Problem is the narrower the view angle the less the coverage area, and
vehicles are mobile.

and a
light source that doesn't reflect back and overload the sensor.
Yes a light adjacent to the camera isn't good. However it doesn't need
to be far off-axis for the reflections to be much less. If it is far off
axis there can be problems with shadows.
The main problem with getting reg nos. from moving vehicles is shutter
speed and motion blur. This is a major problem at dusk or at night.


Anyway as far as I am aware vehicles only arrive at a burglary in the
closing stages and sure as hell their number plates will be iffy.

Not always. They often park round the corner, so cameras in 'surprising
' locations can be good.


I did wonder about stacking software to use multiple images and make a
number plate legible but couldn't find anything to try.

That's a clever idea. Is it already done do you know (is that why you
generally see two cameras doing this sort of thing)?

Yes the software is used in astronomy and forensics but as I say I
have not seen any.

Waste of time, you can't get information back that isn't there.

In fact the police use such a system. I've seen it and it works.

Bill