The neighborhood has been having a few car break-ins. The Ring cameras on folks homes are not catching the license plate on the theif's car, because they stay pretty far out in the street. There is only one way in and out of the neighborhood, so I want to put a trailcam up behind the neighborhood entrance landscaping and catch them coming in and going out. Any recs for resolution ornother specs for this mission?

Any camera on the market today should have high enough resolution.

How well lit is the entrance? If not well lit, you'll have issues getting plate numbers at night as the newer license plates reflect IR ad a solid rectangle. If its lit well enough it doesnt have to use IR, you may be OK.

You'll need the camera mounted at plate height for best results. That's going to make it easy to steal.

I caught front and back of a truck coming on my property with an old 720P camera. It was very easy to read and very easy to give to the sheriff. Problem solved. If you are trying to read from a longer distance, the higher the resolution the better.

You should be worried about trigger speed over resolution because cars generally drive faster than deer & hogs walk. They make cameras that are built into portable speed bumps for security companies to monitor traffic in/out of parking lots but they are gonna be more $$ than you are willing to spend.

Make sure there is a stop sign near so they are "forced" to stop...flip side, this seems like some type of infringement on my rights to use a public street without a civil recourse (e.g. red light cameras)...

Sasappis said:

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tamc93 said:

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Make sure there is a stop sign near so they are "forced" to stop...flip side, this seems like some type of infringement on my rights to use a public street without a civil recourse (e.g. red light cameras)...

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I got some bad news for you if you don't think people are currently monitoring your license plates on public roadways.

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Yep. I use vehicle sightings reports at work all the time. All it takes is a LP# and I can find where a vehicle has been "seen" by the cameras. It is amazing sometimes.

Most police cars, toll booths, public surveillance cams in towns, etc. driving is a state managed privilege and if you go out in public you might be captured on video

In addition to what others have said about resolution and putting it near a stop sign, you will need to take care with the height/angle at which the camera is pointed. You'll want to position the camera low enough so it's not looking down too steeply.


And HIDE THE CAMERA. Otherwise, the thieves will steal that too.

I have what lawyers would call an attractive nuisance on my mountain property so, I get trespassers all the time.

I setup a Browning 12MP camera that I got at Cabelas for about $150.

I've got it hidden on a tree about 50 feet away from a slow section of the road and I've got it setup to take 3 pictures everytime it's triggered. I am able to catch all of the car license plates in clear resolution. I don't think the 4 wheel drive trucks/SUVs can go much faster than about 20mph through that section.

I do have trouble catching the 4-wheelers. Some of those dudes are flying by so fast that they only appear in one of the 3 pictures. And obviously there aren't any license plates on the 4 wheelers.