You can use this camera for license plate capture or general use and it works great! You can adjust the 2.8 - 12 mm varifocal lens to zero in on the plate area from where the camera is mounted (and make sure you mount it rather low, at about most license plates' level.) The camera has an On Screen Display (OSD) menu system that allows you to make adjustments to many settings and features. Between the varifocal lens and experimenting with the OSD, you should have no problem using this camera as a decent license plate capture camera.

This is a nice camera for general security surveillance applications and for license plate captures. Although this camera is not necessarily a "specialized" license plate capture camera, the price is modest enough to reflect that also. However, with the proper amount of time invested in discovering the right mounting location and lighting options, this camera certainly has the features that are necessary to make it the primary camera in capturing license plates. The 630 TVL resolution is certainly adequate for license plate captures. More importantly, the 2.8 to 12 mm varifocal lens is also well adapted for this purpose although I wouldn't recommend mounting this camera very far away from the vehicle, even though it has the infrared range to support that. The best license plate capture is obtained with this camera mounted as close to the vehicle as possible with the varifocal lens used to control the area of the shot. The camera has an On Screen Display (OSD) that can be controlled from the camera but for license plate capture use I highly recommend you running an extra pair of wires with the video cable to connect to the camera and your RS485 input on your DVR for controlling the OSD remotely. Take advantage of as many of the OSD controlled features as possible to maximize your license capture capability including the lighting control features and especially the head light compensating feature. With a little experimentation you'll find that this camera can make a very good economic alternative to a more expensive specially designed license plate capture camera.

Good economic camera with varifocal lens

Installed this in our fleet garage which is over 100 ft long and you can see pitch dark motion at the far end of view. Nice camera

Just received the camera but still have to install it. I will be interested to see how it will stand up to the Calgary winter. The remote operation of the OSD will be so nice when it is cold outside.

As you can tell by my title I have a favorable opinion of this camera. I have installed many of these cameras and quite frankly, if you can afford it, this camera makes a good whole system camera. Security Camera King's OB-EL630IR100L2812 630 TVL Weatherproof Varifocal Dual Voltage IR Bullet Security Camera is similar to their OB-LX630IR100 630 TVL weatherproof day/night infrared bullet camera but is about $60 more in price. However, the additional cost is not for naught. The OB-EL630IR100L2812 630 has many features that are not found on the lower priced OB-LX630IR100 630. Some of these features along with others include dual voltage and especially a 2.8 to 12 mm varifocal lens. These two features alone add tremendously to the versatility of the camera. In addition, the camera has many electronic features that can enhance the video recording that include back light compensation, wide dynamic range, sens up, white balance, etc. Last but not least, the camera comes with RS485 support so that you can control the OSD settings from your DVR (as opposed to your ladder). Overall the camera does an excellent job, has the versatility to be used indoors or out and in many different environments which earns it five stars in my book.

I own a metropolitan parking garage and we hold several contracts with businesses and residential buildings for long term parking (weeks/months/years).Our camera is mounted at the entrance to our parking facility and is used specifically to capture license plates for comparison to registered users and to prevent un solicited parking. The 2.8 to 12 mm lens provides for concise field of view adjustment for capturing the license plates on vehicles once the camera is mounted in place. At first I tried using the buttons on the camera to make adjustments to the camera's on screen display menu system, but I got tired of that fast so I ran two wires from the DVR to the camera and now control the OSED with my DVR using the RS485 port connection. The OSD gives you access to a whole set of useful electronic features that can improve the performance of your camera including wide dynamic range, back light compensation, head light compensation (a real "plus" for license plate capture) and white balance. The camera has a 100 foot infrared mode range but we don't need that much distance so if it is working in infrared mode it works great for us. It integrates well with the Security Camera King DVR and other cameras that we use throughout the parking garage.

This is a good camera for overviews and fairly wide shots. The camera comes with an internal 2.8 to 12 mm varifocal lens that allows you to adjust your shot from wide angle to a narrower view. The 630 TVL resolution is pretty fine and the camera displays nice color correct video shots. If they aren't exactly the type or quality that you want the camera has an on screen display menu that can be used to control a lot of electronic features like white balance, wide dynamic range and so on. I connected our 630 TVL Bullet to our DVR using an extra pair of wires and connecting to the RS 485 input on the DVR. Now I can control the camera OSD while sitting right in front of the DVR without having to run up and down a ladder every time I want to make a change. The camera even has an adjustable sun visor that can be slid back or pulled forward after loosening the dial screw on the top of the camera body. The camera is very impressive and I would gladly recommend it to my friends and colleagues.

This is a good camera with a fairly high resolution of 630 TVL. The camera records a fine, clear, color correct video. It is fairly easy to mount and is especially useful as a license plate capture camera when used in a manner that you can catch cars coming straight on to the camera such as parking garages, parking lots, and toll booths, and other applications. Since it has a varifocal lens, once you mount the camera you can zoom in on the area that is most likely to catch the license plate information. Make sure when you install the camera that you mount it with clearance behind it because you will need to access the manual varifocal settings (zoom, focus) by using two knobs on the back of the unit. If you have a DVR with an RS485 connection you can't beat running a pair of iwres from it to the camera to control the on screen display from the DVR. If not, the video cable of the camera itself has a moveable button/mini joystick type device that you can use to adjust settings on the OSD. The camera has lots of great electronic features that work extremely well to enhance license plate capture regardless of lighting situations such as wide dynamic range, backlight compensation, sens up, white balance and many more. The camera includes the Security Camera King Elite Series camera feature of head light and brake light compensation to prevent washouts from these lights. The camera also has an infrared mode that can reach as far as 100 feet with the built in infrared LEDs. Good camera, we like it, it gets five stars from us!

This is a good bullet camera to use outdoors although I guess you could use it indoors too if you wanted. The camera mounts like most of the other bullet cameras just put in a few screws and run the video and power cables. I also ran a pair of wires to hook up to my RS485 jack on my Security Camera King DVR. The camera comes with a myriad of features that are adjusted by using an on screen display menu system. By hooking up the pair of wires to the RS485 input on my DVR I can control the OSD from the DVR without the need to be by the camera. Some of the features I can control and see the immediate results on the monitor include sensitivity up, wide dynamic range, backlight compensation, and white balance (these are just a few there are more). The camera captures a nice, clear, color video picture at a resolution of 630 TVL so you can see some pretty good details with it. I get about 100 feet of infrared range capability when it is dark out and the built in LEDs are on. The camera also has a built in varifocal lens that ranges from 2.8 to 12 mm and can be adjusted from outside the camera, manually. This allows you to get a wide angle shot or a tighter shot if you desire. The OB-EL630IR100L2812 camera is a good solid piece of quality electronics that I have found to be worth the price. I would rate it five stars out of five.