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Fujifilm’s first surveillance camera can read a license plate from 1km away

Fujifilm’s first surveillance camera can read a license plate from 1km away

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With a focal length equivalent to 1000mm

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Video: Fujifilm

Fujifilm is getting into surveillance cameras with the SX800, a long-range surveillance camera with a 40x optical zoom that’s designed to offer security at international borders and large commercial facilities. It’s got a built-in lens with a 35mm-equivalent focal length of 20mm to 800mm, and an additional digital zoom of 1.25x. Combined, Fujifilm says this gives the SX800 a total equivalent focal length of 1000mm, which is enough to focus on a car’s license plate from 1km or roughly 0.6 miles away.

We’ve seen consumer cameras with support for more zoom than this in the past (Nikon’s P1000 has a 125x, 3000mm-equivalent zoom lens for example), but the difference here is that Fujifilm has equipped its commercial security camera with a number of features that will make its footage more usable when filming at these extreme distances. It’s got a fast autofocus that can focus in as quickly as 0.3 seconds, optical image stabilization, and an image processing engine that’s able to reduce the effects of fog and heat-haze. The camera also supports ISO levels of up to 819200 for filming at night.

For an idea of what this amount of zoom is capable of, a recent Fujifilm promotional video shows how the camera is able to just about read a handheld sign from 2.2km (around 1.36 miles) away, while the video above shows the camera getting a clear shot of the viewing platform of Tokyo Tower from 3km (around 1.86 miles) away. Another promotional image shows how the camera can focus on a car’s license plate at a distance of 1km (around 0.6 miles).

The car’s license plate is just about legible despite being parked 1km away.
The car’s license plate is just about legible despite being parked 1km away.
Image: Fujifilm

Fujifilm suggests a couple of different places where a camera with the zoom capabilities of the SX800 might be useful, including international borders, forest areas, or public facilities like airports, harbors, or highways. From a cost perspective, this makes total sense for the facilities themselves since they’ll be able to cover a larger area with a smaller number of cameras. But for everyone else it’s a good reminder that just because you can’t see a security camera, that doesn’t mean one can’t see you, even if it’s multiple kilometers away.

The Fujifilm SX800 will be available to purchase on July 26th at a price that’s yet to be made public.