Monitoring a Driveway: Which Camera, Which Height, Which Distance

Two tasks, two quality levels

Anyone monitoring a driveway usually wants to know which vehicle is arriving and to be able to capture a licence plate. DIN EN IEC 62676-4:2026-10 assigns the two to different levels.

Which level is required depends on the job. This page calculates with Characterise and Validate. Scrutinise across the full width of a driveway is more than one camera can give: a 4K camera has an image width of 3,840 pixels, which spread over 4 m is at most 960 px/m. For 1,500 px/m the area covered would have to shrink to about 2.5 m.

The set-up in the 3D scene

The “Yard” scene in cctvfinder shows an entrance with a barrier. The area to be covered is 4 m wide, about one vehicle with a little margin. Distance, height and width can be changed, and the pixel density at the target is shown right next to them.

The width of the driveway sets the pixel density

Pixel density is the number of pixels across the image divided by the width the image shows at the target. If the camera is to show a 4 m wide driveway completely, the result is at most as large as in the table. That is the best case, where the image fills exactly the driveway.

For 500 px/m across 4 m, Full HD is therefore not enough, while 4K is, with room to spare. For 250 px/m Full HD is enough if the image fills the driveway. The camera needs the right focal length or a zoom lens for that. How field of view and focal length relate is covered in a separate article.

Distance and tilt angle: at most 13°

DIN EN IEC 62676-4:2026-10 allows the camera a tilt of at most 13°. The angle is measured from the camera down to the target. The tool calculates with a target height of 1.6 m. The higher the camera hangs and the closer it sits to the barrier, the steeper it looks down.

Anyone who moves the camera close to the barrier to get more pixels on the licence plate quickly ends up over the limit: at 3 m height and 6 m distance it is 13.1°. The tool then shows a warning. A larger distance solves the problem but costs pixel density, which a narrower lens or a higher resolution then has to make up. More in the article on mounting height.

At night, light counts

Pixel density is a geometric measure. It says how many pixels fall on one metre, not whether those pixels are usable at night. With too little or uneven light the image is noisy or blurred, and the pixels are there but cannot be used. This applies especially to licence plates.

How lighting and colour temperature affect outdoor areas is covered in two further articles.

Which cameras fit

The calculation uses the data sheet values from the cctvfinder catalogue (26 models), each at the zoom setting that just shows the full width. For each task the five models are listed that meet the requirement with the tightest pixel density. These are not the most expensive cameras but the ones that just suffice.

This is a calculation from data sheets and not a purchase recommendation. Lighting, installation and price are not taken into account.

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