Is this the quality/focus I should expect?

[Brian Lund]

While reviewing some of my footage yesterday, I noticed it's quite hard to get a clear view of the license plate of the car running the red light, even when looking at individual frames. The sun has started going down, so it's not optimal conditions, but I am wondering if this is what I should expect or if I should look into refocusing.

 

[FourEyes]

I'd say your focus is fine. Green arrows show perfectly sharp road surface. It's just too dark outside for reliable plate reading, and the car's plate isn't lit by headlights when it's close enough for plates to be legible.

 

[DT MI]

Yep, definitely 'motion blur'. Car is moving faster than the exposure time necessary for a sharp image given the lighting.

 

[Brian Lund]

Thanks for clearing that up

 

[CarbonTwelve]

You could try image stacking to try and read the licence plate: http://www.autostakkert.com/wp/enhance/

Looks to me like there's enough detail there to make it possible. Haven't tried it with licence plates before, but I don't see why it would be a problem.