Fujifilm’s new surveillance camera can read license plates from 1km away

Fujifilm has announced a new long-range surveillance camera that can spot vehicles’ licence plates from a kilometer away.

To accomplish this, the so-called Fujifilm SX800 packs a built-in lens capable of 40x optical zoom, boosting the focal length from 20mm to 800mm. It also supports a 1.25x digital zoom for a maximum focal length of 1,000mm.

To put this in simpler terms, the Japanese camera-maker says this equals about a kilometer in distance. And, indeed, it has included samples of the SX800’s zoom-in chops. Here’s what this looks like:

Pretty impressive, right? Now imagine if someone manages to put this sort of tech in a smartphon… ah, nevermind.

Fujifilm says the camera comes with advanced image stabilization performance, a fast autofocus system (as quick as 0.3 seconds), and dehaze and fog reduction features to capture clear footage of distant objects.

The SX800 marks Fujifilm’s first foray into surveillance cameras, but the company says it has leveraged “cutting-edge image processing technology” from its X Series to get the project off the ground.

Fujifilm hasn’t clarified the price and dimensions of its new surveillance contraption, but we’ve asked the company for a clarification and will update this piece accordingly if we hear back.

In the meantime, the SX800 is slated to launch later this week on July 26.