I have a v3 outdoor camera on my front door, but it has what I call a ‘fish bowl” lens. I’m sure it’s because it is trying to have a very wide view. Instead, I would like a camera that can see more things from a distance - specifically, I want to be able to read the license plates of vehicles that park in the drive way at least 50’ away from the front door.
What camera should I be looking at?
If you’re looking at staying within the Wyze ecosystem and don’t want to modify a camera yourself, then Cam OG Telephoto is your only current option for a Wyze Cam with an optical zoom and narrower field of view. Regarding seeing license plates, you might also want to consult We would like to hear from you - 4/24/2025, which has quite a bit of discussion about that issue.
My Reolink 4k Trackmix PTZ has no issues reading licence plates at 50+ feet, the 6x optical zoom and 4k video renders easily readable license plates 
The Wyze 0G might work until moisture gets into lens and eventually blurs the image, that’s if used outside with sun and weather exposure.
Also Wyze’s heavy compression of video could affect image quality when trying to read license plates.
For $25 or so you could try it out and return it within Wyze’s 30-day window if dissatified. If you don’t expose the cam to torture trees (ie, if the cam is mounted somewhere semi-sheltered and one’s local weather is relatively mild) it might work out. 
All my OGs including OG TEL are directly exposed to rain, not a single one with lens fog, water infiltration, etc. They’ve held up extremely well (including 2 years in direct unfiltered afternoon sun, just a bit more yellow than they were when new).
Not sure why the other user is implying this is a chronic issue with OGs, I don’t think I’ve seen a single person complain about it. Oh wait, I do know why they’re suggesting that, we all do.
My OG TEL is literally my dedicated license plate reader, aimed and angled to capture a nearby intersection and license plates. I haven’t figured out exactly what speed the compression artifacts interfere but 25-30mph so far has yielded readable plates no problem.
The gauntlet has been thrown. 
Meanwhile…
Good post showing the effects of high compression on a license plate rendering it unreadable….
But that other user never has issues and everything is just great for them 
almost like an advertisement 
Here is my OG TEL at about 100 feet if google maps scale is to be trusted. From the aerial view I’d guesstimate about 30 degree angle to the plate. Where the cam is mounted is about 10 feet above the plate looking at a slight downward angle. This is probably about the limit of readability, though some basic sharpening/enhancements in just about any photo software could probably be used to extend that range some. This car was going 25 to 30 I’d estimate. Faster speed makes it harder to catch a still frame with readable plate but it is doable, sometimes takes a few tries.
The angle is pretty important obviously. While it is usually going to be impossible to get a straight on view of a car, the less angle, the better. I can read a plate anywhere in the field of view shown in my zoomed out/original capture, which would probably be 45 degrees or a bit more as it gets closer.
Parked car plates are perfectly readable at night with color night vision, but not moving cars as the headlights wash it out (unless their lights are off for stealth reasons, which is probably the plate you want to catch).
Was fairly overcast today, sunny days make them more clear too, probably could read it easily out to 120 feet (the very edge of the field of view I have) on a clear day.
This snapshot was taken via the Wyze app. When I’ve needed to get a face or plate for evidence purposes, I’ve pulled the card and grabbed frames on the PC, and those were a bit clearer than the ones in the wyze app, so doing that would probably extend the distance a bit more even, or at the very least reduce compression artifacts on a faster moving car (which I have tested and can confirm to be the case). Not a massive difference but sometimes that little bit extra you need to make it readable.
As you can see from the road, it rained an hour or so prior to this, pretty heavily for around 15-20 mins. No fog or water in the lens.
Rather than troll, I find it more useful to post actual, factual examples that people can use to make an educated decision for themselves.
Thank you - this is EXACTLY the kind of reply I was looking for. I think I’ll try out the OG Telephoto (mounting it directly above the camera that gives me the wide angle view).
That’s exactly how mine is mounted, I’m even using their “stack kit” but honestly if I did it again, I’d just use the two individual mounts. The stack kit seemed good in theory and it was free with the 2 cams during a promo, but in reality, it is more of a hassle and really isn’t any more stealth than two separate mounts. And the Y cable included was totally useless so I ended up using the two individual cables anyway.
As I mentioned, the main enemy of plate readability (other than headlights at night) is speed. The faster the car, the more the compression is going to affect the readability, but on my street, the OG TEL has proven useful. YMMV, maybe use amazon so you can easily return it if you don’t like it.
One thing I’ve noticed that is interesting and a bit odd, when you pause the video playback on the plate, it is less readable than when you “take picture” of that exact paused view using the button in the app. The picture saved to your phone will be clearer. So keep that in mind, always try that if you can’t read the plate in the playback. Also can try a few different pictures at slightly different spots in the playback as that can also make a difference, one can be a lot more readable than another. Just the way the frame rate and compression line up (or don’t).
And when really desperate, removing the SD card and putting in a PC with basic video editing app will give the clearest view of all (not a ton better, but slightly).
I want it for cars in my driveway - which will be stationary. So movement is a moot issue for me. 
It will be under the cover of my front porch, so while it is “outside”, it should be protected from weather unless we have having a storm that is blowing the rain sideways…
Stationery cars at 50 to 100 feet should be no issue at all.
All my cams got drenched the other day, massive thunderstorm. No issues, the recessed lens in the TEL didn’t get any water even on the outside of the lens. None of my cams have ever had fog or water inside the lens (several OG, an OG TEL, 3x Panv3, and a v4). From reading here, it seems to have been an issue with some batches of the regular v3 cam, which I don’t have.
The massive downpour obviously affected the readability of plates, but can still see ones on parked cars fine.
The one problem with it (and all the OG cams) is there is some bug with the 3.x app where reviewing the SD footage can be slow when using the timeline to navigate it. I have a phone with the old 2.5 app for when I need to do a lot of looking, but using the skip forward and back buttons works fine in the 3.x app too. Hopefully they’ll get that fixed soon but it hasn’t been a big issue.
You need to look at alternatives other than Wyze unfortunately.
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