Help identify car caught on security camera
 

My neighborhood has had mail theft and a car was stolen in the past week. Two security cameras, mine and a neighbor's camera caught a dark sedan in the 4-5am time frame on two separate nights. Nobody saw the car in person.

This is a complete shot in the dark but I was hoping someone could identify the make/model and approx year of this car caught on two security cameras. One is a video and the other is a picture. Both are very blurry and show a dark sedan. I'm not even sure if it is the same car in both captures. I just figured that maybe someone on this board has this type of car and could recognize the headlight shape and/or taillights. These seem to be the only distinctive features.

The video is from my camera which shoots on my front door but also captured this car on my front driveway around 4:50am. The car is on the first second of the video. The still pic is from my neighbor's camera.

https://arlo.netgear.com/#/viewShared/2A9E81088E10DBD4_201712


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1514672701.png

Ah, the difference between TV and real life.

On the "who done its" my wife watches, with about 12 key clicks, they could give you the license number, an infrared scan to tell you how long the car had been running and a probable motive by the alleged...


I can only give you the Mitch Headberg answer:

I know a lot about cars. I can look at a car's headlights and tell you exactly which way it's coming from. Mitch Hedberg American comedian

Only a guess, and going by the tail lights; I'd say it's a well setup 944.

Well then if that's it, case closed! That sounds like my 944.

Newer style corner headlights, with wrap around tail lights, either a fastback, or hatch. Nothing else is noticeable

A black Audi wagon!

Here a couple shots that may help:

Headlights:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1514689359.jpg

Taillights:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1514689371.jpg

Those "eyebrow" headlights are relatively distinctive.
I can't place them at the moment, but they should be unique enough that someone here might be able to narrow the make/model down. Good luck...

The headlights remind me a lot of a newer Hyundai with the 'eyebrow' that sweeps up and back but the taillights escape me.

Not a sedan, mini SUV / Crossover.

Footage is useless.

Can't even tell what color vehicle is.

Could be bright red for all we know.

In case you didn't know, red shows as black in B/W.

It's a sedan. In the video the reflection of the Christmas lights trace the outline of the vehicle that includes a back window and trunk lid. Pause the video and go frame by frame and you'll see the lights trace the shape of the rear of the car.

Car in the video clip is clearly a sedan.
No it's not. Obviously the more info the better, but it's not "useless" IMO. Assuming it can eventually be ID'd by the very distinctive headlights, OP would then have make, model, and a narrowed-down color profile (dark vs. light, etc.), in addition to location and date/time. Plenty of info for a dispo broadcast call (BOLO, etc.) in LEO terms.
Who cares what the "exact" color is at this point? Having something like "a dark colored Infiniti Q50 sedan" (for example) is a lot more to go on than nothing at all...

Video and pic aspect ratio are skewed, height is compressed.

Makes no difference.

Footage is as useless as an azzhole with taste buds.

Red is not dark but shows up as black in the absence of light, and so does orange and some yellow.

If it's red it's not a dark colored sedan.

So what are we looking for?

Any of the millions of red or dark colored sedans running around?

Useless.

No law enforcement would look at that and find any use in it whatsoever.

So here's what we know.

On two separate nights two cars that we can't even tell if they are the same one or not drove down a residential street which happens almost never :rolleyes:

We don't know if they are black, blue, green, red, or orange.

We never see them stop.

We don't see anyone get out and walk up to houses.

We have no plate number.

And we expect the police to do exactly what with that info?

No. The tonal range is just greatly reduced. In B&W, blues show up more "black" whereas reds & greens show up in shades of dark/medium grey, and yellows show up as light grey.
It is when compared to white, cream, tan, beige, etc. It's about the process of elimination.
You have no clue what you are talking about. A very basic profile is enough to create PC, which is enough to stop a vehicle matching a specific description/location. Of course, you probably wouldn't get much traction with PD in a high-crime metro area with such a call. However, I am guessing LEOs in Oveland Park, KS might not have the same workload or call stack as those in large Metros.

3 cars in my driveway.

Screenshot taken just now from my security camera, time stamp is there.

Which BTW, they work on infra red, not reflected light, as they all do.

Tell me what color all 3 cars are?

Should be easy as you have the benefit of some ambient light from my and my neighbors house lights and they are right in front of the camera.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1514696319.jpg

Here, I'll make it easy for you.

Turned on the light.

Will ya look at that.

Even the garbage bins are different colors.

Who woulda guessed?

OP's pics and video are useless.

Sorry, sucks for his neighbors and i empathize but still, useless.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1514696801.jpg

I managed to "enhance" OP's pic.

Narrowed it down.

It's as I thought.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1514698138.jpg

Yeah, you just proved yourself wrong, and confirmed what I said above. Wait, I thought "red shows as black in B/W" ? You have two reddish cars there and neither of them shows up as black in your first pic.

Regardless, the OP was simply asking for help identifying the make and model of the car(s) in the pic and video.
Yet, instead of offering up anything helpful/constructive in that respect, you instead thought that poo-poo'ing the thread with "useless" (and incorrect) info of your own was the better option. Nicely done! :rolleyes:

Please allow me to hit the pause button so we can all admire the beauty and majesty of this metaphor...

https://media.giphy.com/media/98jU7NxuNSSZ2/giphy.gif
https://media.giphy.com/media/OhrNfRrBxgz16/giphy.gif

Okay, we now return to our regularly scheduled program...

https://media.giphy.com/media/3o85xB...KDiE/giphy.gif

They are metallic, not a solid color, different reflective / absorption properties.

Color is a property of reflected light in the visible spectrum.

There is not enough light in OP's samples to render color.

Security cameras use infra red, non visible spectrum, you can't see it so there is no reflected light to discern color from.

And yes, my driveway pics clearly illustrate that. You can't tell what color something is based on security cams at night and whether something is light or dark can't always be determined either.

As far as using red as my example, red is considered a high contrast color to black, at night that distinction goes away. Obviously whether or not Red looks solid black depends on a variety of things, shape, any ambient light, reflective property of the item, etc....

Oh, and I'm still correct, Purkinje effect. You're welcome.

And the footage is useless, all it shows is the same, or maybe two different cars, driving down a residential street, on separate days.

I agree that these shots of the lights are the best indication of the car make/model.

We have sent the footage to our sheriff so they can include in their ongoing investigation. Our area is semi-rural area.

My hope is that when/if the thief is caught and they are driving this car, this footage can be just another piece of evidence. I wouldn't expect that they are found based off this footage. But having an idea of the car type could be helpful to keep an extra eye on suspicious cars, especially in the middle of the night.

One clarification, the video shows the car driving up my circle driveway at 4:50am, not driving down the residential street.

The other still pics show the car at or near the neighbor's mailbox on the residential street where the mail was stolen on the other night about a week apart.

I would suggest a motion sensing spotlight and a camera closer to the driveway / street.

Light tends to scare off low lifes and at worst you may get meaningful visuals, potentially even a license plate.

Ring makes an all in one solution.