VEHICLE IDENTIFICATION CAMERA

VEHICLE IDENTIFICATION CAMERA A vehicle identification camera arrangement for photographing a vehicle identification number (VIN) plate through a vehicle windshield includes a housing having an object window at its distal end forwardly of the lens and an aperture stop adjoining the lens with the length of housing from the lens establishing the distance to the windshield. The aperture stop sufficiently reduces the aperture to increase the depth of field to encompass the variations in distance of the VIN plate behind the vehicle windshield. Preferably, the arrangement is provided as an adapter housing whose interior is divided into an upper lightbox section and a lower exposure section by an opaque baffle and a diffusing screen. The lightbox section receives flash illumination and directs it at a sharp angle with respect to the optical axis of the camera objective to illuminate the VIN plate through the windshield with a minimum of reflection from the windshield along the camera exposure axis. Optionally, the housing includes an arrangement for mounting an information label adjacent the object window to provide for the production of composite VIN plate and information image exposures.