If you try taking a photo of a flying plane it is difficult to get in focus, same as UFOs, videos and pictures taken by councils and police use better cameras, usualy cctv in small shops are very poor quality considering they want thieves caught

iirc Motorway cameras are better than any, as they can take pics of 8 cars at a time and check no/plates at the same time

About 16 miles North of Aberdeen there is the town of Ellon. It is on the main bus route for buses going to both Peterhead and Fraserburgh and there was a 'park and ride' there, with a small building housing a waiting room, toilets, vending machines and an attendant with a small office. Because buses stopped there, some routes started and finished there, drivers were swapped there, as a driver, it wasn't unusual to be hanging about for 30mins plus. There as a remote CCTV camera mounted on a pole, and if it was pointed South, thanks to the amazing zoom on it, you could identify a bus coming from Aberdeen when it was still about a mile away as the crow flies. The attendant would use it to let passengers waiting for a bus heading North know how long before it arrived. I was amazed at just how clear the images were when zoomed in and even then (before the doo doo really hit the fan re privacy laws), I did wonder about the legality of it. Because of the geographical position relative to the town, there wasn't a huge amount of houses which you could, if you chose to, spy on, but there certainly were some!.

The cameras used by Police must have a specified standard image to be certain of correct identification or the evidence will not be acceptable in court. So they will spend more on the cameras ..