- Joined
- May 1, 2013
- Messages
- 10,668
- Reaction score
- 6,561
- Location
- Dublin
- Country
- Ireland
- Dash Cam
- Street Guardian UK / EU / EEA Distributor
So, I decided to do some side by side test in different daylight on two Panorama-series dashcams. One is Panorama 2, other is Panorama S that can use CPL lens filter.
Why CPL filter needed ?
In dashcams it's mostly needed for daytime driving ( especially in sunny day ) in order to remove dashboard and A-pillars glare. For more info about CPL filter technology in photography world you may read HERE and HERE.
One of the advantages of CPL filter in regular everyday photography or video-shooting is to improve image by bringing more natural colours and reducing glare, but not always this rule will apply to dashcam-world ( as you will see from my tests below ). In dashcams it's all depends on how correctly default colour palette is set by the factory. Dashcam main purpose is not to provide 100% correct colours, but to record vital details from every day- and night driving ( or when car is parked ) and colour settings are not always set to the most correct ones. They are set to be somewhere in balance between day and night mode. Thats why you see on Panorama 2 / S colours being at day time too strong ( too contrast ), but this has been done in order to compensate colour palette reproduction at night, because if at the first place ( at day time ) colours would be set to be correct, then at night driving those colours would look dull. With use of CPL filter I could see that picture kinda brightened up a little bit ( in some places maybe too bright ), but at the same time glare was removed.
So, this was just sort of "intro" why CPL filter purpose can not be taken on dashcams same way as on everyday photo-video cameras.
Main purpose of CPL filter on dashcams is to reduce glare in order to record more outside details, especially those which are situated in the area of windshield dashboard reflection.
Just few small notes:
- CPL filter will remove only this glare which is caused by directly shining sun. It will not remove completely glare if sun is from rear or sides, as you may see from my tests.
- If your car A-pillars are light colour ( like on my car ), then it is very hard ( almost not possible ) to remove that A-pillar glare, so this is normal. White surface glare is always much harder to remove than from black surface.
- If your car dashboard is black colour, but dusty, - dust will create more glare.
- If your car dashboard is black colour, with no dust, but nicely polished with auto-care shine, - this still will create glare.
... so the best possible to minimize dashboard glare is to have kinda dull-colour dashboard. Its not that I am making a propaganda here, - myself I like when my car plastics / trims / dashboard is clean and shining, I am just providing facts that causing glare on dashboard.
..........................................................................
Tests were done on two different days. First day was slightly cloudy and on the second day weather here in Ireland made a good surprise by giving a nice sunny day where I could test CPL filter capabilities.
On both days I was using same Firmware v1.12.06, but on Day 1 ( 20 April '14 ) I used 12Mpbs bit-rate and on Day2 ( 21 April '14 ) was using the highes 21Mbps bit-rate on both dashcams.
I have also made tons of screenshots from different scenes just to show you what are the differences of same dashcam without CPL filter vs dashcam ith CPL filter.
Below is two Panoramas mounted for side by side test.
Day1 Side by side
Top: No CPL
Bottom: With CPL
P.S. - on Panorama S ( with CPL filter ) I forgot to set correct time, so dont pay attention on it.
Individual videos from Day1
You may download raw / original files from HERE.
Screenshots
Why CPL filter needed ?
In dashcams it's mostly needed for daytime driving ( especially in sunny day ) in order to remove dashboard and A-pillars glare. For more info about CPL filter technology in photography world you may read HERE and HERE.
One of the advantages of CPL filter in regular everyday photography or video-shooting is to improve image by bringing more natural colours and reducing glare, but not always this rule will apply to dashcam-world ( as you will see from my tests below ). In dashcams it's all depends on how correctly default colour palette is set by the factory. Dashcam main purpose is not to provide 100% correct colours, but to record vital details from every day- and night driving ( or when car is parked ) and colour settings are not always set to the most correct ones. They are set to be somewhere in balance between day and night mode. Thats why you see on Panorama 2 / S colours being at day time too strong ( too contrast ), but this has been done in order to compensate colour palette reproduction at night, because if at the first place ( at day time ) colours would be set to be correct, then at night driving those colours would look dull. With use of CPL filter I could see that picture kinda brightened up a little bit ( in some places maybe too bright ), but at the same time glare was removed.
So, this was just sort of "intro" why CPL filter purpose can not be taken on dashcams same way as on everyday photo-video cameras.
Main purpose of CPL filter on dashcams is to reduce glare in order to record more outside details, especially those which are situated in the area of windshield dashboard reflection.
Just few small notes:
- CPL filter will remove only this glare which is caused by directly shining sun. It will not remove completely glare if sun is from rear or sides, as you may see from my tests.
- If your car A-pillars are light colour ( like on my car ), then it is very hard ( almost not possible ) to remove that A-pillar glare, so this is normal. White surface glare is always much harder to remove than from black surface.
- If your car dashboard is black colour, but dusty, - dust will create more glare.
- If your car dashboard is black colour, with no dust, but nicely polished with auto-care shine, - this still will create glare.
... so the best possible to minimize dashboard glare is to have kinda dull-colour dashboard. Its not that I am making a propaganda here, - myself I like when my car plastics / trims / dashboard is clean and shining, I am just providing facts that causing glare on dashboard.
..........................................................................
Tests were done on two different days. First day was slightly cloudy and on the second day weather here in Ireland made a good surprise by giving a nice sunny day where I could test CPL filter capabilities.
On both days I was using same Firmware v1.12.06, but on Day 1 ( 20 April '14 ) I used 12Mpbs bit-rate and on Day2 ( 21 April '14 ) was using the highes 21Mbps bit-rate on both dashcams.
I have also made tons of screenshots from different scenes just to show you what are the differences of same dashcam without CPL filter vs dashcam ith CPL filter.
Below is two Panoramas mounted for side by side test.
Day1 Side by side
Top: No CPL
Bottom: With CPL
P.S. - on Panorama S ( with CPL filter ) I forgot to set correct time, so dont pay attention on it.
Individual videos from Day1
You may download raw / original files from HERE.
Screenshots
Last edited: