Module 79L
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 17, 2015
- Messages
- 3,792
- Reaction score
- 1,504
- Country
- Portugal
- Dash Cam
- AT11DA, SG9665XS, G1W-H
Since I bought the G1W-H I've been a little "paranoid" about the dashboard reflections on the windscreen because I thought this camera picked them up more than the previous one, the G1W, until I realized (upon reviewing some "old" footage) that the reflections were already there, I just didn't notice them.
Then I saw somewhere here on the forum what could be a solution (sorry about my poor photographic skills):
It's a ring cut from an old photographic roll box, which fits perfectly on the outside of the camera lens. I cut it as long as I could without interfering with the FoV and tested it on a sunny day (we've been having plenty of them lately). The results were disappointing, to say the least. The reflection's glare was a little attenuated but it did nothing to the reflections themselves. I even sandpapered the ring's interior to remove the gloss but to no avail.
But that wasn't the worst part: the worst part was that with the ring the "WDR" stopped working completely! There was little or no reaction to light changes from the camera.
So there was only one way to go: remove the source of the reflections. No, I didn't remove the dashboard or the windscreen, I just came up with something to eliminate the reflections.
I have some spare matte black cloth that we in the band sometimes use to cover things on stage, so I cut a strip long enough and wide enough to cover the whole dashboard, put it there, tucked it underneath the ventilation grid, and went for a test drive, with and without it.
Mind you that today the sky was mostly cloudy but I managed to get some sunlight exposure. These were the perfect conditions because I could see that even with low sunlight, the reflection was still there.
This was just a test, so nevermind the messy look:
The next step will be to cut it to fit and make it look as neat as possible.
I won't fix it permanently: I was thinking about putting some velcro only on the dashboard, because the cloth sticks nicely to the velcro, or just tuck it wherever I can. I don't mind if it doesn't follow the curves, since I don't use the dashboard tray anyway.
Now the snapshots:
BEFORE
Even in low sunlight conditions, the reflections can still be seen:
Brighter sunlight. This one is pretty obvious:
AFTER
I left a bit of the dashboard exposed on purpose to see if it still reflected on the windscreen. As you can see, it does but it's the only part reflecting:
So, it works and didn't cost me anything. What more can you ask of a Did It Myself?
Next I will try to get rid or at least attenuate all the windscreen chips.
Then I saw somewhere here on the forum what could be a solution (sorry about my poor photographic skills):
It's a ring cut from an old photographic roll box, which fits perfectly on the outside of the camera lens. I cut it as long as I could without interfering with the FoV and tested it on a sunny day (we've been having plenty of them lately). The results were disappointing, to say the least. The reflection's glare was a little attenuated but it did nothing to the reflections themselves. I even sandpapered the ring's interior to remove the gloss but to no avail.
But that wasn't the worst part: the worst part was that with the ring the "WDR" stopped working completely! There was little or no reaction to light changes from the camera.
So there was only one way to go: remove the source of the reflections. No, I didn't remove the dashboard or the windscreen, I just came up with something to eliminate the reflections.
I have some spare matte black cloth that we in the band sometimes use to cover things on stage, so I cut a strip long enough and wide enough to cover the whole dashboard, put it there, tucked it underneath the ventilation grid, and went for a test drive, with and without it.
Mind you that today the sky was mostly cloudy but I managed to get some sunlight exposure. These were the perfect conditions because I could see that even with low sunlight, the reflection was still there.
This was just a test, so nevermind the messy look:
The next step will be to cut it to fit and make it look as neat as possible.
I won't fix it permanently: I was thinking about putting some velcro only on the dashboard, because the cloth sticks nicely to the velcro, or just tuck it wherever I can. I don't mind if it doesn't follow the curves, since I don't use the dashboard tray anyway.
Now the snapshots:
BEFORE
Even in low sunlight conditions, the reflections can still be seen:
Brighter sunlight. This one is pretty obvious:
AFTER
I left a bit of the dashboard exposed on purpose to see if it still reflected on the windscreen. As you can see, it does but it's the only part reflecting:
So, it works and didn't cost me anything. What more can you ask of a Did It Myself?
Next I will try to get rid or at least attenuate all the windscreen chips.
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