Dashmellow
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it was probably temperature related if you had your car parked with the cameras running?
the lens and lens mount are both stable beyond the upper and lower temp ranges of the sensor and processor but you could exceed the stable temps of the sensor or processor which can take the edge off things, you'd never see the sorts of temps this takes while driving as it's way hotter than what you could comfortably drive in, if you're parked though you can easily add 30°c~40°c to ambient temps if the car is locked up, direct sun on the front cam could let it heat up pretty quickly, even more so when you have a dark colour car, if things were back to normal the next day then I'd lean toward this just being environmental influence, being parked up and hotter than normal working temps at the time
a sudden temperature change could have an effect, a gradual change less likely
"it was probably temperature related if you had your car parked with the cameras running?"
"a sudden temperature change could have an effect, a gradual change less likely"?
I'm really quite dismayed by your answer @jokiin and hardly know what to say.
It is technically still Winter here in Northern New England and the ambient temperature was only around 45 degrees Fahrenheit the day the above posted blurry screen shot was taken. As you can see in the photo the conditions were hazy and slightly overcast with the sun low in the sky at 3:30PM. I was in the local food COOP doing some shopping and was away from my vehicle for about twenty or so minutes.
The only other camera I've owned that would go out of focus in a hot car like that was the G1W-H and that would only occur during the very hottest days in July. (No surprise to anyone that the G1W-H would shift out of focus if it wasn't already.)
As you know, five days ago I finally launched a thread entitiled "SG9665GC High Contrast/Dynamic Range Flaw and other Discouragements" after a full year of struggling with that particular issue. I haven't even touched upon any of my "discouragements" as yet in that thread but certainly having the camera suddenly going out of focus was not one of them.
Considering the constant drum beat of "hype" (sorry for the lack of a better word at the moment) from you, @Pier28, @niko, etc, about the heat stability of the metal lens barrel and module based used in the SG9665GC, I'm at a loss for words to hear you say "it was probably temperature related if you had your car parked".
As you know there are numerous mentions of the metal lens and heat stability of the SG9965GC here on the forums but I will cite three, so as to be clear here.
In the thread, "What temperatures can this sustain?", @niko states, "Chamber tests on SG9665GC are done on much higher figures than advertised. ............................ SG9665GC has special metal lens holder tested to work in extreme Australian hot weather, there for there are no focus shift."
In the same thread, @Pier28 states, "We've shipped plenty of these to Texas and have nothing but happy customers. no heat warping, no heat focus shift, no problems."
Elsewhere @Pier28 states, "The SG9665GC is as good as it gets for DashCam heat tolerance. All metal lens base = zero heat related focus shift."
I don't for a minute doubt the truthfulness of these remarks but where does that leave me when I suddenly experience a situation like I demonstrate in the screen shot above that occurs in only modest temperatures in light of your explanation that it was probably temperature related?
I should add that this is the third SG9665GC unit I've had in my possession. The first one had a focus problem on arrival (and the high contrast issue) and was returned. The second one was in use all last summer and the focus was rock solid in all temperatures but was taken out of service, also because of the contrast issue. The third unit was shipped to me in December and only now that Winter is ending does it seem to be manifesting this (left side?) focus shift problem. Perhaps this unit has a unique, rare flaw? Let me keep my eye on it for awhile and see what happens.
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