Is there such thing as a side view dashcam? (For your car doors)

Even if quoted FOVs are accurate they may be diagonal measurements.

I was looking at a Ricoh WG-M2 earlier, it quotes a 204 degree FOV, meaning it can look slightly backwards on top of a complete forward view, but no videos or stills I looked at seemed to support that claim.

I might have bought it to test as it was on sale, but it can't really operate in a dash cam mode.

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You can get as anal as you wish but only real world testing will tell you what works and what doesn't. What the manufacturer claims for specs, even if fairly accurate, can be very different than real world results depending on the variables of the optical design of each lens and the idiosyncrasies of your vehicle's windows. You can't determine this from a graphic. Mounting options available in each vehicle will reveal the possibilities and options and this will also influence your final results.

I've posted these screen grabs elsewhere here on DCT but since they seem to be germane to the discussion here is what my 360º coverage set-up looks like in a Toyota Tacoma after experimentation with various cameras and lens FOV options.
I've learned that having significant overlap from camera to camera is very important as is coverage as close in to the sides of your vehicle as possible. Only real world testing will tell you that. A graphic with drawn lines of theoretical coverage will not.

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Nice installation sensibly done.
 
So, I got to thinking about my previous posting of these screen grabs with regard to the importance of having overlapping coverage from each camera if one should decide to do a four camera 360º installation. While the previous posting of the images certainly shows the concept I decided it might be interesting to pin down the exact point of each camera's overlapping coverage with it's abutting neighbor to each side rather than to just point out objects that can be seen in each of the successive images. It seems to make for a more enlightening method of presenting this.

So, here are the same images again but with a green line at the exact point in each image where the boundary of each adjoining camera's FOV overlaps the next on either side of each primary facing camera's FOV.

frontA23b.jpg

leftA2.jpg

Interestingly, this image informs me that I should adjust the right side camera's orientation slightly more forward to achieve a balance that more closely matches the left side.
In fact, the lateral aiming of both side facing cameras could stand to be tweaked slightly. On the other hand, because of the generous overlap there is still full 360º coverage with no blind spots even without the cameras being aimed and centered perfectly.
rightA22.jpg

rearA2.jpg
 
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I didn't know about this thread when I posted my side mounted A119. Thought I'd simply add a link here for now (more details in the thread): https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/a119-side-mounted.26352/

2ive4uf.png
 
that's a serious setup @anfof.
- do you keep all those cameras running in parkmode as well and if so how do u power them?
- why are u going for the koonlung? it's true the cameras are small, but quality is an issue in the long run.
 
What is this, twenty questions? :rolleyes:

OK, as you can see under my avatar I own 4 Mobius cameras. Two came from the manufacturer on eBay and two came from Banggood, as did the capacitors. (One of them was actually built from spare parts bought from Banggood and a lens module I already owned.) The whole thing is wired with two 15 foot and two 10 foot USB-A to mini-B 5 pin cables from Monoprice (two of which I have modified to eliminate the data wires). All four cables are plugged into two 4.8 amp dual port USB cigarette lighter plug adapters. (My vehicle has two 12V ports up front)

Edit: I run all four cameras in full time "parking mode" using two battery banks when away from the vehicle......lasts many, many hours.

which battery banks do you use? Are you happy with them?
 
which battery banks do you use? Are you happy with them?

I own a number of different power banks but the two I happen to be referring to are "generic" ones from China manufactured by a company named EPTECK and marketed on Amazon by Lenoge as well as a few other names. Unfortunately, they are no longer available but there are many other similar ones to choose from. There is no reason to spend huge money on power banks for heavily promoted name brands such as Anker unless you want to. Many lesser known currently available brands are excellent for about half the price or even less. One brand I can recommend is PowerAdd and you can also find their products on Amazon. Perhaps also have a look at the "Powerbank Battery for a Dashcam" thread.

FWIW, the two power banks I was referring to above look like this. One has been in daily service for nearly three years and the other for two years and both are in fine working order and hold their charges very well. The three year old one is showing a very minor loss of charging capacity compared with the newer one but so slight that it can be ignored as it will still power two dash cameras for as long as I ever require. I paid approximately twenty dollars for each of them. The way they were originally marketed regarding their true capacity was a little vague and somewhat exaggerated but I have established they are likely between 20,000 mAh and 24,000 mAh each using eight 2500-3000 mAh 18650 lithium-ion cells.

bank.jpg



 
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that's a serious setup @anfof.
- do you keep all those cameras running in parkmode as well and if so how do u power them?
- why are u going for the koonlung? it's true the cameras are small, but quality is an issue in the long run.
I have everything plugged into a 12V splitter with 3 inputs and a power switch. When I'm home I just turn the switch off since my car is pretty safe there but when I actually drive I just flip the switch and everything gets power all at once. If I'm out somewhere then I leave everything on and they just go into parking mode automatically. The splitter is connected to a Cellink Battery B so even if the car's battery is disconnected, the cameras will still have power for a while. I drive A LOT so the battery pack is pretty much always charged.

I like the Koonlung for the sides because the cameras are small and pretty much identical to each other and the fact that it's a segregated dash cam is also nice. I've seen mixed reviews about it but so far it's the only 2 channel system I can find like that. I used to be able to find one by eCell but I think it's been discontinued.

Sidenote: For the past few days I've been having trouble with my BlackSys having an error whenever the rear camera is plugged in so the guys at blackboxmycar.com said I can exchange it. I asked if I could return it and just pay the difference for the Thinkware F770 and they said I could so that's what I'm in the process of doing right now.

Update: I completely got rid of the BlackSys and my Thinkware should be in sometime this week.
 
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I finally got all the cameras in and everything installed. I'm still tweaking the positions of the side cameras but it's pretty good so far. I also plan on getting CPL filters for the Thinkware and ESPECIALLY the BlackVue. Also, the Koonlung's date/time reset itself for some reason.

360 View:

Setup:
Dash Cam Setup.jpg

Front:
01_Front.jpg

Right:
02_Right.jpg

Back:
03_Back.jpg

Left:
04_Left.jpg
 
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How are you powering everything? What about parking mode? Seems like it'll drain your car battery really quick?
I have 2 separate Cellink Battery B battery packs hardwired (not the expansion packs). The first one powers the Thinkware and the second one powers the BlackVue and Koonlung. When the engine is running, they're being charged. When it's off, the Cellink's power everything. Since I drive for Uber/Lyft, they're pretty much full all the time. So far with 6 cameras constantly running I've never woken up to a dead car battery.
 
6 cameras! Is that a record? [emoji6]

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6 cameras! Is that a record? [emoji6]

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As seen in this thread I usually run four cameras to achieve 360º coverage. Just recently I began beta testing a dual channel camera that was provided to me as well, so now I've got six cameras too!

Don't F with me you crazy motorists! :vamp: And that goes for you crazy pedestrians!! You know who you are! :punch:
 
As seen in this thread I usually run four cameras to achieve 360º coverage. Just recently I began beta testing a dual channel camera that was provided to me as well, so now I've got six cameras too!
Nice, that should keep you busy for awhile :D
 
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