Mobius 2 Lens

[irzea]

Hello everyone, I am new and introduce myself.
I am from Mexico and I am a recent possessor of a mobius 2 camera.

Yesterday, I wanted to make a recording, so I removed the lens cover, but I pulled it very hard and released the lens, I thought I had broken some cable, but apparently that did not happen (according to me).

​

Put the lens back in the hole of the camera and I thought everything was fine, but when making a recording, the lens is out of focus and the recording is very blurry:

​

Is the lens damaged? What I can do?

Thank you

 

[Harsh]

You'll need to refocus the lens. Since the M2 doesn't support webcam mode (or it didn't from what I remember) and live video isn't supported by the mobile app.

@TonyM

How did you refocus lenses on the M2?

I received this one with my M2 - https://www.ebay.com/itm/182338617673
Are you using it DIY'd to this - https://www.ebay.com/itm/181166013424

 

[DashingCam]

Sorry, I was referring to the aftermarket lens mentioned in the thread dirkzelf posted about.

 

[TonyM]

Hello everyone, I am new and introduce myself.
I am from Mexico and I am a recent possessor of a mobius 2 camera.

Yesterday, I wanted to make a recording, so I removed the lens cover, but I pulled it very hard and released the lens, I thought I had broken some cable, but apparently that did not happen (according to me).

View attachment 36252
View attachment 36253​

Put the lens back in the hole of the camera and I thought everything was fine, but when making a recording, the lens is out of focus and the recording is very blurry:

View attachment 36254​

Is the lens damaged? What I can do?

Thank you

You'll need to refocus the lens. Since the M2 doesn't support webcam mode (or it didn't from what I remember) and live video isn't supported by the mobile app.

@TonyM

How did you refocus lenses on the M2?

I received this one with my M2 - https://www.ebay.com/itm/182338617673
Are you using it DIY'd to this - https://www.ebay.com/itm/181166013424

@irzea I've never seen a lens pulled out like that. It looks like the threaded lens holder has come apart, which I imagine would take a lot of force - much more than simply removing the lens cap. I'm also not sure why there is some white tape in there around the lens.

Did you buy this camera new or used?

Do you have a small screwdriver that you can undo the two case screws and take some photos of the inside? I think we need to figure out what's going on before thinking about refocusing the lens.

@Dashmellow have you seen anything like this before?!

 

[Dashmellow]

@irzea

@Dashmellow have you seen anything like this before?!

No, I've not seen anything like this before. It appears that the lens holder is damaged. I have to assume that the camera was dropped or otherwise experienced some sort of impact (drone crash?) before @irzea .

I think @irzea has two options. Buy a new lens module that will come with a new lens or perhaps find a new lens holder (barrel) to replace the broken one. There may be a third option; maybe eletoponline365 or perhaps buymobius.com might be willing to sell a bare replacement module without the lens or just the threaded lens holder.

 

[Dashmellow]

Slowly, by trial and error

Twist lens... Shoot video... Review video... Twist again... Shoot again... Review again

No, No No!! There's a much better focusing method! Use the AV wiring harness that comes with the M2 camera along with the compatible RCA breakput cable adapter that came with the M1 wiring harness (which should also have been provided with the M2) and then use it to hook the camera up to the AV input on an HDTV for focusing. Much less stress, much less time involved and a much better shot at getting the focus correct.

I will never understand the notion of trial and error focusing. Madness!

 

[Harsh]

Slowly, by trial and error

Twist lens... Shoot video... Review video... Twist again... Shoot again... Review again

That's messed up. There's no way of knowing if one gets it just right or not.

Quite surprising that neither the firmware or the app supports live view even after more than a year.

 

[Dashmellow]

That's messed up. There's no way of knowing if one gets it just right or not.

Quite surprising that neither the firmware or the app supports live view even after more than a year.

As I mentioned the M2 does support live view with AV out.

At one point when I was beta testing the M2 I asked Mobius (Peter) why the M2 AV wiring harness doesn't come the RCA plugs or other breakout adapters supplied with the M1 version. The response was: "You can use the RCA plugs and the USB power plug from original Mobius's AV cable (which has 4 parts: you can separate the 2 RCA plugs and the USB power plug from the cable, as they are connected by same connectors."

When I wrote back to say that I was mystified that Mobius decided not to include these AV cables with the M2 because this capability was an important aspect of the camera's functionality. His reply was: "We had no idea how important it is to a user. Thanks for letting us know. We just thought people may not want so many extra cables."

As far as I know, nothing ever came of the discussion as I believe the camera still ships without the required plugs and the response was just lip service. Of course, this is yet another example of why I found my ten months of beta testing for Mobius such an exasperating waste of time and effort.

 

[Harsh]

The construction for the new C lens for the M2 looks quite similar to the D lens for the M1. I think he exerted too much force and snapped off the front part of the plastic mount.

 

[jokiin]

The construction for the new C lens for the M2 looks quite similar to the D lens for the M1. I think he exerted too much force and snapped off the front part of the plastic mount.

must have a handshake like a bear trap

 

[Harsh]

@irzea

You need a new lens module - https://www.ebay.com/itm/162602851292

 

[TonyM]

No, No No!! There's a much better focusing method! Use the AV wiring harness that comes with the M1 camera along with the compatible RCA breakput cable adapter that came with the M1 wiring harness (which should also have been provided with the M2) and then use it to hook the camera up to the AV input on an HDTV for focusing. Much less stress, much less time involved and a much better shot at getting the focus correct.

I will never understand the notion of trial and error focusing. Madness!

@Harsh asked about how I focused the M2, not the M1. I didn't think there was a way to get live view out of the M2, so I resorted to trial and error..... Am I missing something? Are you saying that I can use the AV wiring harness that comes with the M2, along with the compatible RCA breakout cable adapter that came with the M1?

I had lost the RCA cable from my original Mobius 1 long ago. I noticed that the more recent Mobius 1's I bought no longer come with that RCA cable, just the USB lead. The last M1 I bought was the A2 lens version, and I chose that partly because it's the only M1 version that eletoponline ships with the RCA adapter.

 

[Dashmellow]

@Harsh asked about how I focused the M2, not the M1. I didn't think there was a way to get live view out of the M2, so I resorted to trial and error..... Am I missing something? Are you saying that I can use the AV wiring harness that comes with the M2, along with the compatible RCA breakout cable adapter that came with the M1?

I had lost the RCA cable from my original Mobius 1 long ago. I noticed that the more recent Mobius 1's I bought no longer come with that RCA cable, just the USB lead. The last M1 I bought was the A2 lens version, and I chose that partly because it's the only M1 version that eletoponline ships with the RCA adapter.

Yes, you can live view the M2 using the supplied AV wiring harness if you attach the yellow RCA video plug that came with the M1.

For some reason, Mobius didn't even bother to let anyone even know they could use the M1 plugs to do that. For some bizarre reason, Mobius decided not to include any of the plugs that come with the M1 wiring harness. You might think that with the M2 not having any web cam ability like the M1 they might have thought to inform buyers they could use this method and include the already compatible Mobius 1 AV plugs with the M2. So much for the "new and improved" Mobius 2 that we all waited so long for! This is yet another example of why I consider the Mobius 2 to be a complete train wreck of a product, made worse by the aloofness of the developer.

And I see you are correct, they no longer include the wiring harness with the purchase of the M1. To make matters worse they appear to not even sell the cables separately anymore!

I don't know what is the matter with these people!! Based on my correspondence with Peter Xie described above where he thanked me for explaining the importance of including the complete AV wiring harness with the M2, I expected they might begin doing that, or at least offer the full set of plugs as a separate option. Instead, they have apparently now even decided to eliminate this key functionality from the M1!

Apparently, you can still buy the full M1 wiring harness from several vendors on eBay including digitalele88 (Mobius) and Novotm. My guess at this point is that this is old stock and when these are gone that will be the end of any external AV connector availability.

It is curious that Mobius has also stopped offering super-capacitors for the M1 and M2 claiming "mailing restrictions". I am personally not aware of any sort of mailing restrictions on capacitors and question why you can buy super-capacitors from dozens and dozens of other vendors, including Mobius super-capacitors.

I've seen this notion of trial and error focusing for the Mobius promoted by people like Tom Franks and Isoprop who are RC enthusiasts who only need to focus their cameras on horizon infinity for drone and winged small craft use. Unfortunately, even if you get lucky you will never be able to achieve the level of precision focus required for dash cam use, especially where the choice of hyper-focal distance is critical and intentional.

 

[TonyM]

And I see you are correct, they no longer include the wiring harness with the purchase of the M1. To make matters worse they appear to not even sell the cables separately anymore!

I don't know what is the matter with these people!! Based on my correspondence with Peter Xie described above where he thanked me for explaining the importance of including the complete AV wiring harness with the M2, I expected they might begin doing that, or at least offer the full set of plugs as a separate option. Instead, they have apparently now even decided to eliminate this key functionality from the M1!

Apparently, you can still buy the full M1 wiring harness from several vendors on eBay including digitalele88 (Mobius) and Novotm. My guess at this point is that this is old stock and when these are gone that will be the end of any external AV connector availability.

As I mentioned yesterday, if you buy the A2 Mobius 1 from eletoponline365 you can get the wiring harness, as a time-limited special gift!

 

[TonyM]

Yes, you can live view the M2 using the supplied AV wiring harness if you attach the yellow RCA video plug that came with the M1.

For some reason, Mobius didn't even bother to let anyone even know they could use the M1 plugs to do that. For some bizarre reason, Mobius decided not to include any of the plugs that come with the M1 wiring harness. You might think that with the M2 not having any web cam ability like the M1 they might have thought to inform buyers they could use this method and include the already compatible Mobius 1 AV plugs with the M2.

I wonder what method is used to set the M2 focus when they are assembled?

 

[Dashmellow]

As I mentioned yesterday, if you buy the A2 Mobius 1 from eletoponline365 you can get the wiring harness, as a time-limited special gift!

View attachment 36279

I hope the limited time offer is not a sign of things to come!

After carefully going through eletoplonline365's listings once again I did finally find the AV wiring harness on sale as a separate item, so happily it appears I was mistaken in my commentary above where I said they were not selling it separately anymore . I do hope we continue to see the item on offer whether it is included with the purchase of an M1 or not.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/181166013424

 

[Dashmellow]

I wonder what method is used to set the M2 focus when they are assembled?

There is a specialized factory procedure for focus calibration of M12 lenses that involves a giant lens test chart on a wall and an image on a special computer monitor at a work station. @jokiin posted about this in regard to Street Guardian's methodology quite some time ago and included a photo of the set-up. I don't believe any standard camera capabilities come into play here and I assume any lens module connection to the work station is on a board level. Jokiin might be able to enlighten us further.

 

[irzea]

@Harsh , @TonyM , @Dashmellow

I was able to solve the problem:

I opened the camera and only had to "screw" the lens to the base.
The problem was that without opening the camera, i just put the lens and did not adjust it correctly.


The camera is new (eBay, eletoponline365), the white that is seen, is glue to hold the lens:



Thanks to everyone!!

 

[Dashmellow]

Peter sent me this photo of the Mobius setup...
View attachment 36281

It looks as if the woman at the laptop has a camera plugged directly into a camera that is merely sitting on the desk not pointing at anything in particular. I wonder what procedure they are actually using to focus? Perhaps what she is working on is not related to focusing?

 

[Dashmellow]

@Harsh , @TonyM , @Dashmellow

I was able to solve the problem:

I opened the camera and only had to "screw" the lens to the base.
The problem was that without opening the camera, i just put the lens and did not adjust it correctly.
View attachment 36284

The camera is new (eBay, eletoponline365), the white that is seen, is glue to hold the lens:
View attachment 36282
View attachment 36283

Thanks to everyone!!

It really appeared from your earlier photos as it the lens module was damaged. Glad you were able to fix the issue. How did you achieve focus?

This user experience is another example of why the decision to glue the lenses into the module and eliminate the set-screw from the original Mobius is such a bad idea. In my view, just about everything about the M2 vs the M1 is a step backwards.