Yea. I fixed the positioning of the 12mm camera and placed it in a much center position. Now I have a better focus on all sides and is much more centered to the road.Generally it's looking good. You have better focus on the right than the left side. That's OK for traffic going in your direction, but might struggle with oncoming vehicles on the left side. As you have found, it is often difficult to get everything in focus with these fast telephoto lenses.
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I can see why you might want 12mm for those small licence plate characters. Personally I find the FOV is too narrow for anything other than straight roads. On this gentle curve the Silverado is cropped out of the telephoto view. However your 12mm camera can see details that my 8mm did not.
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If you have a main camera + zoom camera pointing at the same direction, then I think the 12mm FOV is perfect as a secondary camera so you can see those details you wouldn’t otherwise see on the main camera.12 mm as i also use on my zoom camera, is indeed very narrow, i also have a plan for picking up a slightly lesser zoom lens to try out ( when i get around to putting in a camera CUZ the Mobius Maxi i have used for zoom camera for a while cooked its battery.
Contemplating getting the 4K Mobius to replace it, or maybe the more light sensitive camera there are whispers about ( i am hoping one of the lesser resolution starvis 2 sensors )
Pretty amputated ATM, dont have side cameras, dont have zoom camera.
I would recommend the M1S over the MM4K for dashcam use, particularly for a telephoto. I think the IMX317 in the MM4K has too much motion blur to be really useful on a front-facing telephoto. The metering in the M1S is also much more suitable for a dashcam - the MM4K has a strong highlight-priority bias.i also have a plan for picking up a slightly lesser zoom lens to try out ( when i get around to putting in a camera CUZ the Mobius Maxi i have used for zoom camera for a while cooked its battery.
Contemplating getting the 4K Mobius to replace it, or maybe the more light sensitive camera there are whispers about ( i am hoping one of the lesser resolution starvis 2 sensors )
I’m using a 12mm lens.i just purchased A139 3 channel. All 3 cameras will be facing forward of the car.
Keep the main Camera as is most likely. Interior and Rear cameras will be modified to telephoto lenses and face forward.
For the purpose of license capturing on a moving car in the USA in daytime and night time, which lenses/setup do you guys suggest?
It doesn't matter how much it zooms as long as it does what i asked previously.
i did see your post. How does it perform at night and reading the plates in motion?I’m using a 12mm lens.
Here’s the link: https://a.aliexpress.com/_mt5Ta7G
Good morning!I’m using a 12mm lens.
Here’s the link: https://a.aliexpress.com/_mt5Ta7G
The live view is not the full quality of the camera. You would have to download the video to your device to see the full quality.I am asking as your picture results look pretty stunning, but when I looked at the live-feed on my iPad it all seemed a bit grainy and not nearly as sexy and sharp as the pictures you posted.
Some people have used wedges to gain enough clearance.On another note, are you using some sort of bracket or stand-off to mount your camera? Or are the pictures tricking me and it is mounted directly to the windshield as it normally would pre-modification?
2.8-12mm zoom a139 2k. It’s been a long journey of trial and error to get here..
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I was just reading about this before you posted but you clarified it well.That looks great Zack, you did a nice job. However, with all your discussions about modifying this camera, this is the first time I am aware that you were planning to install a varifocal lens. I wish you would have mentioned this before. Sorry to be the messenger of not so good news but unfortunately there is a bit of a problem in using this lens on a A139 camera. The available 2.8 - 12mm varifocal M12 lenses are all only 3 megapixel optics. This is not adequate resolution for the A139 and especially so if you installed it in a 139 Pro (as this is a 139 Pro telephoto thread, I'm not sure exactly which camera you are talking about). You really need a lens with much higher resolving power to more closely match the specifications of the sensor in this camera. This means at least a 5K lens for a 2K camera at a bare minimum and preferably much higher.
I think you may get reasonable performance if everything in your mod is working properly but certainly not the optimal performance that the 139 camera is capable of.
I happen to have years of experience with this particular 2.8-12mm ƒ/1.4 varifocal lens, so I know what I am talking about. - Mobius Varifocal Zoom IR. Also have had a lot of experience with a similar 5MP 6-22mm ƒ/1.6 version of the lens as well. More recently I've been using the 5MP varifocal in a 2K camera and am in the process of looking to upgrade it to a higher spec primary lens because the 5K lens's performance isn't quite cutting it.
I was just reading about this before you posted but you clarified it well.
I just ordered this lens a little while ago because I wanted to test the various options. It’s a 5mp 6-22mm. Is this a good option?
5MP Action Camera Vari-Focal Lens 6-22mm M12 Mount 1/2.5 Inch IR Filter Long Distance View https://a.co/d/d6QzG5g
And is the ‘issue’ the same with prime lenses?
im going to start with the varifocal but if I find I’m keeping at a certain setting then I’ll just get a prime lens in that mm.Yes, that is essentially the same lens as in my second link above. It is an excellent lens. I am concerned that such a lens is too big and heavy for a camera like the A139 but as I don't own one of these cameras I don't know for sure if it will be stable in the mount, protrude too much or stay in place.
The megapixel thing is basically the ability to resolve detail onto the sensor (or film). With digital sensors, the resolving power of the lens needs to more or less match the size of the pixels on the sensor plate. The higher the resolution, the smaller the pixels and this applies to any lens, varifocal or primary. Actually, higher resolution lenses on digital sensors may not always produce the best results. More resolution is not always better in every circumstance. A high resolution lens with way to many megapixels projected onto a lower resolution sensor with larger pixels theoretically will perform worse than a lower resolution lens more closely matched to the sensor's pixel size. For now, you don't need to worry about that however.
I think if it were me I would go with a smaller lightweight primary lens more like what @TonyM has been demonstrating in his 139 mods here.