Resources for camera adjustment?

[Shep]

I'm not terribly familiar with what to look for in adjusting a dash cam, but I do know when something looks "off". Such is the case with my SGZC12RC V2 units I'm installing in the sides of my car:

I have made zero image adjustments to any of my cameras, that file came straight from the unit on default settings. Now, there IS a house somewhere above the hood of the red car, but you'd never know from the video! There are also tall trees and a beautiful blue sky, none of which is visible.

How can I properly adjust this camera so that it gets the best daytime image possible? What should I look for in adjusting for nighttime also? I know "quality" is relative, but if someone could give me some pointers on where to start, that would be wonderfully appreciated!

(Side note: I'm running SG9665GC V2 units front and rear, and those likely need adjusting as well. Will soon add GitUp Git1 cameras to the mix as well, waiting on mounts for those guys.)

I do want to say that the Street Guardian cameras I have installed now show huge potential, but they seem to need some adjustment to get there. These side guys have incredible detail, but something is off with the sky. (Exposure? White balance?)

 

[Module 79L]

You should've opened this thread in the Street Guardian's sub-forum and you'd immediately have @niko, @Street Guardian USA or @jokiin all over it.
Let's hope @DashCamMan notices the tag and moves it to there.

 

[Shep]

My thought was that this was asking for more generalized advice of what settings to adjust in general, not settings specific to a single manufacturer. Could be wrong though

 

[niko]

EV and white balance on this dascham is set the way if close objects are dark, then it adjusting whole picture brighter, so those close objects ( cars, buildings etc ) will be brighter and you can see more details, hence sky is overexposed in your example, because it uses full frame to balance out exposure. If it had an option to work with 1/3 , top / bottom or centre of the frame then of course result would be different, but I assume for you and other drivers most important to record action what happens within road-view area and sky is the least thing, unless you plan to record meteorite ?

 

[Module 79L]

My thought was that this was asking for more generalized advice of what settings to adjust in general, not settings specific to a single manufacturer. Could be wrong though

Even though there are a lot of cameras with the same hardware, some brands (if not all of them) tweak their firmwares and tune their cameras in more specific ways, so it's always better to post in the respective sub-forum. Also because your post's resolution may help others in the future, which it wouldn't if the post becomes "buried" deep down in the general dashcam discussion.

 

[Shep]

@niko I'm not after the detail in the sky (meteorites... I like that) , but it does point to a bigger problem. Note how that, for example, the front hubcap of the red car can't even be made out clearly. I can't tell how many lug nuts it has in it, whereas with the rear one, it seems like five. The color is also off, the red car is a deeper red than the image above shows, and our grass doesn't look nearly as dead in person. (I hope... maybe... okay fine, that part is probably accurate as-is ).

It almost seems like the shadows are lacking depth too. That could just be the size of the camera itself, I'm not expecting miracles from a camera the size of a flash drive, but it's worth mentioning just in case something can be done about that. Overall though, the picture is far too "bright" in my opinion.

because your post's resolution may help others in the future, which it wouldn't if the post becomes "buried" deep down in the general dashcam discussion.

Hadn't considered that at all, that's actually a very good point. Is it possible a moderator could move the thread too? I could try PM'ing one of them to see if they can move the thread for me.

 

[Module 79L]

@niko I'm not after the detail in the sky (meteorites... I like that) , but it does point to a bigger problem. Note how that, for example, the front hubcap of the red car can't even be made out clearly. I can't tell how many lug nuts it has in it, whereas with the rear one, it seems like five. The color is also off, the red car is a deeper red than the image above shows, and our grass doesn't look nearly as dead in person. (I hope... maybe... okay fine, that part is probably accurate as-is ).

Those Sony sensors (or the firmware tuning) have a tendency to turn everything a little too "orange", at least for my taste. Some people don't really mind but for me it was very weird being surrounded by orange cars, orange traffic signs, etc, when I tested the MateGo MG380, which has the same sensor and chipset.

Hadn't considered that at all, that's actually a very good point. Is it possible a moderator could move the thread too? I could try PM'ing one of them to see if they can move the thread for me.

Don't worry, I already tagged @DashCamMan, and as soon as he can he'll move it.

 

[Shep]

That explains the color, okay. Yeah, I'm all for a thread move if it helps others too.

Heck, don't know why I didn't think of this, I'm going to grab a few stills from the other cameras and go through the settings to find what's relevant. Then I'll make a list and see what can be adjusted and how it behaves. Might even capture more stills for comparison purposes.