Just got the A119S and the video is blurry :/

[Dont Knowler]

It is just to much glare from the light.

You will not like what I am going to say, but what you call glare, I call dispersion. It is what happens when you make your lens not of costy optical glass, but of some kind of glass scrap instead, which deflects a significant percentage of light as it goes through the lens. I do not have this very problem in my Viofo, however after Viofo "optimized" their device by replacing the good metal lens holder with a ****ty plastic one, I would not be surprised if they would further "optimize" their glass lens, to gain another 20 cents per device, as the next step.

 

[winter4w]

Поплавки фокусируются с помощью пластикового держателя, и он составляет + 22 ° C, 40 минут.
Пока Viofo не заменит пластиковый держатель для металлического держателя, у потребителя возникнет проблема, и жалобы Viofo. ЭТО НЕОБХОДИМО ДЛЯ ВАС? Еще раз повторю и объясняю! Законы физики не отменены! Матрица ИМХ291 большая и «горячая» в квадратном держателе с высокой температурой и без радиатора (радиатор), низкое качество простирается до микрона, линза отходит от матрицы, полученной дефокусировкой. Аналогичная проблема в близком корпусе испытала матрица AR0330.

НЕ верьте, что производство Viofo и SG металлических держателей. Проблема с колебаниями частично решена прокладкой EWA, и 0.20 $ пощадили на металле, смешно.

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Are you saying run the camera for 30min in parking mode and see the first clip then second?

Yeah, night video is harder to tell focus. Still looks out of focus to me though. Hard to tell if it worse or better than your day video though. The test GSE stated above would be good if you really want to see if it's focus drift or just out of focus. Your probably just frustrated and ready to give up at this point though.

Yea I'm going to return them lol. The whole point in me going for a new camera was to find something more reliable than my G1WH. This cam is having issues reading plates or even identifying cars due to the focus issue.

The early morning footage I think is more focused is because you can actually read the street signs. So I am sure it is the temp causing focus drift, however, I think the cam may already be out of focus. Reading more I am not the only one who seems to be getting the focus issue. There are also other things such as the hot pixels. My G1WH does not have any hot pixels.

 

[gse]

Are you saying run the camera for 30min in parking mode and see the first clip then second?

Need day video,start the camera in normal record mode, cycle to put the 1 minute, you need the 1st clip and 30 as well, or you get 31.....40, etc.

Look at my screenshots above and may be the difference in 40 minutes The first cold , the fortieth hot, focus drifted.

 

[Dont Knowler]

I am sure it is the temp causing focus drift, however, I think the cam may already be out of focus. Reading more I am not the only one who seems to be getting the focus issue. There are also other things such as the hot pixels. My G1WH does not have any hot pixels

Well, the Viofo has been -theoretically- a good attempt to build a "dream dashcam" for reasonable money. However, the manufacturer-s willingness to pocket every cent forgetting image quality killed the whole project off. Sorry to say that, but the next two dashcams I still need for my second car will not be Viofos.

 

[winter4w]

Need day video,start the camera in normal record mode, cycle to put the 1 minute, you need the 1st clip and 30 as well, or you get 31.....40, etc.

Look at my screenshots above and may be the difference in 40 minutes The first cold, the fortieth hot, focus drifted.

Yea I am sure they are drifting. I looked at some clips when I started in the day and they look fuzzy but not bad. As I drive and leave it sitting in the heat the quality gets worse and worse until cooled again. However even cold it is still fuzzy. Thanks for the help but I'm going to return them and wait for the SG9663DC. Amazon has 30-days return.

Well, the Viofo has been -theoretically- a good attempt to build a "dream dashcam" for reasonable money. However, the manufacturer-s willingness to pocket every cent forgetting image quality killed the whole project off. Sorry to say that, but the next two dashcams I still need for my second car will not be Viofos.

Yea I was a bit surprised it was not built as good as it could be. It could have been one of the best dashcams out there. If it worked out I might have bought two one up front and one in the back

 

[stelloy]

I just recently received my new a119s and mine does the same thing. In the beginning of the video it's sharp but by the time I start driving around 30 minutes or so, the camera becomes blurry. I'm just going to return this and look for something else.

 

[winter4w]

I just recently received my new a119s and mine does the same thing. In the beginning of the video it's sharp but by the time I start driving around 30 minutes or so, the camera becomes blurry. I'm just going to return this and look for something else.

Yea looks like some people are having the same issue. I am wondering did you get yours off amazon. And people who are not having the issue where did you get yours? I am wondering if the lineup sent to Amazon are all lemons.


I am right now working on my review video I will upload to YouTube later this week. If any of you wanna see my thoughts on it here is a link to my channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC33SYCiX3jjUWTThPSxWvQQ

 

[gse]

And people who are not having the issue where did you get yours?

In the first installments of V1, a metal holder was installed.
How much was released with the metal and which resellers sold, knows only Viofo.

 

[Hombré]

I say it again............. All things being equal and relevant this camera is excellent and very adjustable

 

[Hombré]

I'm going to return them and wait for the SG9663DC

Yeah right............. Return with no issues based on future stuff

 

[winter4w]

I say it again............. All things being equal and relevant this camera is excellent and very adjustable

Wish I could say the same lol. Did like the look of it however I need something that wont lose focus.

Yeah right............. Return with no issues based on future stuff

Not sure what you are trying to say lol but ok.

 

[Halftone]

Dear Halftone, what you are explaining here, is fairly obvious. But I am afraid that you are missing my point.
Every lens has something what I call "a circle of acceptably good focus", as perceived by user. It is not a scientific term, but a practicability-oriented one I just invented just for the sake of better explaining my point. Of course this circle does not have exactly defined limits (they are gradient), and its actual size also varies depending on lighting conditions, current aperture and shutter speed etc., but let me skip such commonplaces. Important is, that within this circle a lens is able to provide enough picture detalization for a typical user not to get the feeling that his picture is missing mission-critical details. For dashcams such details are license plates....
... And it is not inevitable that my Viofos have these problems, since other dashcam do not, despite the laws of physics and optics being the same for them all: it is a Viofo design flaw.

Lens selection will of course be an issue, since the lenses will be manufactured to be within certain tolerances (cheap=wider tolerances), and some will be better than others, and some will be beyond the limits where they should be used. That's all QC during manufacture.

Aside from that, focus will be far more critical with wide aperture lenses.

Again, there is nothing inherently inferior about plastic mounts, or inherently superior about metal mounts. Both types expand and contract with heat.

So much for theory. I am not at all sure what some are seeing is a 'design flaw', since it seems not every 119S is affected. I don't see any of this focus drift with mine. It seems very consistently sharp.

I can believe there might be assembly faults, including selection of parts of marginal tolerance.

I do see softer images at night - or rather less depth of field, and softer edges - but those are consequences of the lens being at or near full aperture in poor light, plus longer exposure times. But maybe I just haven't looked close enough. The errors being described should show up much more clearly, and make for easier comparison, in stills made from the camera in different light and temperature conditions. So I'll try and do that.

 

[Peylix]

Yeah right............. Return with no issues based on future stuff

Replacing my 119S with the new DC kit from SG as well.

I'm on camera 2 and now my GPS wont even connect to a satellite at all. Tested in 3 separate vehicles using both hard wire and USB. Plugged into cam, and into GPS.

VIOFO cut a lot of corners with the 119 and 119S. Hell, they had to release a GPS base revision not 3 months after release lol. Now they have a new "V2" that uses a better lens and swapped out the holder. The cam is less than a year old and they have had to change a lot on it mechanically and they STILL have a **** ton of issues.

If you have a unit that is issue free (I'm sure there are some out there) cool. Some of us don't have that luxury. So we are moving on.

 

[Dont Knowler]

I don't see any of this focus drift with mine. It seems very consistently sharp.

I am very eager to know if your lens holder is a plastic or a metal one?

there is nothing inherently inferior about plastic mounts, or inherently superior about metal mounts

Indeed. In theory, there are some metals which expand more than very special types of fiber-reinforced plastic. But we are not talking theory: we are discussing a specific cam and the lens holder(s) it comes with. Regarding which, from what I´ve heard / read /viewed so far, the situation is as follows:
- the first batches of 119S had metal holders. Obviously, made of proper metal, since I have seen no evidence that owners of such cams ever complained about temperature-related focus drift - and, on the contrary, I have seen evidence that they do not have such an issue;
- later batches of 119Sv2 had plastic holders. Those later batches do have focus drift (I´ve seen lots of evidence, and I have the issue myself) - obviously, this is due to improper plastic used. Manufacturer wants the community to believe, that only some of the cams, which came with plastic lens holders, do have this issue, since only some (not all, according to manufacturer) of the plastic lens holders batches used for cams production had "problems".
As of today, I tend to believe however, that ALL of the 119Sv2 with plastic holders do have this focus drift issue - and the owners who say theirs do not, either have metal holders, or just had not bothered to really run hot-vs-cold focus comparison tests properly.
The reason, why I do not believe Viofo ever used proper special low-expansion plastic in their 119Sv2 plastic lens holders, is the following: I can think of only one reason for their switching from metal to plastic: to save a couple of cents on that. Since low-expansion metal parts are known to me to be less expensive, than carbon-fiber-reinforced low-expansion plastic, I do believe that when doing this switchover Viofo switched to some cheap, improper plastic. They claim to be using proper plastic, but I simply do not believe that: proper plastic would not expand causing such a focus drift, while the plastic Viofo is using does expand that much.

 

[IvanhoeYU]

hi,

after some tests done, thanks @gse, the issue seems to be confirmed with my a119s.

I'll continue to do some more evaluation in order to be sure 100% but first result confirms what all of you are saying (and it's funny part to test and evaluate, personally I like it ;-) )

The operating temperature of the @viofo a119s influences the focus?!

When the dashcam is cold, at least in my case, the focus is clear for objects at bigger distance, after 1h of operating and when the dashcam becomes worm, not so hot, the objects near the lens becomes clear and well focused, means distant objects become blurry and of course compared to what have been focused clearly when the lens was cold (really strange as the temperature range is not so big...crazy).

Now I am understanding better why I am disappointed by Viofo a119s.

It works good only for first 5 min...

and I've done the test under the ambient and constant temperature at my home (23°C).
So not a lot of temperature stress, from 23°C to the operating temperature of a119s only.
to be transparent I don't have the tool to measure inside of the viofo, but roughly the delta is of maybe 15°C, not more, when the a119s becomes worm.

Supposing that in the winter or summer it will be even worst, as the temperature delta range will be even less favorable to a119s = bigger dilatation; maybe not from -20 to +60 but the starting point could be easily from 0°C, so with the delta of 40°C the results will be interesting to see...or in summer, from 10°C in the underground garage to +50 on the windshield will give the similar "normal" 40°C temperature range.

personally I have some doubts that nobody at Viofo didn't test it...or maybe it's "normal" to this price range?

If my further test confirms this floating of the focus my a119s goes back to amazon, I still have 3 weeks to return it and 1* to Viofo, 5* to this forum

cheers

PS: which manufacturers have the robust lens and lens holder? only street guardian?
PSS : does someone know if Mini 0906 has this focus drift

 

[OCD Tronic]

I met with VIOFO in Hong Kong last week. Improvements are in development for sure. (Continuous and ongoing efforts into 2018)

 

[IvanhoeYU]

hardware modification we suppose, so could receive the new lens/holder/sensor?

or do you mean that there will be V3 for new customer, forgetting the v2 ones...

probably impossible to fix with FW as how to prevent the dashcam from heating.

by the way when you cool down the a119s, the distant objects becomes focused and close object loose it...so vice and versa up to the temperature of the lens/holder/sensor.

if I have the problem in the traffic, I'll ask people to wait my a119s cooling down in order to be able to get the correct footage ;-)

cheers

 

[gse]

And so, one of the participants in the forum 4pda.Ru, having the problem of the defocus, made a Holder made of the material D16T
Gave me kindly 2pcs of Holders for testing and testing, the original dimensions are met, it remains only to paint in a black matte color and proceed with installation.

Dont Knowler I can share with you 1pc.

It's sad that users have to find a solution for themselves, and the representative did not even come out with a statement on the forum.

The new Blackview model has similar problems, What is it?
I can not honestly test it. I do not have it, but the representative in Poland went to the forum and honestly confessed the problem.

 

[IvanhoeYU]

if it's so simple, means Viofo didn't put the right materials for the holder, and moreover for the application where everybody knows that it will be exposed to the extreme conditions, I give up.
Means, this industry is not the industry, it's the gadget factory, and those toys has to be limited only for the Child's buggies! I'll give mine to my son of 8years for his "car"!

what about you in Russia and -20 to +40°C, what about if some kind of the condensation happens inside on the electronic boards...
I give up waiting the REAL automotive industry to give serious answers and the product marketed in the right way.

Sorry, as probably there are some of manufacturers to be respected, but it's completely impossible to "read" specs/brochures around as it does means nothing and seems that no commitment and respect in front of the public market is there.
It's something that happens around in all markets, but on that point I've never seen, moving +10°C up the focus is floating. I dream...

cheers

 

[gse]

means Viofo didn't put the right materials for the holder, and moreover for the application where everybody knows that it will be exposed to the extreme conditions, I give up.

Viofo was all right in the first installment of B1, I have such a dvr, why did they remove the metal holder? nobody speaks from representatives.