Going to have to fit those fender flags to mark the actual corners of the car!This seems to be about one's approach toward whatever they consider optimal usage. For me, a dashcam is an evidence gathering device so I want it to clearly show where my vehicle is as well as what is happening nearby around it. I do not need to have images from a quarter mile away nor do the images need to be perfect in color or focus; they just need to be present and identifiable and cover as much area as possible while doing this. Those images also need to capture the conditions of traffic control devices where possible. I really don't care if it shows the dashboard or sky or the hairs in my nose- none of that is directly relevant to my purposes.
Where this subject does become relevant to me is if the excess image area or coverage has any adverse affect on the performance of my cams. Which we know that excessive sky in the FOV can do, and also dashboard reflections. And perhaps even in processor performance which is a hard limit we're working within. So if in losing some of the unneeded capture area (such as my nose hairs) lets my cam perform better that's a good thing. But if it detracts one bit from my being able to see and view the things I deem necessary to it's function as an evidence-gatherer then it's a bad thing. I'm not recording for cinematic purposes nor am I concerned about the recording's aspect ratio for viewing pleasure purposes.
You must clearly have visible some reference point(s) to your vehicle in order to have important factors like your lane position, apparent distances. and traffic signal conditions clearly visible in the recording or it's not going to show what needs to be seen to assist you in a traffic incident. Having the front corners of your car visible is by far the best way to clearly show your lateral lane positioning regards road markings. Having only a centerline reference from a center-mounted cam does not do this; but only shows your relation to the lane center which is not important in terms of legality. If for whatever reason you can't capture your front corners they you have an even greater need to get some kind of side references in the view to better show you were within your lane limits. My minivan has a sharply sloped front so I had to aim the cam downward more than I preferred to in order to capture those critical reference points. It was OK as I could still capture all overhead traffic signals, but just barely, and barely is enough here. Luckily dashboard reflections weren't a problem in doing this. In my big workvan I can aim higher and get a better capture of everything so I do.
Long before dashcams I was involved in a crash where a woman had wildly crossed the centerline in a sharp curve then was attempting to get back over when the impact occurred. Momentum of her vehicle carried her back over into her lane post-impact so there was no clear evidence by vehicle positioning to prove her claim or mine regards who had crossed the line- it could have been either of us. What saved me in that case were my skidmarks, which started in my lane then jolted over at the impact point at the edge of my lane. It was raining and my tracks were almost washed out when the Cop arrived; had he been a couple minutes later in arriving I would have had no proof of my story versus her lies. If I had a cam in that crash it would have showed her wildly across the centerline and the point where impact occurred, but without having reference to the corners of my car I would still not been able to prove that at impact I was fully in my lane; the sharpness of the curve would have made a centerline reference only useless for evidence purposes.
It was a crazy crash and would have made an equal to some of the Russian vids as she was not only in my lane, but at one point was almost completely in the lane beyond that with her car well heeled over from cornering forces as she flew along at a reckless speed. As we all sat in the Cop's car while he was writing it up she claimed I was flying and that she never left her lane. The Cop, rather miffed, said "Lady, I saw his skidmarks and there's no way you weren't in his lane. It doesn't matter how fast he was going, you weren't supposed to be in his lane so it's your fault completely" She opened her mouth to say something and the Cop jumped in and said angrily "I don't want to hear another word from you. This was your fault and you're going to be charged with it." It was all I could do not to laugh out loud at that point but I managed to stay composed. This crash totally convinced me of the huge importance of being able to show the front corners of my car when I later got into dashcamming. It doesn't matter at all if you see my dash (or my nose hairs) but it matters greatly that you can clearly see me within the limits of my lane in all circumstances. Here in the Southern US we have some quaint words and phrases and one of them is "wrong-headed". I think it's meaning is obvious so don't be wrong-headed in thinking about what your cam captures and it's importance
Phil
Well then we need a 360 degree view so that the fenders are properly visible, although it is still hard to see any contact unless the camera lens is outside the cabin, or you have a very rectangular car!
One I posted a couple of weeks ago, not much of the hood visible in this one, but enough to be a reference, and since my car has curved edges rather than 90 degree corners it is always going to be impossible to see where the real front of the car is unless I put a camera in the radiator grill - now there is an idea, I have a waterproof remote camera waiting for a use...
Please take a look at this video (unedited 1920x540p30 20Mbit/s): https://my.pcloud.com/publink/show?code=XZkCVt7ZJA3784frguFjK1AzvflJqH1APYbyI prefer 1920x540
So here's what I have for my A129 front camera:
[Is there anything else I can do? The front camera is installed like so:
I guess it's about the light loss. You can easily get -2 EV with a CPL and a window tint at the same time.Often a CPL combined with a tinted windshield will create an unwanted rainbow effect.
I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be looking at?Please take a look at this video (unedited 1920x540p30 20Mbit/s): https://my.pcloud.com/publink/show?code=XZkCVt7ZJA3784frguFjK1AzvflJqH1APYby
The problem is that some plastic tints circularly polarize some of the light which doesn't combine well with a CPL. I think a linear polariser filter is OK, but I've not seen anyone test that yet...I guess it's about the light loss. You can easily get -2 EV with a CPL and a window tint at the same time.
I guess it's about the light loss. You can easily get -2 EV with a CPL and a window tint at the same time.
40° & 60° ?I would suggest tilting your camera lens downward to include more of your car's hood/bonnet. The general rule-of-thumb is 40 degrees sky and 60 degrees coverage below the horizon. This will also improve the exposure your camera captures when you have a large sections of bright sky in the image.
Often a CPL combined with a tinted windshield will create an unwanted rainbow effect. If your CPL is working well and you don't see any unusual rainbow effects in the image you should be fine with it.
40° & 60° ?
Do you mean 40% sky and 60% land?
Please elaborate.
Isn't it valid only if the vertical FOV is 100 degrees?As I said, "40 degrees sky and 60 degrees coverage below the horizon".
Isn't it valid only if the vertical FOV is 100 degrees?
Please take a look at this video (unedited 1920x540p30 20Mbit/s): https://my.pcloud.com/publink/show?code=XZkCVt7ZJA3784frguFjK1AzvflJqH1APYby
From that argument I wonder why you don't record in 4:3 aspect ratio since a lot of dashcams have a 4:3 sensor. There is a compromise to be made and 4:3 is not a good compromise for most vehicles, 16:9 seems to have excess sky and dash on a lot of our videos but works nicely for some, 32:9 does work for me since I have my dashcam mounted relatively low on a low height car, but looks like it is significantly too flat for your tall vehicle. What we need is an option in the settings menu that we can customise to the vehicle.Nutsey, I think your panoramic dash cam video looks really cool, as do @Nigel's. As I've mentioned previously in this thread I can really see the appeal of shooting video like this. I just think it is not a good idea if our goal is to capture as much visual information as possible from our dash cams in the event of a mishap.
Here, I've used the same screen shot I posted above but I've isolated a precisely 1920 x 540 pixel section to mimic the frame from your video.
To my thinking it makes no sense to intentionally eliminate large areas of the potential image we can capture given the magnification we have available from any given focal length lens and sensor size for the reasons I've elaborated above.
I think it can be useful for dedicated cams intended for better license plates recording. I mean it can be used if you already have one for capturing overall road situation including overhead lights and signs.Nutsey, I think your panoramic dash cam video looks really cool, as do @Nigel's. As I've mentioned previously in this thread I can really see the appeal of shooting video like this. I just think it is not a good idea if our goal is to capture as much visual information as possible from our dash cams in the event of a mishap.
I think it can be useful for dedicated cams intended for better license plates recording. I mean it can be used if you already have one for capturing overall road situation including overhead lights and signs.
From that argument I wonder why you don't record in 4:3 aspect ratio since a lot of dashcams have a 4:3 sensor. There is a compromise to be made and 4:3 is not a good compromise for most vehicles, 16:9 seems to have excess sky and dash on a lot of our videos but works nicely for some, 32:9 does work for me since I have my dashcam mounted relatively low on a low height car, but looks like it is significantly too flat for your tall vehicle. What we need is an option in the settings menu that we can customise to the vehicle.
It also depends of the FOV of the dashcam, with a narrow angle dashcam even I would not want 32:9, in fact my dashcam is wider than most.