A119 Mini 2 Test & Review PP

[safedrivesolutions]

Question was your mini you are trying to determine fov a pre-production or production model? Only asking because ive seen pre-production ones with less or more fov vs the actual production ones.

Mine are all production models. Not sure if you are asking me or someone else.

 

[Dashmellow]

I’ve been researching a reliable, definitive way to measure dash cam FOV so I can confirm & verify manufacturer claims.
Like having a wall chart in my garage.
But the only thing I can find would be to measure it outdoors with a 100 Yard measuring tape at a strip mall parking lot.
And even then it would only be an estimation, and would only be useful in comparing measurements between cameras.

In so many words, I said this earlier in this thread, this idea of stringing a long tape measure in front of your camera just isn't gonna' cut it. FOV is a measure of how far away a subject is from your lens, so where and how far away do you decide to put the 100 foot measuring tape? A lens's angle of coverage is based on focal length and the "angle of view" goes from the front of the lens out to infinity. How long a tape measure will you need if your dash cam is facing an ocean or a skyline?

I don't expect anyone here to stop using the term FOV (field of view) and use the accurate terminology AOV (angle of view) because it has become too embedded. You can call it FOV or whatever you like but that doesn't change how physics works. Stringing a long tape measure up at some random distance from your car will not give you the "FOV" or "AOV" of your lens. It may be able to tell you that two different lenses have different angles of view (AOV) but it won't give you any sort of objective measurement.

We have basic trigonometry to calculate lens angle coverage.

 

[Panzer Platform]

https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/a119-mini-2-test-review-pp.48947/post-594909 @safedrivesolutions

Yo Ben,
Check out the 4 screenshots in this post from the Mini 1, Mini 2, A139 Pro, A229.
Can you read the phone number on the back of the truck on all four cameras?
-Chuck

 

[Dashmellow]

@Leonauto posted a link to an interesting Russian site where you can learn how to calculate the AOV (call it FOV if you wish) of your dash cam lens. Using the instructions and the online calculator provided it will perform the simple trigonometric equation for you to make the calculation and give you your lens's angle of coverage. It uses the same high school level trigonometry equation I posted earlier in this thread to achieve the results.

The site is in Russian, however I used Google translate to convert the site to English and you can access it using the link below.

https://dim565-ru.translate.goog/angle/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp

 

[safedrivesolutions]

https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/a119-mini-2-test-review-pp.48947/post-594909 @safedrivesolutions

Yo Ben,
Check out the 4 screenshots in this post from the Mini 1, Mini 2, A139 Pro, A229.
Can you read the phone number on the back of the truck on all four cameras?
-Chuck

Yes I can

 

[Panzer Platform]

Yes I can

Which camera was the easiest to read the phone number, (most clearly legible)?

 

[safedrivesolutions]

Which camera was the easiest to read the phone number, (most clearly legible)?

A229

 

[Panzer Platform]

A229

You're joking right? lol
Look how much bigger the truck appears on the Mini 1 screenshot.

 

[safedrivesolutions]

You're joking right? lol
Look how much bigger the truck appears on the Mini 1 screenshot.
View attachment 65843

U3000??? ha ha ha. I got great vision. They all look easy to read for me.

 

[safedrivesolutions]

Tested the A139 Pro vs the A119 Mini 2

 

[Panzer Platform]

Tested the A139 Pro vs the A119 Mini 2

Check out this Low Light Test - Mini 1 & Mini 2 & A139 Pro & WM1

 

[Panzer Platform]

HDR Test - A119 Mini - A119 Mini 2 - A139 Pro - WM1

 

[safedrivesolutions]

Check out this Low Light Test - Mini 1 & Mini 2 & A139 Pro & WM1

Why are their lines going across the screen for A139 Pro and WM1?

 

[Panzer Platform]

Why are their lines going across the screen for A139 Pro and WM1?

https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/v1-1-0605-version-iq-optimized.49065/post-595454

 

[Dashmellow]

Three years ago the same banding issue was reported with the A119 V3. I suggested that PWM was causing the issue but there was never any consensus about the problem. The problem was often reported as happening under "low lighting" even when LED lighting didn't necessarily seem to be the lighting source and some members claimed to never have the issue under what appeared to be the same conditions. Anyway, I tried to explain and demonstrate how PWM could be the cause.

https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/viofo-a119-v3.39023/post-519616

 

[Panzer Platform]

Illuminated Sign Test - A119 Mini - A119 Mini 2 -A139 Pro - WM1

 

[safedrivesolutions]

Night Testing is live. I do start out with a Tunnel Test. You can notice one slight half second of lighting adjustment on Mini 2 when coming towards the end of the tunnel. However it is so minor it is barely worth talking about. We got night time footage and night time with 60 fps.

 

[Panzer Platform]

FOV Test - A119 Mini - A119 Mini 2 - A139 Pro - WM1

 

[Dashmellow]

FOV Test - A119 Mini - A119 Mini 2 - A139 Pro - WM1

It is certainly a useful comparison to see the differences between AOV of these three cameras.

I recall that recently you were puzzled that all three of these cameras claim to have an Angle of View of 140º yet they all yield different coverage. There is a simple explanation for this that needs to be taken into consideration when comparing different cameras.

All three cameras, (Mini, Mini 2, and A139 Pro) have a listed specification FOV of 140° degrees. However I’m seeing they are all different with the Mini being the narrowest, the A139 Pro being the widest, and the Mini 2 somewhere in the middle.

Each of these cameras uses a different sensor and/or different resolutions. Even if all three cameras have the identical 140º lens on it the result will be that the apparent AOV will appear different. A slightly bigger or smaller sensor will yield a different result, as will the same sensor set for either 2K or 4K. There is really only so much @viofo as a manufacturer can do to be exactly precise when they present us with these specifications. It is one thing for a manufacturer to provide the exact and precise AOV when you have a camera and lens that costs thousands of dollars and another when you have a consumer product like a modestly priced dash camera where each lens AOV would need to be precision calculated for each sensor size. You can get very close however. I believe that close is good enough for most dash cam buyers, although some of us can be pretty fussy about these things.

A bigger or smaller sensor will yield a different result, because each lens projects an image circle of fixed size called "the circle of coverage". This circle is a cross section of the cone of light projected onto the sensor by the lens. To work properly the "circle of coverage" needs to be larger than the size of the sensor to avoid vignetting. The same circle of coverage projected onto a smaller sensor will yield an image with greater magnification and when projected into a larger sensor will provide an image with less magnification, hence the apparent AOV will be different in each camera given the same lens on different sensors. The resolution of the sensor is also a factor.

This topic comes up here on the forum from time to time. Here is a graphic I created several years ago to illustrate how this concept works with two sensors of different sizes with the same lens. This hypothetical "lens" has only one image circle of coverage (also called the circle of illumination) yet yields different magnifications or image AOV depending on the size of the sensor.

 

[Leonauto]

FOV Test - A119 Mini - A119 Mini 2 - A139 Pro - WM1

Or collect screenshots of these videos like this:

Spoiler

I'm sorry, I made a mistake, at the time of creating the post I mixed up the screenshots and inserted two identical ones (first and second) into the first combined screenshot, both were screenshots of A119 mini 2.
Now everything is fixed

Thanks for your efforts!