ALL Dash Cams Have Distortion- "Bending Images"

@Synoptic I think if you are deciding between the 0803 and the Mobius, I think you will find the Mobius the better for many reasons. The mini 0803 is a recently updated version of a camera that had a lot of reliability issues. Some that have yet to be fixed including the sagging, loose mounts. The Mobius developer has been constantly updating this camera as well as his previous models, which shows he stands behind his work.

I refer you to the Mobius RC group for more research. http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1904559
Hopefully you will find more info there and can see the heat issue is a non issue. As far as sellers, check out http://buymobius.com. Tom is part of the development team, very knowledgable and has a great reputation of customer service.
 
Last edited:
@Synoptic I think if you are deciding between the 0803 and the Mobius, I think you will find the Mobius the better for many reasons. The mini 0803 is a recently updated version of a camera that had a lot of reliability issues. Some that have yet to be fixed. The developer has been constantly updating this camera as well as his previous models, which shows he stands behind his work.

...
This is inaccurate. The 0803 is a brand new camera housed in a case previously used by the 0801. It does not have any of the reliability issues of the older (very popular) camera as it is only related by name and case. The developer may have been constantly working on updates, but the customers are yet to receive their first update other than support for new languages. Other than some issues with the manufacturing of some of the camera mounts, there are very few reports of reliability issues.
 
This is inaccurate. The 0803 is a brand new camera housed in a case previously used by the 0801. It does not have any of the reliability issues of the older (very popular) camera as it is only related by name and case. The developer may have been constantly working on updates, but the customers are yet to receive their first update other than support for new languages. Other than some issues with the manufacturing of some of the camera mounts, there are very few reports of reliability issues.
Nigel, fair enough though the shaky mount, the past reliability and the fact that many have been complaining of start up freezes is good reason to worry. In good faith, I need to recommend what I think could work best for Synoptic's needs using what I know. I started my dash cam info search buying the mini 0801, I really liked the size. Unfortunately reliability issues led me to look at other cameras. I can say with confidence, a lot of research and reading user experiences, including my own, that the Mobius is reliable. Second reason for the recommendation is the reason I bought the Mobius A lens: I don't like the fisheye effect of wide angle lenses.
 
Nigel, fair enough though the shaky mount, the past reliability and the fact that many have been complaining of start up freezes is good reason to worry...
As it was new a few months ago this camera has no record of past reliability and I haven't seen a post about start up freezes since the pre-production version sold out so that just leaves the wobbly mount, sometimes with poor contacts which does affect some proportion of the cameras but does have an easy DIY fix and I would hope the factory has sorted it out by now anyway, can't be difficult since the majority are fine...
 
Nigel, fair enough though the shaky mount, the past reliability and the fact that many have been complaining of start up freezes is good reason to worry. In good faith, I need to recommend what I think could work best for Synoptic's needs using what I know. I started my dash cam info search buying the mini 0801, I really liked the size. Unfortunately reliability issues led me to look at other cameras. I can say with confidence, a lot of research and reading user experiences, including my own, that the Mobius is reliable. Second reason for the recommendation is the reason I bought the Mobius A lens: I don't like the fisheye effect of wide angle lenses.
GJHS , you are right about Mobius A lens . I have one and I will expect another one with capacitor . Is better than 0803 in video quality , as the Niko comparison shows in this forum.
 
Hi @synoptic12 & everyone else,
I would just like to point out from my personal experience not many companies offer bad service or misleading prices due to the fact that businesses need repeat customers. I have of course come across a few that buck what I've just stated but most companies (like JooVuu) are trying to make a living and in order to do so you need repeat customers. About 9 months ago or so we at JooVuu ran a promotion that was not as clear as it could have been - a customer brought this to our attention asking if we were essentially trying to be misleading - and as soon as they stated that we realised we had made an honest mistake and corrected everything. If you are not happy with what a company is doing - ask them, usually a small company has limited resources and so mistakes happen so if you highlight something to them they might be able to correct it - it could be a bug in the software or just an employee mistake.

I would always to encourage to buy locally as sooner or later everyone will buy from China and then you are in trouble - you will have no consumer rights, customer service or anything except a cheap product.

For the comparisson betweem 0803 and Mobius, it's like comparing cooking apples and delicious braburns 😉 yes they are both dashcam's but their purpose and approach is different. Personally I prefer the Mobius but the Mobius does have more heat issues. The 0803 is easier and generally I think the quality is a tad better but when you compare hardware specs you suddenly realise how amazing the Mobius is. It also shows you how good the development team behind the Mobius is which if you are going for a cheap chinese dash cam should probably be one of your top concerns as to get customer feedback upgrades and improvements is almost unheard of in that world.

This of course is just my 2 cents as a retailer and if I take this post and my £2.50 to starbucks I can get a coffee. Do what you want with what I have written - like 99% of people on this forum everyone really does just want to help.

Kind regards,

JooVuu
 
I found the ultimate solution for those who want 35mm dash cams
http://www.cnet.com/news/add-lenses-to-your-gopro-with-this-mod/
backbone_1.jpg
 
Do they do a kit for the Mobius? I've got a couple of Canon lenses knocking about 😀

Frank
I'm fairly sure that the Mobius doesn't have a 35mm sensor so even if there is a kit, the lens will be very mismatched!
 
I'm fairly sure that the Mobius doesn't have a 35mm sensor so even if there is a kit, the lens will be very mismatched!
Yes Nigel, I realise that - it was just an attempt at humour. Sorry! I won't do it again 🙁

Frank
 
Yes Nigel, I realise that - it was just an attempt at humour. Sorry! I won't do it again 🙁

Frank
Ohh 😱, and I was looking forward to seeing some pictures of how you are going to mount it in your car and the distortion free images it will produce! 😀
 
I'm fairly sure that the Mobius doesn't have a 35mm sensor so even if there is a kit, the lens will be very mismatched!

There are in fact many reasons cinematographers might choose to mount a lens like that on a camera such as this with such a small sensor. Both the Mobius and the GoPro use basically the same size 1/3-inch" sensor. Simply put, there is no requirement to "match" any given lenses "circle of illumination" to a particular sensor or film size. Professionals often specifically choose to make use of only a portion of the available lens coverage known as the "circle of good definition", a kind of optical sweet spot towards the center of coverage. This "sweet spot" is generally referred to as the "covering power" of the lens and this increases with the use of smaller apertures or when objects are closer to the lens. You'll notice that the lens used in the sample photo in GJHS's post is a 35mm full frame macro (apparently 28mm focal length) - (attached via the available Back-Bone C-mount adapter). The way this macro lens is deployed will increase its apparent focal length but will also dramatically enhance its effective sharpness because the image projected onto the smaller sensor from this larger lens is from the center portion of the (and therefore flatter/more optically precise) front element of the lens. In other words, you are getting the maximum optical performance the lens is capable of because you are using only a small central section of the wider circle of illumination the lens is throwing. Using a specific section of a lenses circle of coverage is a common practice in various types of photography such as perspective control architectural work in 35mm and medium format, with large format view cameras, professional cinema, special effects and in scientific analytical work. So, while lenses in fixed lens cameras such as the Mobius or GoPro are indeed "matched" to cover the diagonal size of their sensors, there is no particular requirement that "matching" is at all necessary if a lens of different size or focal length is used. As for the Mobius, this is why a wide "B" lens can be made available for the same sensor even though it is projecting a different "circle of illumination" onto the same sized sensor. This same concept is also related to the ability to select different FOV options in the Mobius firmware GUI which then uses different sized areas of the sensor regardless of the focal length of the lens.

GJHS's tongue in cheek post about having a 35mm lens on a dash cam and Boxerman's joking about putting his Canon lenses on his Mobius aside, there are specific reasons the Back-Bone Ribcage and Radiant Novo GoPro Hero 3 Black mods were developed as they do allow a wide range of lens types and focal lengths to be mounted on these small sensor miniature cameras along with various other professional cinematography tools of the trade. Of course, this capability also provides all the manual focus and exposure control inherent in these lenses. The Radiant Novo is geared towards C-Mount (16mm) professional cinema lenses while the Back-Bone provides for C-Mount, M12 and CS Mount so that a cinematographer can make use of his pre-existing, rather expensive collection of lenses, including 35mm full frame types for both still and cinema. These two different GoPro Hero 3 mods have opened up a world of unique possibilities to professional cinematographers. It's a pretty cool and exciting development and now that they are available we should start seeing some really interesting results as they make their way into creative hands.

There is an existing thread here at DCT about this subject, mostly focused on the Radiant Novo for anyone who wants to know more about this camera and see it in action.

Cameras_and_Lenses.webp


longlens.webp
 
Last edited:
What is the 'visual angle' on the Mini 0803?
 
As it was new a few months ago this camera has no record of past reliability and I haven't seen a post about start up freezes since the pre-production version sold out so that just leaves the wobbly mount, sometimes with poor contacts which does affect some proportion of the cameras but does have an easy DIY fix and I would hope the factory has sorted it out by now anyway, can't be difficult since the majority are fine...


What of the issues with the external memory cards : i.e. > 16 GB, 32 GB, 64 GB?
 
Hi @synoptic12 & everyone else,
I would just like to point out from my personal experience not many companies offer bad service or misleading prices due to the fact that businesses need repeat customers. I have of course come across a few that buck what I've just stated but most companies (like JooVuu) are trying to make a living and in order to do so you need repeat customers. About 9 months ago or so we at JooVuu ran a promotion that was not as clear as it could have been - a customer brought this to our attention asking if we were essentially trying to be misleading - and as soon as they stated that we realised we had made an honest mistake and corrected everything. If you are not happy with what a company is doing - ask them, usually a small company has limited resources and so mistakes happen so if you highlight something to them they might be able to correct it - it could be a bug in the software or just an employee mistake.

I would always to encourage to buy locally as sooner or later everyone will buy from China and then you are in trouble - you will have no consumer rights, customer service or anything except a cheap product.

For the comparisson betweem 0803 and Mobius, it's like comparing cooking apples and delicious braburns 😉 yes they are both dashcam's but their purpose and approach is different. Personally I prefer the Mobius but the Mobius does have more heat issues. The 0803 is easier and generally I think the quality is a tad better but when you compare hardware specs you suddenly realise how amazing the Mobius is. It also shows you how good the development team behind the Mobius is which if you are going for a cheap chinese dash cam should probably be one of your top concerns as to get customer feedback upgrades and improvements is almost unheard of in that world.

This of course is just my 2 cents as a retailer and if I take this post and my £2.50 to starbucks I can get a coffee. Do what you want with what I have written - like 99% of people on this forum everyone really does just want to help.

Kind regards,

JooVuu


Thank you very much. I truly appreciate the assistance you have provided, along with some very useful information. We fully comprehend the pitfalls on purchasing outside the U.S. However, we are protected under International Law, as there are many safeguards to protect the consumer from 'shady' merchants. In reality, we are conducting an investigation and will keep you updated. Again, I very much appreciate the courtesy you have provided. I've read much about you.
 
Diagonal view of 155 or 160 depending on which lens, there's two possibilities as to which lens is used

Please provide the specifications for both lenses. I've read 54 pages and know them thoroughly. Thank you.
 
The diagonal view and the fact that they are both 6 glass lenses is as much detail as I can offer right now
 
The diagonal view and the fact that they are both 6 glass lenses is as much detail as I can offer right now


You are alluding the question. Please specify exactly the "Visual Lens Angle" on the Mini 0803. More precisely, what is the 'Wide Angle' of the Mini 0803, in millimeters?
 
You are alluding the question. Please specify exactly the "Visual Lens Angle" on the Mini 0803. More precisely, what is the 'Wide Angle' of the Mini 0803, in millimeters?

I'm not alluding anything, I was providing the information I had at hand
 
Back
Top