Anyone ever tried Low Illumination CCTV Security Camera Lens F1.2 4mm on Mobius??

[dirkzelf]

http://www.ebay.nl/itm/220984318356?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

And, how ....... etc???

 

[jokiin]

what interests you about this type of lens?

 

[dirkzelf]

what interests you about this type of lens?

Why do you ask? Isn't that obvious? Better LL recording.......

So, anyone?

 

[jokiin]

Why do you ask? Isn't that obvious? Better LL recording.......

So, anyone?

not obvious or I wouldn't have asked

 

[map]

I can't remember, but isn't the IR cut filter on the lens in the mobius?

If it is, this lens is not going to be very suitable for daylight recording.

 

[jokiin]

I can't remember, but isn't the IR cut filter on the lens in the mobius?
.

correct

If it is, this lens is not going to be very suitable for daylight recording.

maybe he wants something for just night use, not sure, firmware won't be tailored for this type of lens but at least the Mobius has a lot of user adjustment available

 

[Dashmellow]

This is a much lower quality lens than the stock lenses that come with the Mobius and very likely does not include the required IR cut filter. There is also a likelihood that it will not work in a Mobius camera since it appears to have very limited thread depth. Therefore, unless the BFL (back focal length) is unusually long there is a good chance you will never be able to achieve focus with this lens in the existing Mobius threaded lens module. Matching a lens to a specific camera and sensor (and firmware) is a complex process. Often you can get lucky and it will work fine but just as often it won't work at all.

Edit: I have been a customer of this vendor on a number of occasions and I would suggest caution in dealing with them. They offer a wide range of interesting products often at a good price but are not always the most honest in their dealings. On one occasion they assured me by email after inquiry that a CCTV security camera had a specific feature but after I received the item it did not and it would have been too costly to return it to China.

 

[dirkzelf]

OK guys, thanks for the input!

am just wondering if there could be a night recording lens / solution that gives me better LL recordings.

This particular lens should be avoided then, I guess, right?

Are there any other options for us Mobius fans to consider?

@jokiin

not obvious or I wouldn't have asked

I hope it is clear why I asked, I thought it was already, but rereading I can understand your question!

 

[jokiin]

No problem, I figured it must be something in particular you wanted to achieve but wasn't sure what that was, better to ask than assume

 

[dirkzelf]

Does ANYONE here have any experience with 3rd party lenses on Mobius?

 

[jokiin]

There's some YouTube videos I've seen posted before for things like macro photography, don't recall anything low light specific though

 

[FourEyes]

On another forum someone has tried this lens


Video:

 

[dirkzelf]

On another forum someone has tried this lens
View attachment 14211

Video:

Looks nice, but don't forget with snow or water on the ground, all video's seem brighter.....

Anyway, I presume no one has tried something like this on the Mobius.

Maybe it's time to jump.....

 

[Dashmellow]

Does ANYONE here have any experience with 3rd party lenses on Mobius?

Anyway, I presume no one has tried something like this on the Mobius.

Maybe it's time to jump.....

Alternative lenses have been tried extensively on the Mobius and the consensus is that it's not worth the trouble. @russ331 posted about this several months ago HERE. @Isoprop also posted on this subject in the same thread.

For convenience, I'll quote russ331's post here:

"I've followed the Mobius threads at RCGroups since 2013. Alternative lenses are a regular topic of discussion.

The most credible experiments have been conducted by Janke. The consensus of opinion at RCGroups is that the standard Mobius lenses cannot be bettered for overall performance ... unless you spend more on the lens than the current price of the whole camera.

The Developer clearly went to some trouble to source the best affordable lenses that are available.

If you have a spare lens handy, then fair enough to try it out. If not, don't waste your money."

 

[jokiin]

I think it's not so much about finding something that was 'better overall' that's a tough ask, something low light specific though is different again, I don't believe the firmware would be ideal though so there would still be trade offs

 

[Dashmellow]

I think it's not so much about finding something that was 'better overall' that's a tough ask, something low light specific though is different again, I don't believe the firmware would be ideal though so there would still be trade offs

Replacing the standard f1.6 high quality lens with a cheap f1.2 lens could be a way of turning a high quality camera into a mediocre one. What is really required is to replace the Mobius lens with a faster lens of equal or higher quality but as mentioned by Russ you would "need to spend more on the lens than the current price of the whole camera." Also, it can be challenging to buy an aftermarket lens that will work with a specific camera because you need to match it's circle of coverage to the particular sensor in your camera and match the barrel and thread length to the module tube and housing you have. There are a few companies that specialize in high quality aftermarket lenses for "action cams", etc. One of the best is Peau Productions in San Diego California.

A typical M12 replacement lens from them goes for around 80-100 USD but you would be upgrading your camera rather than downgrading it. I'd recommend perusing their website. Start with the "Lens Page" You'll notice that they don't just sell lenses but that they sell lenses that are known to work with specific cameras. Check out their FAQ. Since they don't specialize in the Mobius camera, any purchase from them would be a "best guess" regarding suitability but they may be able to offer advice.

Another source of decent lenses but at somewhat lower cost is M12 lenses. Of course, check out their M12 megapixel board lens page.

At these web sites you are more likely to find a quality lens actually worth installing on a Mobius that has a faster aperture than the stock lens.

 

[Dashmellow]

I think it's not so much about finding something that was 'better overall' that's a tough ask, something low light specific though is different again, I don't believe the firmware would be ideal though so there would still be trade offs

You certainly have a point about firmware and lenses. The unique thing I've learned about the Mobius is that unlike any other camera on the market the GUI offers such fine grained control over color balance, exposure and other parameters you can actually tune the camera to match the characteristics of the lens. This came in handy when I installed the B lens in the C module. The color balance of the B lens in the C module looked terrible until I changed settings.

On another interesting note, speaking of firmware and lenses, when I installed the Mobius C lens in the G1W-H camera, the Mobius lens provided extremely accurate color balance on that camera with that firmware compared to the stock lens with the same firmware which provided terrible color balance. Have a look and you'll see what I'm talking about. Compare the last photo in the post to some of the Mobius C lens images.

 

[Dashmellow]

Why do you ask? Isn't that obvious? Better LL recording.......

Aside from the possibility of installing a faster aperture lens in your camera, I was just wondering if you've tried the low light setting in the Mobius GUI?

 

[FourEyes]

standard Mobius lenses cannot be bettered for overall performance ... unless you spend more on the lens than the current price of the whole camera.

Has anybody actually done this, i.e. spent the money on these lenses and confirmed their superiority to stock ones?

 

[Dashmellow]

Has anybody actually done this, i.e. spent the money on these lenses and confirmed their superiority to stock ones?

I think you are misinterpreting the quote from @russ331's original post. Nobody is saying that installing an expensive lens in a Mobius would be superior to the stock lens. What is really being said is that unless you spend the money on a high quality replacement lens the performance will be inferior to the stock lens.

Cheap lenses from Alibaba or eBay will never be able to perform optically as well as a high quality one. The cheap lenses are often made from lower quality glass, have lower quality or non-existent multi-coatings and often have plastic barrels and bezels rather than metal ones. A cheap lens will usually yield lower contrast images, have poor optical correction of issues such as chromatic or spherical aberration, greater susceptibility to lens flare and less of an ability to render very fine detail. You get what you pay for, as they say.

When people spend a lot of money for replacement lenses they are usually professionals or serious amateurs using action cameras (not dash cams) and who have specific requirements such as wanting a different focal length, a different aperture or a highly corrected lens that eliminates the wide angle fish-eye effect (barrel distortion). Apparently, there is enough of a demand that companies like Peau Productions can specialize in supplying these lenses. Watch some of the GoPro videos they post on their website to get an idea of what people are doing with these lenses and how well they perform compared to stock lenses.

I've been experimenting with replacing different lenses in various cameras for awhile now and I've seen dramatic improvements when you swap in a better lens but my recent experiments with putting that Mobius C lens into a G1W-H has blown my mind and been a kind of game changer. The difference between a high quality lens in a dash cam and an average lens is like night and day.