Best Night Vision for £200?

[mpm235]

Hello all,
which Dash Cam, costing up to about £200 ( $250 ), has the best night vision quality? I've been thinking about Nextbase 612GW, as it has 1440p at 60fps , but reviews for Nextbase suggest reliability is patchy. Thanks, Mark

 

[jokiin]

most native 1080p cams are going to much better night video than 4k cameras currently can

 

[niko]

High resolution (within small CMOS size) and high speed Fps is actually a drawback for night vision.
You need to look for dashcam which uses CMOS with big size pixels and good optics. Not only the F-value is important but the quality of lens. Also it is very important tl have polished up firmware which is processing the video.
You may find a dashcams with good specs on the paper but due to the poor firmware and low quality "high specs" lens the night recording will be poor.
In many cases where dashcam is tuned up to perform well at night it will not perform as good in daytime and vice versa.

Sent from my VKY-L29 using Tapatalk

 

[Nigel]

Hello all,
which Dash Cam, costing up to about £200 ( $250 ), has the best night vision quality? I've been thinking about Nextbase 612GW, as it has 1440p at 60fps , but reviews for Nextbase suggest reliability is patchy. Thanks, Mark

The Viofo A129 has two Sony Starvis sensors giving the highest sensitivity currently available on both front and back views. Also has an optional infrared sensor for the interior with IR illumination so that it can see in complete darkness.

 

[mpm235]

The Viofo A129 has two Sony Starvis sensors giving the highest sensitivity currently available on both front and back views. Also has an optional infrared sensor for the interior with IR illumination so that it can see in complete darkness.

Thanks very much Nigel, cheers, Mark

 

[mpm235]

High resolution (within small CMOS size) and high speed Fps is actually a drawback for night vision.
You need to look for dashcam which uses CMOS with big size pixels and good optics. Not only the F-value is important but the quality of lens. Also it is very important tl have polished up firmware which is processing the video.
You may find a dashcams with good specs on the paper but due to the poor firmware and low quality "high specs" lens the night recording will be poor.
In many cases where dashcam is tuned up to perform well at night it will not perform as good in daytime and vice versa.

Sent from my VKY-L29 using Tapatalk

Thanks

 

[kamkar]

Something with the Sony IMX 291 sensor.

 

[SawMaster]

Something with the Sony IMX 291 sensor.

Agreed- at the present time this is the best sensor used in dashcams for low light conditions. The IMX323 is good, but somewhat lesser in this regard. I personally do not feel any other sensors are worthwhile for low-light use.

IR lighting will not do any good for a dashcam which is 'looking' through glass to the outside of a car. All it will do is reflect back from the glass onto the cam causing it to darken the images due to the excessive lighting it detects. It works well with 'interior' cams that do not have to 'see' through glass. If you want IR illumination for the outside then that lighting needs to be outside of the car's glass. That's something on my 'bucket list' of things I want to experiment with someday.

Phil

 

[kamkar]

Personally i would so like a dashcam with a active IR filter and B&W mode for night footage, i would so put 2 IR lights on my car where fog lights would otherwise go, maybe put one with ling reach light and one with more spill to get the best of both worlds.
I am not really sure if this would help much, but i would so like to do the experiment.

 

[Nigel]

Personally i would so like a dashcam with a active IR filter and B&W mode for night footage, i would so put 2 IR lights on my car where fog lights would otherwise go, maybe put one with ling reach light and one with more spill to get the best of both worlds.
I am not really sure if this would help much, but i would so like to do the experiment.

If you have your headlights on then there is no point for the front, but having a strong IR light at the rear might be interesting, tail lights are not sufficient for even an IMX291 to do a decent job, although the A129 will happily catch the number plate and driver's face behind me if I put my brake lights on. If parked then an external IR lamp powerful enough to be useful is going to empty the battery too quickly.

 

[kamkar]

Yeah would have to try in both ends for sure, only problem the lights i have are all 850 Nm and so visible, would have to get a 940 Nm light source.

But i would not mind testing my current light, say put it on the roof of my car on a magnetic mount, should not matter much me driving around in a dark forest with a setup like that.

 

[Nigel]

Yeah would have to try in both ends for sure, only problem the lights i have are all 850 Nm and so visible, would have to get a 940 Nm light source.

But i would not mind testing my current light, say put it on the roof of my car on a magnetic mount, should not matter much me driving around in a dark forest with a setup like that.

You can use 850 lights on the back of your car, if people see them then they will look like faint tail lamps. Image quality is better with 850.

 

[kamkar]

Yes for back it will probably be just fine

 

[lacibaci]

I hate to poop on the IMX... parade but you're going to be disappointed with whatever you get. Todays dash cams are pretty bad at night - I learned to accept that. :|

 

[kamkar]

Yes we have seen a few cases of too lofty expectations, but in regard to low light performance, but also daytime and the illusive plates.
At night i pretty much expect the camera to document what i do, and if i don't run any red lights or weave back and forth in lanes, then surely what happen cant be my fault.
No matter the time of the day, first of all you want to let the other part lie himself into a very bad spot, then and only then do you whip out your video footage that disprove all the other parts claims.

Even a IMX 323 sensor can do that just fine, personally i just think the 291 are more easy on the eye during full speed playback, slow down or go frame by frame and what you see more are just as bad as a "older" sensor, maybe even worse cuz you see more to the sides and its all motion blurred.
Sure the IMX 291 do a little good too for what are strait in front of you, but i feel it is marginal.
Still i would buy a 291 camera, but is someone made my dream dash camera with a IMX 323 in it, then i would snag that up, cuz i would like super high bitrates - other than memory card storage - license plate recognition and what ever would be in my dream camera.

 

[Nigel]

Even a IMX 323 sensor can do that just fine, personally i just think the 291 are more easy on the eye during full speed playback, slow down or go frame by frame and what you see more are just as bad as a "older" sensor, maybe even worse cuz you see more to the sides and its all motion blurred.
Sure the IMX 291 do a little good too for what are strait in front of you, but i feel it is marginal.
Still i would buy a 291 camera, but is someone made my dream dash camera with a IMX 323 in it, then i would snag that up, cuz i would like super high bitrates - other than memory card storage - license plate recognition and what ever would be in my dream camera.

The shutter speed from the IMX291 is a lot faster than the IMX323. If you look at the motion blur on the doors of the train in these two photos there is about half the motion blur from the IMX291, but the A129 with it's IMX291 had a CPL while the T2 with it's IMX323 did not so effectively the IMX291 has 1/4 the motion blur in the same conditions. Both have managed to make fairly dark conditions look quite bright:

 

[mpm235]

Something with the Sony IMX 291 sensor.

Thank You (I'm leaning towards Viofo A119S, which has IMX 291)

 

[mpm235]

The shutter speed from the IMX291 is a lot faster than the IMX323. If you look at the motion blur on the doors of the train in these two photos there is about half the motion blur from the IMX291, but the A129 with it's IMX291 had a CPL while the T2 with it's IMX323 did not so effectively the IMX291 has 1/4 the motion blur in the same conditions. Both have managed to make fairly dark conditions look quite bright:

Thank You (I'm leaning towards Viofo A119S, which has IMX 291)

 

[zs77706]

Give a try to Viofo 119S or 129. There is no better choice for night recordings

 

[mpm235]

Give a try to Viofo 119S or 129. There is no better choice for night recordings

Thanks You, I am leaning towards the Viofo 119S