Dash Cam FOV 140° vs. 170° Pros & Cons

[Panzer Platform]

1.) What is the “best” dash cam FOV (field of view)?
2.) What if dash cams offered 2 different FOV’s, and you could select which to use in the settings?
3.) Would you like to see that feature on dash cams?

I made a video last year trying to answer this question, but ended up just muddying the water.
I apologize if this has already been beaten to death, but I searched FOV, and Field Of View in the search bar at the top right of the screen to no avail.
-Chuck

 

[TonyM]

The ideal horizontal angle of view (AOV) for a dashcam is probably somewhere between 130 and 170 degrees, and is a personal preference on the balance between context and detail:
- Too wide and you get good context (where other cars & people are in relation to the camera) but sometimes not enough resolved detail (pixels per degree) to identify those cars, people etc
- Too narrow and you get poor context but more resolved detail

Higher resolution cameras are better for having both wide AOV and good detail, but there are other considerations regarding sensor resolution. For example, the low resolution 2MP IMX291 is not great on detail, but excels in low light.

For any given dashcam I would only use the native wide angle view. Anything else is digital zoom and not worth it, IMO.

To cover both bases, and for redundancy, some of us run 2x cameras with different AOV:
- A primary wide-angle dashcam with stock lens, AOV 130-170 degrees
- A secondary camera, typically with a third-party telephoto lens, giving an AOV in the region of 40-60 degrees

This multi-lens approach is similar to what has happened in mobile phones, where different fixed focal lengths give better results than a single wide angle and digital zoom. We already have multi-channel dashcams capable of recording from two discrete units. I would not be surprised if we see a 'front' camera unit with two different focal length lenses side-by-side within the next few years.

 

[Dashmellow]

To cover both bases, and for redundancy, some of us run 2x cameras with different AOV:
- A primary wide-angle dashcam with stock lens, AOV 130-170 degrees
- A secondary camera, typically with a third-party telephoto lens, giving an AOV in the region of 40-60 degrees

This multi-lens approach is similar to what has happened in mobile phones, where different fixed focal lengths give better results than a single wide angle and digital zoom. We already have multi-channel dashcams capable of recording from two discrete units. I would not be surprised if we see a 'front' camera unit with two different focal length lenses side-by-side within the next few years.

As you know Tony, you and I have been talking about this concept since at least 2018 but here we are four years later and nothing has come of it so far. "Next few years", well maybe, but I'm not holding my breath at this point.


June 6, 2018:

Now that we have viable high quality dual channel dash cams, the chipset technology already exists to build a dual focal length front facing dash cam. All that needs to happen is to get rid of the cable and relocate the remote cam module to the front camera housing and engineer the best telephoto into it. Or it could be a base cam with a short cabled front facing telephoto with flexible positioning and aiming.

I predict such a product may yet come about.