Front + Rear + Interior Cameras: Feasible?

veblen

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Hi everyone, I had pretty much decided on the A129 Duo but started thinking that a front-rear setup does not capture side footage, which is where door dings occur when parked.

I'm not looking to mount side cams looking out the side windows but from looking at footage of some of the camera reviews here, I think I could mount a wide-angle camera that faces the car interior. In the daytime, this should capture footage outside my side mirrors when parked. This would mean mounting one more camera in the rear (in addition to the A129 rear cam) that faces the interior.

What do you guys think? Is this feasible or am I getting too excited about all this?
 
If you expect to get a recording of things as they happen, then you also need cameras on all 4 sides.
You can put a extreme wide angle lens on a camera and get more than i do with my B1W cabin camera
Still with a central camera, car windows are just little portholes you cant really see much thru.

 
this should capture footage outside my side mirrors when parked.
To actually capture evidence of a door ding on video, the camera lens need to be outside, eg mounted in/on the mirror. If it is inside then it can only see when someone gets close to the side of your car, and maybe catch a mirror being knocked, but it can't see if contact is made with the door panel.

A better way to capture a door ding is with a microphone, that is why the A129 low bitrate parking mode is good, it records the audio in parking mode while other cameras don't and gives you evidence of actual contact.
 
Hi everyone, I had pretty much decided on the A129 Duo but started thinking that a front-rear setup does not capture side footage, which is where door dings occur when parked.

I'm not looking to mount side cams looking out the side windows but from looking at footage of some of the camera reviews here, I think I could mount a wide-angle camera that faces the car interior. In the daytime, this should capture footage outside my side mirrors when parked. This would mean mounting one more camera in the rear (in addition to the A129 rear cam) that faces the interior.

What do you guys think? Is this feasible or am I getting too excited about all this?

I think you are better off with cameras mounted facing out of the side windows. With the right lens and proper mounting you can cover anything that occurs along the entire length of your car, the lanes of traffic adjacent to your car as well as a fair amount of pavement quite close to your car. You will certainly capture door dings as they happen (or worse, such as someone keying your car, or a fender bender).

The primary reason I think side window cameras are preferable to an interior mounted camera is that if something should happen you have a much greater chance of identifying the vehicle that did it as well as capturing the incident itself as it happens. Very often you will also capture the license plate of the car parked next to you as they enter or leave the parking space. Of course, the lateral facing cameras will have a microphone so you'll certainly capture the sound of the incident along with the vehicle that causes the damage even if you don't happen to capture the actual contact.

leftmobius-B lens .jpg

Note that you can clearly see the license plate number of the vehicle as it is entering the parking space next to me.
sidecam3.jpg

side-Mobi .jpg
 
My side cams are angled downwards quite a bit, but would not really capture anything much below the glass which is where much of the 'action' would occur. They're not very far from the glass. If the impact or force shown is enough to move my van then clearly something has happened, or if there's only one possible incident which was recorded during the time in question, so I think they're enough as far as practicality goes. But the farther you get from the glass, the less you'll see below it, so a cross-the-cabin set-up won't show nearly as much, and of course will have roof pillars etc in the way blocking some of the higher view as well. A Sweedish Trucker often shows views from his side mirrors which do show from behind there well, but only up close because of the limited angle. You can also find vids of cams mounted externally viewing alongside, but those too have angle limitations. There are 360 degree cams but again those roof pillars, headrests, and the like blocking some of the view.

There's no perfect solution short of running a very large number of cams which isn't really practical, especially when it comes to powering them. So choose what you feel are the most likely problems and address that, hoping it's enough for other issues. With front and rear cams too, you're likely to get related images assisting with the culprit's ID, so there is likely going to be some help there. We'd all like 100% coverage of everything with full clarity but it's not ever going to be practical.

Phil
 
My four cameras provide me with more than full 360º (generous overlap of all cameras) and very close-in coverage around my vehicle. I have no need to feel that I would ever require anything more than this. Any car than makes contact with my vehicle in a parking situation gets recorded on multiple cameras, almost always including their license plate number. A proper 4 camera set -up provides all the practical protection anybody needs. There is a lot of fantasy and wishful thinking around this forum for what people want or expect out of dash cams in terms of what is practical. See this link for a demonstration of four camera 360º overlapped coverage on a pick-up truck.
 
Hi everyone, I had pretty much decided on the A129 Duo but started thinking that a front-rear setup does not capture side footage, which is where door dings occur when parked.
I have 2x A129 Duo installed for both front/back and left/right recording. After seeing those images from @Dashmellow I have swapped one of the side-facing A129 lenses for a Mobius C2 lens for wider coverage. I will do the other side later this year.
 
With the right lenses/cameras/vehicles 360 degree coverage with 4 cams is possible, however my workvan is too long for that so my rear quarters aren't covered, but that may be changing soon :) I more want to have as much forward covrage as I could get as I do a lot of 4-way stop intersections where I need to capture the side traffic well ;)

Phil
 
Yes side cameras can be too narrow FOV, my R side camera the innovv C3 are just 90 degree FOV and so not really the best camera for that job.
But it is my own fault cuz all i needed to do was drill out the part of the C3 housing that encompass the lens to suit the larger diameter of a wider angle lens, i just have not gotten that far.
I am very eager to replace the Mobius ( B2 lens as i recall ) and the Innovv C3 side cameras in my car, everything are laid out and planned for. so now i just need to figure out what hardware to place there, probably one of the new dual remote cameras that are on the horizon.

I am not getting / having side cameras for the parking lot dings, while i do dislike them or at least the people that make them, then my little red car are really just a means to not walk / bicycle or take public transportation, so as long as it go WROOOM when i turn the key - don't use too much gasoline and pass the bi annual inspections i am happy.
Only dislike i have with my car now are the scratched up windscreen, i have never noticed that on other cars i have owned, but that's probably due to the current dashcam interest of mine.
I am so ready to spend the 1700 DKkr a new windscreen will cost me, and have been for a while, its just other things keep popping up or i invent a bigger need for other things in my mind.
 
Thanks everyone!! @Dashmellow, those images look great and thanks for sharing the link. I see you're using the Mobius - I'm looking at them as well but @TonyM's setup with two A129s is also appealing. Where do you mount them? I'm thinking the vent glass is a good location (next to the rear side windows). Alternatively, I could get a couple of the cheaper cameras with 180 degree FOV but quality and reliability might suffer.

And @SawMaster Phil, yes, I agree that we can't always get what we want (100% coverage)... at least for now. :) On 4-way intersections, someone always blows right through the stop signs where I live, or stops short in the middle of the intersection.

I was planning to hard wire the front-rear cameras and use a 20000 mAh battery pack to power the side cams but it may be better to just hard wire all four to the fuse box. That's should work, yes?
 
I am so ready to spend the 1700 DKkr a new windscreen will cost me, and have been for a while, its just other things keep popping up or i invent a bigger need for other things in my mind.
Try giving it a polish, it will never be as good as new, but a new one doesn't stay as good as new for very long!

The very fine scratches caused by wipers are tiny and can normally be polished out fairly easily, look up "Cerium Oxide".
 
That should work fine, if your fuse box have it you could easy run 2 dual systems on a 5A fuse.

Yeah the Dual A129 solution should work fine too, i just cant get myself to have a main unit that size on my rear window as my car have a almost 100% flat ass, and so the camera are right there in the face of anyone behind me.
The little mobius cameras are fine, but i have gone weary of having to go to 4 cameras ( or more as i have 8 in the car ATM ) to be able to compile a video of some one showing off his idiocy around my car.
 
Yeah i might give that a try as my friend have like 4 polishing machines for some reason, 2 are not even unpacked.
Already dreaming of summer as or even better than the 2018 one was.
 
Thanks everyone!! @Dashmellow, those images look great and thanks for sharing the link. I see you're using the Mobius - I'm looking at them as well but @TonyM's setup with two A129s is also appealing. Where do you mount them? I'm thinking the vent glass is a good location (next to the rear side windows).
I have fixed rear side windows behind the rear doors, where I have an A129 main unit on the driver's side, and its remote camera on the passenger side. They're behind privacy glass so not particularly easy for anyone to see. Power comes from a 12v socket in the boot/trunk. The front/rear A129 is a conventional setup with power from another 12v socket. I use powerbanks for both cameras when parked.
 
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Thanks everyone!! @Dashmellow, those images look great and thanks for sharing the link. I see you're using the Mobius - I'm looking at them as well but @TonyM's setup with two A129s is also appealing. Where do you mount them? I'm thinking the vent glass is a good location (next to the rear side windows). Alternatively, I could get a couple of the cheaper cameras with 180 degree FOV but quality and reliability might suffer.

And @SawMaster Phil, yes, I agree that we can't always get what we want (100% coverage)... at least for now. :) On 4-way intersections, someone always blows right through the stop signs where I live, or stops short in the middle of the intersection.

I was planning to hard wire the front-rear cameras and use a 20000 mAh battery pack to power the side cams but it may be better to just hard wire all four to the fuse box. That's should work, yes?

Like @TonyM I mount my lateral facing cameras on my fixed glass (tinted) rear windows (Toyota Tacoma pick-up). I began experimenting with rear and side facing cameras about six years ago and of all the different cameras I've tested, the Mobius 1 has been the hands-down most reliable, most discreet and with the use of the C2 lens installed I experience the most optimal coverage. Perhaps the only downside with the older Mobius technology is the less than optimal low light performance but for parking situations in most locations (with streetlights) it works adequately. Living as I do in a rural area where I am often driving on back country roads in pitch darkness, the low light performance of the Mobius or any other side or rear facing camera while driving becomes irrelevant anyway.
 
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I have 2x A129 Duo installed for both front/back and left/right recording. After seeing those images from @Dashmellow I have swapped one of the side-facing A129 lenses for a Mobius C2 lens for wider coverage. I will do the other side later this year.

I guess I'd lost track of your side camera endeavors as last I recall you were using dual B1Ws on the rear side glass. I also seem to recall that I commented at some point that I really liked your installation and the results but thought the FOV coverage on the B1W could stand to be wider (and taller) for side camera installation. Sounds like you've concluded the same thing. As mentioned I find the C2 lens offers the best side camera coverage, both for it's well corrected wide view as well as its ability to capture the pavement quite close in towards one's vehicle. (if aimed properly, which the above image isn't quite-needs less sky)

Note that of the three images posted above, the first one is a Mobius with the B lens, while the bottom image is the C2 lens. The middle image is a mini-0806.
 
I guess I'd lost track of your side camera endeavors as last I recall you were using dual B1Ws on the rear side glass. I also seem to recall that I commented at some point that I really liked your installation and the results but thought the FOV coverage on the B1W could stand to be wider (and taller) for side camera installation. Sounds like you've concluded the same thing.
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/a129-duo-as-side-facing-cameras.36414/
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/a129-wide-angle-lens-modification.36812/
 
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