GS9000 focussing

[Nightstalker1993]

Hi guys, I just bought a GS9000 recently and I had noticed something quite peculiar. I read about other people having 'focussing issues' with the camera focussing on the windscreen instead of the road. I have something similar but there seems to be a pattern.

It seems that when the camera is cool, the focus will be spot on but once the camera gets hot(park under the sun for some time), the focus will change to near focus and once you've driven long enough(air-conditioning cools down the camera), the focus seems to go back in check again.

So it seems like the adhesive holding the lens down may be expanding and contracting under heat, changing the focus of the lens. wondering any of you guys here have any idea on how to fix it? I'm thinking of disassembling it and using either epoxy or hot glue gun and add more adhesive to the lens.

 

[jokiin]

The problem is not adhesive, it will either be a problem with the lens or the mainboard, the lens is far more likely to be the culprit though as the heat rating on the board would be far higher than anything you'd experience in normal use

 

[Nightstalker1993]

my theory is that the contact between the lens and the sensor as i read there are adhesives. But since I had not opened the cam yet, its all just theories for now.

 

[Nightstalker1993]

found this from the Russian taker.im forum

http://www.taker.im/phpBB2/topic/147757-full-hd-видеорегистратор-gs9000/page__st__460

'Do not rush otkovyrivaem glue and adjust the lens. Check out how to keep the lens mount is attached to the lower base (between the filter frame is moved). There are plastic pins, which ends at the exit of the hole lens mount just melted soldering iron.So I have three of these four pins dangling freely, as molten place broke off, I think the vibrations ("Oh, the roads" (folk)) - the holder of the lens is hung on one remaining fixed pin, and, of course, the focus was gone ...
He took off the lens mount with the pin, gently missed pins cyanoacrylate ( the glue 3 seconds), and set the lens mount in place to stop - no defocus, the picture clear. '

so seems like the lens can actually come loose and you can glue it back afterall....

 

[Gabolinche]

so seems like the lens can actually come loose and you can glue it back afterall....

If you actually go through with the fixing of the lens, please try to take pictures of the process and share them here... Thanks!

 

[jokiin]

The glue they refer to is on the thread of the lens, from that description though it sounds as though the lens base is not held to the board by screws, bizarre arrangement for a dashcam if that's correct

 

[Nightstalker1993]

Apparently the Russian communities seems way more technical compared to anywhere elsewhere. Tons of information on the GS9000 on Russian forums and Russian blogs. There's even a blog started just to share on stuff relating to the GS9000. Most of the stuff is understandable using Google Translate to translate the site and it really does seem that the problem is the holder.

http://gs9000.blogspot.ru/p/lens.html

 

[jokiin]

Apparently the Russian communities seems way more technical compared to anywhere elsewhere. Tons of information on the GS9000 on Russian forums and Russian blogs. There's even a blog started just to share on stuff relating to the GS9000. Most of the stuff is understandable using Google Translate to translate the site and it really does seem that the problem is the holder.

http://gs9000.blogspot.ru/p/lens.html

haven't seen inside this model before but that's very dodgy

 

[Nightstalker1993]

If you take your time to read the thread on taker.im forum many mods are shown there. One guy found out the camera affected his radio, managed to narrow it down to one of the capacitors. In the end he modified it by sleeving the capacitor legs and using SME kind of ring magnet thingy and coiling the wire around it.

There's also a guy who changed the lens with another cctv lens with a wider aperture and not so wide angle. Apparently the threads are universal with other cctv lenses and can be easily had on ebay and dealextreme . Might be tempted to change the lens as I found one on dealextreme having the same 2.5mm focal length as the original gs9000 but instead having an aperture of f2.0 instead of the 2.8 on the original.

 

[jokiin]

If you take your time to read the thread on taker.im forum many mods are shown there. One guy found out the camera affected his radio, managed to narrow it down to one of the capacitors. In the end he modified it by sleeving the capacitor legs and using SME kind of ring magnet thingy and coiling the wire around it.

yeah have been having a bit of a look through there, I like that the Russians reverse engineer stuff and work out the problems, would be better if the problems weren't there to begin with, that said though have never seen a lens mounted like that, that's very rough

 

[Nightstalker1993]

yeah everybody wants to live in a perfect world but too bad we aren't. You get what you pay for and for what you get, these cheap china cams like the GS series are seriously superb value for money. The only cameras you can get here are cheam usd30~ cams and the Papago ones which are expensive as hell comparing to the rest. But then again, considering the price you pay is so cheap, somewhere had to be sacrificed and sadly that's the QC. To some it may be fun fixing problems yourself, but to most people its an annoyance and a deal-breaker. Anyway, here are the sample screenshots when i just arrived for class, and another shot after my class before i head home. On the 2nd photo, the camera had already been heated up to 62c by the awesome Malaysian sun. Notice the York word in the background, the car's plate number in the foreground and also the dirt on the windscreen. In the 2nd photo, the dirt is alot sharper while the York word in the back is blurred, showing that the focus had changed. Note also the position of everything had also shifted slightly, suggesting the lens unit might had moved in relation to the sensor, or at least one of the lens element did.




[img[http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/8763/vrw1.jpg[/img]

by the way, according to this article, seems like you can change the starting screen photo. Anybody have any idea how to do it in english or make a video about it? Google translate ain't exactly the best at teaching complicated coding steps

http://gs9000.blogspot.ru/p/appearance.html

 

[vancouverizer]

Be careful if you use cyanoacrylate (aka: super glue / crazy glue) around a lens as some of it will tend to evaporate while curing and may deposit a fine coating on the lens that can be very difficult to remove, resulting in the lens becoming "foggy". You may wish to cover the lens (with paper + tape) if you use this type of glue.

 

[jokiin]

Be careful if you use cyanoacrylate (aka: super glue / crazy glue) around a lens as some of it will tend to evaporate while curing and may deposit a fine coating on the lens that can be very difficult to remove, resulting in the lens becoming "foggy". You may wish to cover the lens (with paper + tape) if you use this type of glue.

Superglue vapor, (besides being great for exposing latent fingerprints by your local law enforcement department as the vapor attaches to the oils left by your skin) has a nasty habit of etching into the circuit boards in electronics over time if used in close proximity, not something I'd ever put nearby, have seen lots of stuff destroyed over the years by well meaning users gluing knobs on etc, find some other type of glue to use but not superglue or any of the derivatives

 

[Nightstalker1993]

Superglue vapor, (besides being great for exposing latent fingerprints by your local law enforcement department as the vapor attaches to the oils left by your skin) has a nasty habit of etching into the circuit boards in electronics over time if used in close proximity, not something I'd ever put nearby, have seen lots of stuff destroyed over the years by well meaning users gluing knobs on etc, find some other type of glue to use but not superglue or any of the derivatives

After reading the article on the gs1000 seems like the GS9000 have the same issues as the GS1000 blue menu. It's mentioned there about the blue menu lottery for the Gs1000 saying the image will get slightly blur when the cam is hot due to heat. But now it's unsure whether is it a problem with the lens elements or just the mounting point where the lens mounts onto the sensor.

And yeah thanks for the heads up on the Superglue thing. Even if I decide to glue it up, I'll either be using epoxy or hot glue gun.Leaning towards the latter as it's not as permanent just in case I decide to change lens next time.