Is there such thing as a side view dashcam? (For your car doors)

[derf]

A lot of the cars from the 90's had built-in door ding protection runners on them. I had a BMW 3-series that had them. They actually continued all the way around the car even on the bumpers to prevent damage to the paint on the bumper.

But as SUV's started to become more popular than sedans, there would be all kinds of interaction heights between vehicles if a door opened against another. Eventually they just went away. Its interesting to see that you can buy magnetic ones now. I've seen these stuck onto a lot of the cars in NYC at the four corner points of the bumpers. The best I saw was a guy who seemed to have a commercial product that looked like an inflatable cushion or a pool noodle on a string hung across his doors. The noodle was in a bright pink color. I think the color made anyone parking next to him realize that he was trying to prevent a ding, and probably ensured he didn't get touched, more than the actual product.

 

[viofo]

Some days ago, I tried side recording with rear camera, it seems it is hard to get nice video from side, how do you think?

 

[kamkar]

I dont think it is hard.
But you do need a wider than normal lens on the side cameras i think, and then there of course also is the mounting problem.
I also think a side camera would benefit from a higher than normal bitrate, things are always flying buy VS a front camera where things first " slowly" come closer, only to fly by out of sight at the last moment.

If you notice getting a plate capture, well the ideal spot seem to be as soon as plate get into reading distance, when it get even closer (45 degrees off to the side ) it enter what i call the rush by zone, where you need really good weather to get captures.
I also wonder running a 2 channel system for a long time, and Danish cars have same plate front and rear, well it seem like getting a plate capture on the rear camera are harder than on the front camera.

 

[SawMaster]

My various side-cams have all been 1080p30 and motion blur at speed is really bad. But you still get the benefit of seeing whatever's going on there versus seeing nothing with only a F/R cam alone. Plate capture will always be easier with F/R cams as there is less angular change in those vids versus sides.

Phil

 

[TonyM]

Some days ago, I tried side recording with rear camera, it seems it is hard to get nice video from side, how do you think?

I have one of your A129 in use as a side camera. However I have removed the 130deg lens on the front camera and replaced it with a 170deg FOV lens for wider coverage. I plan to do something similar with the rear camera.

I wouldn't say I get 'nice' video from my side cameras. Most of the time when driving everything is blurred. They are probably most useful when parked, or when driving at slow speed close to other vehicles.

 

[DT MI]

...They are probably most useful when parked, or when driving at slow speed close to other vehicles.

This for sure. At speed about the only useful video is of another vehicle along side you at roughly the same speed.

 

[derf]

I’ve been in two accidents where another car changes lanes into mine and crashed into my side.
Once was in a round-about when a motorist on the inside lane tried to exit the roundabout and side swiped my car on my driver side. Once was on a three lane highway where the driver of a cargo van did a double lane change from the right lane to the middle and then immediately into the left lane to try to go around traffic and crashed into my passenger side.
In neither case did I have a problem proving fault as my front / rear dash cam showed that I did not depart my lane, necessitating it was the fault of the other driver for departing their lane. I’m not sure a side camera is actually that necessary while driving.

On the other hand, I think side cameras could be useful to show another car in a car park or parking lot that parks too close to you and bumps you, or opens their door into your car. In those cases things are moving slowly enough and the accident is close enough that a side camera doesn’t need 60fps. But, you can’t look out a side window and see a license plate of the car / person next to you. So in the end you could have a very clear video of how damage transpired, with no way to assert fault.

I have a side accident where I was parked on the street and a car backed out of its driveway, across the street, and into the side of my car. In that case a side camera could have seen a license plate. But it was at night, and perhaps if it wasn’t a rental car a front or rear camera in parking mode would have seen the license plate as it left the scene.

 

[SawMaster]

Side cams are like the icing on the cake, perhaps not the main thing but the nice thing. Definately better with parking protection that driving protection, but they can help there too.

Where I live we've got plenty of 2-lane 4-way stop intersections where if you're all the way up to your stop line, your front cam can see little of the traffic to the side at any distance, and sometimes not even cars stopped at their lines on the cross-road. Side cams can cover this gap and end arguments over who did or did not stop or yield properly.

Because of how people drive here, this is their greatest use for me, even though few want chance what the results will be to their car should my big old van be in their way so they tend to let me proceed legally

Phil

 

[Dashmellow]

I've been using both side and rear facing cameras for more than six years now. What started out as an experiment in re-purposing older dash cams after upgrades became a must have capability I wouldn't be without.

Side facing cameras don't always deliver the goods such as when you get a lot of motion blur but I find that more often than not they capture remarkable, valuable footage. Of course, for parking they are invaluable and when combined with my front and rear cameras they provide overlapping full 360º coverage around my vehicle.

I've told the following stories before but I think they are worth repeating for the purpose of this discussion.

One time, I was crossing a major intersection when a vehicle to my left ran a red light and nearly T-boned me. Luckily, I was able to hit the gas at the last moment and I got out of his way just barely in time. If he had hit me though, my side camera captured the whole event including the red traffic light he ignored and would have captured the impact had it occurred.

On another occasion, I was approaching an intersection in town where I had a green light when suddenly a wild little kid on a bicycle came flying across my path coming from the right side and I had to make a crazy panic stop to avoid hitting him. Luckily, I was able to stop just in time and there was nobody behind me. The kid looked terrified when he realized he almost got flattened at full speed by a pick-up truck and I was pretty freaked out myself.

The thing of it was that my front camera only captured the moment the bicycle began to cross my path in front of my truck but it didn't really tell the whole story. My side facing camera, on the other hand (Mobius) captured the kid wildly racing down the side street towards the intersection from quite a distance into traffic without even hesitating to look whether any cars were coming down the street or that the traffic light in his direction was red. If tragedy had struck, the side camera provided pretty good exonerating evidence.

Over the last six years or so I've had many experiences capturing amazing, useful or interesting footage from my side cams. Sometimes I capture things I didn't even notice were happening at the time.

So, like I've already said, even if there are times when a side facing cameras captures nothing but a blur, they are more than worth having for all the times they do capture vital footage. I wouldn't be without them.

 

[kamkar]

I have done many a crisp highway captures where i and the cars going the other way do 80 kmh, but you are of course not getting those captures in lower light.
The main problem is at those speeds the car going the other way are just in frame for 7 - 10 frames or so, so very small window of opportunity.

Current side system.

 

[Harsh]

Vehicles looks abnormally distorted.

 

[kamkar]

Yes and with a even larger FOV lens which i feel are needed on side cameras that will probably not get better, but it will still be fine for documentation i am sure, but probably not feature in a Holly or Bollywood film

 

[Gibson99]

Vehicles looks abnormally distorted.

Rolling shutter does weird things to fast-moving objects

 

[kamkar]

Yes. been dreaming about global shutter for a long time.

 

[Dashmellow]

Rolling shutter does weird things to fast-moving objects

Sometimes the rolling shutter effect can be pretty cool! (second image down)

 

[Covenant05]

I have a forward facing Mobius mounted in the back of my car, which gives a reasonable amount of side window coverage...

View attachment 14926

Hi, I know this post is more than 5 years old but im hoping to get some more insight as to dash cam placement. All dash cam guides or instruction never care to cover the side of the car, ital ways the hood, inside or rear, rarely the side where most accident trajectory comes from in my experience. This placement you did is actually great. Any tips on how you did this?

 

[jchantw]

I did up my side cams by having my mechanic drill a hole under the side wing mirrors, n installing the p6f weather proof motorcycle cams under them. Then run the wires thru the side wing mirrors to the dashboard, hook up to the fuse for power and then place the screen on top of my dashboard.. works a charm.. now i get covered from the side impacts, with clear views of the cars traffic coming from either side , relative to my car's position on the road.. With the front and rear cams, i think I'm covered except for a small angle at the 70degree to 90 degree, and 270 degree to 290 degree, where the side cam view end n the front cam view starts..

 

[TonyM]

SG9663DR with wide-angle lens modification, combined with regular Viofo A139 front & rear

 

[joe384]

Very nice @TonyM

When parked, are you just using the SG9663DR in normal recording mode? I believe the SG9663DR has a time-lapse, I assume it doesn't do low bit-rate?

 

[kamkar]

SG9663DR do time lapse and low bitrate for parking mode, it is the only parking mode i have tried on my SG9663DR