lens experiments ( 12 mm ) long range dashcam

[lacibaci]

So for JVX you got 1/3 size? I'm going to try 6mm or maybe even 3mm. 90 degree FOV looks like a sweet spot for me.

 

[SawMaster]

Great night-time performance Watching during your sharper turns with the focus being so far away was almost like being on an amusement park ride, wheeee

Phil

 

[kamkar]

it almost look like i run over those guys in the crosswalk too, the long range lens do play tricks on us too.

 

[kamkar]

Sadly i forgot the SD card from the GC, the plan was to make a 50/50 video with night time footage.
Guess that will have to wait for another day.

Got plenty of reason to go for a night time drive

 

[lacibaci]

I just ordered this from m12lenses.com:
PT-03618MP 3.6mm, F1.8 Mega Pixel CCTV Board Lens
PT-0618MP 6.0mm, F1.8 Mega Pixel CCTV Board Lens
PT-1618MP 16.0mm, F1.8 Mega Pixel CCTV Board Lens
It's going to be a fun project

 

[kamkar]

Interesting looking bunch.
I think you might find the 6 mm lens to be almost usable alone, and i am looking forward to see the result of that 16 mm sucker.

Do they have IR cut filter or do you have to put those on yourself ?

 

[lacibaci]

Interesting looking bunch.
I think you might find the 6 mm lens to be almost usable alone, and i am looking forward to see the result of that 16 mm sucker.

Do they have IR cut filter or do you have to put those on yourself ?

Not sure about the IR filter. Can't wait to see the result with 6mm and 40mbps firmware.

 

[Lola]

I got my lens from peau productions as they deal with action cameras and MOD lenses, so i just figured they got to carry what works as it can otherwise be a jungle out there.

As we are using for dashcan and some times low light it is important you keep a eye out for the F value, it should at least be under 2.0 i think, this one i use here are F1.6 as i recall.

You are right, I've looked and researched for over a week, but found nothing under f1.6 in 12mm, also the question remains also that the ones you find are usually from China. So, I went to Alibaba and searched for exactly what I wanted 12mm, f1.2, etc,. But was told no one had lenses with those specifications! Also found a manufacture in China that spoke english, but he failed to comment on making the lenses that I wanted, he was also a AH, so that was that ! Found another man in US that talked the same BS till I also sent him what I wanted, then he caved in also.
Short story is, you might find a 12mm with f 1.6, and maybe 1.8, but most are f2.0 and above. In any event if you find something you want, call or email them asking all your questions and don't be surprised if you are told, OH, that must have been a misprint, we'll correct it! Good luck. Peau claims they have the best 8mm made but they want $140.00 for it, so I didn't even read the specs on it.

 

[Dashmellow]

You are right, I've looked and researched for over a week, but found nothing under f1.6 in 12mm, also the question remains also that the ones you find are usually from China. So, I went to Alibaba and searched for exactly what I wanted 12mm, f1.2, etc,. But was told no one had lenses with those specifications! Also found a manufacture in China that spoke english, but he failed to comment on making the lenses that I wanted, he was also a AH, so that was that ! Found another man in US that talked the same BS till I also sent him what I wanted, then he caved in also.
Short story is, you might find a 12mm with f 1.6, and maybe 1.8, but most are f2.0 and above. In any event if you find something you want, call or email them asking all your questions and don't be surprised if you are told, OH, that must have been a misprint, we'll correct it! Good luck. Peau claims they have the best 8mm made but they want $140.00 for it, so I didn't even read the specs on it.

By their very nature, telephoto lenses will tend to have slower apertures.

 

[Lola]

Interesting looking bunch.
I think you might find the 6 mm lens to be almost usable alone, and i am looking forward to see the result of that 16 mm sucker.

Do they have IR cut filter or do you have to put those on yourself ?

Most of the filers I found had very cheap filters (round and square), You can get the cut filters at M12lenses.com for less then $3.00, but I can't see that being anywhere close to a good filter .
I read directions for putting one on and it doesn't seem hard at all. I really haven't checked/researched for filters yet though. If I do find a deal on some good one I will let you know.

 

[kamkar]

And 140 USD are not really that expensive for a "CCTV" lens If you go looking for high grade C mount lenses ( that some also use on action cameras ) you got to make sure you are well seated or you risk being blown out of your chair.

But just for the S mount lenses in most dash and action cameras you can easy find a lens costing the same as your brand new Gopro 5 camera, this might well be worth it for dedicated photographers that use their camera daily, but us mere mortals have to be realistic when shopping for a lens.

 

[Dashmellow]

it almost look like i run over those guys in the crosswalk too, the long range lens do play tricks on us too.

I've been observing that same thing with my varifocal lens. It can be really disconcerting sometimes when the camera makes you feel like you are practically on top of the subject of your video. I was at a red light, well behind the crosswalk but the camera makes it look like I was right on top of this woman as well as a van making a turn through the intersection. I was nowhere near these guys. (Then again that's a pretty good capture of the driver of the van.)

I think this phenomenon might possibly be a problem if one had to submit this kind of footage to the authorities as many law enforcement officers I've dealt with don't have a clue about optical effects. It would be vital to submit the wide footage along with the telephot0 capture.

 

[Lola]

Here it dosent really matter how a parcel are labeled, some think if it say gift then you can bypass customs, byt sadly that not the case.
I do have parcels that have come to me this way and not had to pay any taxes, latest this was the parcel SJcams sent to me with a SJ6 Legend and SJ6 Air camera. ( true value +300 USD )
But this are solely to blame on the incompetence of Danish postal acting on behalf of Danish customs, so some parcels fly strait thru customs no fuss at all, and others get caught out even if it is a small padded envelope.

The dividing issue are the 90DKkr where parcels under that are defacto considered a gift and as such not subject to customs and taxes, but parcels more than that are.
So lets say i get a parcel with the value of 100 kr, i then have to pay customs and taxes of that and this will be something like 20 DKkr,,,,,, BUT ! then i also have to pay a 160 Dkkr handling fee that DK postal / DHL /GSL are allowed to collect for their effort, and so my little 100 DKkr parcel end up being a 280 Dkkr parcel in total.

90 Dkkr = 14.5 dollars.

Chinese sellers often know this and undervalue the parcel on their own accord, some you can ask to do that when shopping, like the parcel i got last week with a real world value of 100 USD, but it was just valued 10 USD on the label, so no extra charge for that one.

I have also had huge heavy parcels sail strait thru customs even with a invoice on the box saying several 100 USD value, but sadly its not every time, but it is nice when it happen not least with a expensive parcel that would have cost a lot in customs and taxes.

Some times there are no value on the postal label and no invoice in the parcel, then i get a letter saying i have to document for the value, so i copy paste the text in the order confirmation you always get on E mail, and then if i feel like i edit the numbers there.
And e mail that to customs, and they are happy about that never a question asked.

My friend use a Danish company called Shop USA for larger things from the US, so he have a US postal address at their warehouse in Maryland i believe, so for instance some years ago en got a overhauled Dodge engine for his ram charger, costing +2000 USD, but since Shop USA handle customs he just told them he paid 1000 USD for the engine and so he got is a lot cheaper.
Shop USA use both airmail and shipping, needless to say the heavy engine ended up in a container and took a month or so to get over here.

Over here it are pretty annoying you have to wait for a snail mail letter to pay your customs, but when you get that letter i just go online and pay the customs in seconds using the Invoice ID and pin provided in the snail letter.
it is pretty easy just add a few days when it happen, or more due to incompetence, my 100 USD worth of parts was in customs warehouse for 11 days before i finally got them.
And some times they forget all together i have paid the customs and then i have to call them, and then they say " O yes i can see you have paid customs 4 days ago, i make sure your parcel get released now",,,, and no "i am sorry for the inconvenience".

I have just been part of a group buy on another forum, there the forum designed item was sold with Banggood as distributor as they can handle 2000 items to worldwide customers in a short time with no problem, and it was made sure the 40 USD item was undervalued enough to sail strait thru EU country and US customs and so they also did.

If it wasent for these terror days i am pretty sure i could get a American to buy a 9 mm H&K pistol, and then a similar H&K airsoft pistol, then put the real gun in the box for the airsoft gun and ship it to me, its not the human aspect that would worry me, only explosive sniffing dogs and machines could ruin that deal im sure.
As long as it was labeled airsoft pistol and 15 USD value i am pretty sure it could work if it wasent for terror paronoia.

It is pretty discouraging that Denmark as one of the front running countries in making things digital and still still have to wait for a snail mail letter to pay customs, not least as Danish postal have a tracking app, so they could make it so i could pay customs thru that app.

Good Grief, that's robbery! I had no idea you were going through that kind of BS, I don't think we go through that much stuff in the US. If you think of any way I could help, let me know, it's not a problem whatsoever.

 

[Dashmellow]

Most of the filers I found had very cheap filters (round and square), You can get the cut filters at M12lenses.com for less then $3.00, but I can't see that being anywhere close to a good filter .
I read directions for putting one on and it doesn't seem hard at all. I really haven't checked/researched for filters yet though. If I do find a deal on some good one I will let you know.

Be careful with some of those instruction videos you see on YouTube for installing IR cut filters. One clueless guy just said to make sure to wash your hands, which is idiotic. It is best to handle dichroic filters with a special plastic tweezers and wear lint free cotton gloves when you handle them as they are nearly impossible to clean easily without damaging them. NEVER touch them with bare fingers.

 

[kamkar]

One can only wonder why Danish postal are days from going bankrupt, all other postal services have managed to keep up with the changing times

I know parcels from China are not possible to make money on due to China's postal status, but a 160 DKkr handling fee should mean they can make money, but off course when they only look over parcels at random and let a lot of those slide thru then off course you loose money.
Danish postal will soon get a 2 billion tax money infusion, by the look of their past 2 years bleeding money that mean they will be in business for 2-3 years more.

When i was a kid the post was delivered nationwide at least 2 times every day, by postmen walking or bicycling mostly, today some areas get post once every 5 days and i an sure they wish this to be the norm.
But off course today postmen drive E-bikes or mopeds and Vans, so offcourse they can only manage to deliver post every 5 days, only "A" mail are delivered daily.
And the price for a letter was just raised again from 8 Dkkr to 9 Dkkr ( thats a letter with a single paper in it or a post card ) local shipping on online shopping are normally 30 - 40 Dkkr for a parcel not too heavy off course.

 

[Lola]

And 140 USD are not really that expensive for a "CCTV" lens If you go looking for high grade C mount lenses ( that some also use on action cameras ) you got to make sure you are well seated or you risk being blown out of your chair.

But just for the S mount lenses in most dash and action cameras you can easy find a lens costing the same as your brand new Gopro 5 camera, this might well be worth it for dedicated photographers that use their camera daily, but us mere mortals have to be realistic when shopping for a lens.

Once again you are right, I was referring to finding M12 type lenses at reasonable prices. If money is not a problem for some you can call Schneider lens manufacture and get a price on what you want, I didn't price things at Sony, Nikon , etc,. Most if not all the good lenses are C type and the price will scare you, LOL!
There are the verafocle (spelling ?) type lenses but they are a lot larger and more expensive then then M12 type,, thou some of them are M12 type also. They might also give you some mounting problems!

 

[Lola]

Be careful with some of those instruction videos you see on YouTube for installing IR cut filters. One clueless guy just said to make sure to wash your hands, which is idiotic. It is best to handle dichroic filters with a special plastic tweezers and wear lint free cotton gloves when you handle them as they are nearly impossible to clean easily without damaging them. NEVER touch them with bare fingers.

That go's for any lens actually, although I don't know what dichroic filters are....tweezers, wow! One set of instructions I read, said NOT to use the quick contact glue's and only to use the white type glue. That could lead people to use the wrong glue's but I never asked a major company what kind of cement was best for the purpose.

 

[kamkar]

Sony use Carl Zeiss lenses on their action cameras, that's about as good as it get when it come to lenses.

https://www.zeiss.com/microscopy/int/about-us/history.html

 

[Lola]

Question: Mobius 1 cameras, I've never messed with the lenses. Do they take regular lens holders and cut IR filter covers that one see's for sale on M12Lenses.com, what does the ribbon cable connect to at the filter cover and what is the screw spacing of the lens holder. I searched for the info but came up empty. I want to buy an extra for the new lens when I get it.

 

[kamkar]

The mobius 1 are prefect for this as it have a little set screw holding the lens in place.

you can remove lens module, but it may not be needed, this depend some on how the lens will fit in regard to the housing, in the video below he change sensor bord and all, if you just change lens you may have to move the lens module forward as he do in the video.
But going to "longer" lenses and not wider FOV lenses it should not be a problem.