Making cam more discreet

neurodave

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So I purchased the Cobra 895D dual-cam kit from my job and it has been great so far. The added rear camera, albeit useless at night, during the day is great. However, at the present time I'm having to remove the camera from its holder every night because, well, I don't live in the greatest area in town. Not the worst by a long shot, but I don't trust it completely.

That being said, I purchased on Amazon a low-profile mount (because the one it came with was gargantuan) and it has helped. Now my issue is that the camera has this really bright, metallic-looking, area around the lens that stands out like a sore thumb. I've attached a photo of it so you guys can see.

I considered possibly masking off all the essentials and spraying it black with some plasti-dip or using a marker of some sort to paint the area black. However, I'm not sure if this area NEEDS to be this color in order to, oh, I don't know, reflect light onto the lens for better night images? Any thoughts or help would be appreciated!
 

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Just try a black marker of some sort. It won't look wonderful, but you can usually clean it off.....eventually. The shiny stuff on these cams serve no purpose, other than the 'glittery crap that adds to perceived style and value'.........
 
Maybe you can unclip the silver front and just leave it off?

There is no reason why it can't be black other than maybe to keep it cool in the sun although even for that it wont help much.

Also consider giving it a sunshield by using black sticky backed plastic or electrical tape on the windshield above it, if you bring the sunshield as low as possible without getting into the field of view then the camera shape will be more or less hidden and the lens will often be in shadow and it will be hard to see that there is a camera there unless you are actually looking for it, may also improve the image quality if the sun isn't shining directly on the lens.
 
Maybe you can unclip the silver front and just leave it off?

There is no reason why it can't be black other than maybe to keep it cool in the sun although even for that it wont help much.

Also consider giving it a sunshield by using black sticky backed plastic or electrical tape on the windshield above it, if you bring the sunshield as low as possible without getting into the field of view then the camera shape will be more or less hidden and the lens will often be in shadow and it will be hard to see that there is a camera there unless you are actually looking for it, may also improve the image quality if the sun isn't shining directly on the lens.

You, sir, are a genius. I went ahead and tried to remove the silver part and low and behold it's held by clips! Once I got my nail slightly under it, I nudged it up and they began to come up one by one. It doesn't look pretty under, but it's flat black and does the job. Thank you so much. I don't know how I didn't think about that before!
 
In my opinion, dashcam manufacturers have been doing it wrong. If they have (or want) to make cameras of a certain size and shape, then the front of the camera should be like the back of most electronic equipments: black, raw, unpolished, ugly, full of holes and uneven shapes, with the lens somewhere in the middle of what should look like an unfinished product. Then on the back, which is often invisible from the outside, they could put their designer's creativity to work and come up with something nice to the eye, as long as it didn't look so obviously like a camera.
Or not. I wouldn't mind a bit looking at something that would resemble the back of car radio. :)
 
Dammit, I am bored today, one of my Mobius may go 'green' today........

View attachment 26027

(Black circle is hole for the lens to poke through....)

:)

Good idea for Mobius Christmas Sale / Promotions: " Buy Mobius - get smelly tree for free " ! :)
 
Actually, the size and length of the damn things is about right. :)

Any suggestions for custom scents?

'Mobius Grape'?

(anyone remember 'Moby Grape'?)
 
Dammit, I am bored today, one of my Mobius may go 'green' today........

View attachment 26027

(Black circle is hole for the lens to poke through....)

:)
The member @Aero got an 'advisory' on his car's MOT because he had one of those hanging from the RVM... :rolleyes:

My car had an 'advisory' at its recent MOT because an air freshener was hanging from the rear view mirror (it was a gift from my children, I felt obliged to use it ;)).
 
In the US that stuff isn't enforced.....yet. They need to start with the large 'handicapped' hang tags, then work through the bimbo-ettes with Mardi Gras beads.....




tree.jpg
 
Here in SC they're beginning to stop drivers and tell them to take the 'handicapped' RVM tag off when driving. It's only supposed to be used when parking. Haven't heard of anyone getting a ticket for that yet though.

I like Mobius because it's small and it doesn't really look like a cam until you look closely. Even then I get a lot of "What is that?" about it from people who see it up close.

Taking the 'pretty parts' off can have another benefit: people won't steal it for resale because nobody will buy it like that. One audiophile in NYC had 2 stereos stolen from his apartment in a month. He took the case off the third one and hid it well. They broke in again a few more times but took nothing- you can't sell even a high-end stereo without a case on it :p

Phil
 
Here in SC they're beginning to stop drivers and tell them to take the 'handicapped' RVM tag off when driving. It's only supposed to be used when parking. Haven't heard of anyone getting a ticket for that yet though.

I like Mobius because it's small and it doesn't really look like a cam until you look closely. Even then I get a lot of "What is that?" about it from people who see it up close.

Taking the 'pretty parts' off can have another benefit: people won't steal it for resale because nobody will buy it like that. One audiophile in NYC had 2 stereos stolen from his apartment in a month. He took the case off the third one and hid it well. They broke in again a few more times but took nothing- you can't sell even a high-end stereo without a case on it :p

Phil
Exactly my point. The ugliest they look, the better. I can even imagine a dashcam with a transparent case but I don't think some manufacturers would like that. ;)
 
In the US that stuff isn't enforced.....yet. They need to start with the large 'handicapped' hang tags, then work through the bimbo-ettes with Mardi Gras beads...
What about CDs hanging from the RVM? Did you have that "trend" over there as well? Over here they were prohibited because of a few crashes caused by drivers being blinded by the reflections. Although I think they should've banned it for being bad taste decoration. :rolleyes::D
 
Yeah, and they had air fresheners that looked like a CD, also. 20 years ago there were also plastic gold crowns you could put on your dash that were refillable with stinky fluid.
(to make lowly drivers think you were royalty who didn't stink) That little trend lasted a few years, and I recently have seen a few.

1283798192810_hz-myalibaba-web4_223.jpg
 
Yeah, and they had air fresheners that looked like a CD, also. 20 years ago there were also plastic gold crowns you could put on your dash that were refillable with stinky fluid.
(to make lowly drivers think you were royalty who didn't stink) That little trend lasted a few years, and I recently have seen a few.

1283798192810_hz-myalibaba-web4_223.jpg
That's even cheesier that a CD hanging from the RVM! :D
But it would make a good "disguise" for a dashcam, though. :p
 
Some idiot would try to steal it.

You'd need one of these to protect it.


t_fresh.jpg
 
In my opinion, dashcam manufacturers have been doing it wrong. If they have (or want) to make cameras of a certain size and shape, then the front of the camera should be like the back of most electronic equipments: black, raw, unpolished, ugly, full of holes and uneven shapes, with the lens somewhere in the middle of what should look like an unfinished product. Then on the back, which is often invisible from the outside, they could put their designer's creativity to work and come up with something nice to the eye, as long as it didn't look so obviously like a camera.
Or not. I wouldn't mind a bit looking at something that would resemble the back of car radio. :)
Just to inform you about an article I was reading... Factory installed dash cams will be standard in most cars within the next 5 years. Right now Volvo has it factory installed standard in certain models. front ,rear, 2 sides. Most makes of cars it will be as standard as air conditioning with the price built into the purchase price. Many Sellers will feel the slowdown in sales within 10 years according to what I read.
 
Just to inform you about an article I was reading... Factory installed dash cams will be standard in most cars within the next 5 years. Right now Volvo has it factory installed standard in certain models. front ,rear, 2 sides. Most makes of cars it will be as standard as air conditioning with the price built into the purchase price. Many Sellers will feel the slowdown in sales within 10 years according to what I read.
The question is how reliable will they be, because if we have a problem with "our" dashcams we can always try to fix it or replace the camera. Now imagine what it would be like to take the car to the brand's shop everytime one or two or three or all of the cameras start to fail or having problems. There are no 100% reliable and fail-proof cameras out there, so I don't think theirs will be any different from what's available now.
 
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