mini permanent mount and Polarizer Mod

Belga

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First of all, the GT300W picture quality is Superb.
I drive daily trough tunnels and the white balance (even in the poorly lit tunnels) is unsurpassed.

This mini tutorial will show you how to mount the polarizer filter and change the suction cup bracket.


GARMIN MINI BALL MOUNT
The dashcam comes with a humongous suction-cup mount.
I live in a climate where 43C temperatures and 90% humidity are the norm.
Thus suction cups do not seem to hold.
Secondly, the standard suction cup is almost bigger than the camera!

I purchased a mini, permanently self-sticking Garmin mount.
The ball opening is slightly smaller but it is such a tight fit that you do not need the screw to secure the ball.
These mounts sell for approx. $4 on eBay


POLARIZER FILTER MOD

I have a very light dashboard which causes quite some reflection.
A Polarizer filter would take care of this issue but there is no way to mount it on the dascam.

The lens diameter (outer diameter of the lens housing) is approx. 29mm
Thus in theory we could try to mount a 29mm polarizer filter, BUT...
The lens has an extreme wide angle, what this means is that it would show the edges of the filter, also know as vignetting.

What do we need:
a 43mm Polarizing filer (approx, $19 for a good one)
a 27mm to 43mm adapter ring (less than $4)
2mm wide double sided tape (3M or similar brand) (this type of tape is used to glue phone LCD's)

Fixate the ring with the double sided tape to the lens


Voila DONE


Notes:
The are good and bad Polarizing filters (don't buy junk)

A Polarizing filter is made out of 2 lenses, the outer lens rotates.
Before mounting the filter, sit in your car and rotate the filter until the glare is gone.
Mark the position.
Mount (screw) the filter on the dash cam and make sure the outer ring of the polarizer filter is at the same position as tested above. (you might need some fine tuning)

Depending on the quality of the polarizing filter, the picture might be slightly darker.
In this case, you can adjust the settings on the dashcam.

ENJOY
Marc
 

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Thank you for the Polarizer Mod info. I wanted to put some kind of filter on the camera to help reduce the glare when night driving. Ya know... the kind all cameras get when bright lights / head lights shine into the camera. The mini mount also looks useful, I might get it as well.
 
Both great ideas. Thanks! I am going to do the polarizing filter mod ASAP. I can see the glare off the top of the medium gray colored dashboard and reflections of defroster vent openings and speaker grills are quite noticeable. This will help clear that up. And order a Garmin mount to place the camera more up and out of the way.
 
Great job @ CPL filter and good idea @ mount.
My only concern is if there will be enough clearance to move ( bend ) dash camera into vertical position if using gt300w original ball mount if some cars windscreen angle is not less than about 45 degree.
Hope you know what I mean ?

P.S. to moderators: - this thread could be moved into
DIY Projects
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Would you share the link for the mini mount please?

Thank you.
 
I see what you are saying.
The mini-mount is mounted in my Mercedes C class and I have no problems with the "limited" angle of the mini-mount.

Thanks,
Marc
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Does your adapter for the uv filter shrink the viewing angle of the camera?
Could you upload a video from day and night with the filter? I am really wondering how much it affects the video quality at night.

Where did you buy the adapter ring and the filter? Could you provide us with the brand (-names)?

Thank you.
 
Produkttester said:
Does your adapter for the uv filter shrink the viewing angle of the camera?
Could you upload a video from day and night with the filter? I am really wondering how much it affects the video quality at night.

Where did you buy the adapter ring and the filter? Could you provide us with the brand (-names)?

Thank you.

You mean uv lens filter I posted link in my last post?
 
No, my questions were actually directed to the thread starter ;).
 
Ah HA! This thread got moved! Took me a while to find it. Thought at first it had been deleted. Can't seem to find a "Subscribed Threads" list either.

Anyway, to thread starter Belga, how did you apply the 3M tape to the adapter ring? I have the ring, polarizer filter, and a roll of 3M 2mm doudle-sided tape as you described. (All obtained from Amazon and e-bay sellers btw.) Did you wrap tape around the small threaded part of the ring, letting it hang over the edge, then press onto the camera? That's what I did. If it doesn't gradually come un-stuck from the weight of the polarizing filter and fall off I guess I am in business.
 
Does your adapter for the uv filter shrink the viewing angle of the camera?
That is covered in post #1. A 43 mm filter was used to prevent cut-off of the corners, "vignetting". I can say from installing the same, all is clear, no cut corners.
 
Ah HA! This thread got moved! Took me a while to find it. Thought at first it had been deleted. Can't seem to find a "Subscribed Threads" list either.
.
You can subscribe to threads by clicking the "Watch Thread" button on the top right of the page. I will try to keep a "shadow topic" when I move threads from now on as well.
 
You can subscribe to threads by clicking the "Watch Thread" button on the top right of the page. I will try to keep a "shadow topic" when I move threads from now on as well.
Thanks I see now, it's called "watched", not subscribed, threads.
 
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