Mobius 1S - First Impressions

[kamkar]

independent garage

My first job was in such a place, cleaning ASO for a few hours a few days a week.

They had a German Shepard dog, which was former police dog, it did not like me arriving as if it knew i was on a downward path already at that age. ( 12 - 13 YO )
BUT ! walking the dog was a lesson in how well trained a dog can be, CUZ after it calmed down after my arrival it was as sweet as can be, and very obedient even to me.

with the dog at your knee, you could tell it to lie down ( in foot deep snow ) then throw a stick, then go yourself find a place to sit down, light a cigarette, look at the dog waiting its command, and then go " fetch" and the dog was out of there, getting the stick, and back at your knee in seconds.

 

[TonyM]

Mobius 1S - F1.5 Lens 'B'

I removed the ultra-wide angle C2 lens and replaced it with the F1.5 130HFOV Maxi B lens since I had a few of them in my spare parts box - leftovers from when I was testing the Maxi. I no longer have the cameras, but I kept the lenses.

If this proves to be a decent dashcam lens for the M1S, I might recommend to Mobius that they offer it as an option to purchase.



The angle of view is now a bit narrower than the A139, probably closer to something like an A119V3.

 

[TonyM]

Mobius 1S - F1.5 Lens 'B'

1440p30 30Mbps; Saturation 75 (+25); Contrast 45 (-5)

Exposure is on par with the A139. Detail is a bit finer due to less sharpening, lower contrast, higher bitrate and narrower AOV.
(100% crops : M1S left / A139 right)

 

[TonyM]

Audio Issues

1. The audio level is rather quiet (it was set to High for the test clip above)
2. Audio is only present on the right channel (perhaps it will sound louder if the audio is on both channels??)

Audio used to be really good on the old M1. The M1S appears to have the microphone in a slightly different position.

 

[Harsh]

Looking good so far. Please add some night-time videos when you can.

 

[TonyM]

Auto start reliability so far seems similar to the old M1. I've had one failure to auto-start on a cold morning.

 

[TonyM]

Mobius 1S - F1.5 Lens 'B' - Night

We have had a week of sub-zero temperatures with wet, salty roads so it's been difficult to find any decent night driving examples. However I figure this is decent enough to show what the M1 can and cannot do.

1440p30, 32Mbps, WDR off, Saturation 75 (+25), Contrast 45 (-5), Maxi Lens 'B', Multi-spot metering

I notice the metering is affected by bright highlights or oncoming cars, perhaps more so than regular dashcams.

Noise isn't bad, but it doesn't look as clean as the A139 under streetlights. However on unlit roads the M1S has less noise than the A139. I'll add a direct comparison with the 5MP A139 soon.

 

[Dashmellow]

Just the other day I received my M1S in the mail and have begun checking it out. So far the performance is nothing spectacular but the camera is a nice upgrade from the M1, especially the much improved noise levels in low light.

I purchased the A2 lens version and it performs as expected but I then installed one of my 6mm ƒ/1.2 aspherics on the camera to see what it could do. (I happen to have two different 6mm ƒ/1.2 aspheric lenses) Unfortunately, we just got hit with our first major winter storm and went through two crazy days of intense snow and high winds leaving ten inches heavy wet snow on the ground. Accurate focusing was impossible during the storm, even though I got close. I'll need to wait for a nice sunny day before I can properly adjust the focus.

@TonyM, on a different note, I can't help but notice all the diffraction spikes in your windshield night footage and they seem to be having a detrimental affect on the footage. (I'm not talking about the rain here as I've noticed this in your other footage as well.) As I've mentioned from time to time on the forum my windshields eventually get sandblasted with tiny pockmarks from the dirt road I live on and last time when it finally got as bad as what I think I'm seeing in your footage I finally got my windshield replaced. The result was that it felt like I had upgraded the cameras in my truck and it was easier on my eyes at night as well!

EDIT: I forget to mention that removing the A2 lens the camera shipped with was a BEAR! Even though the lens is secured with a bung screw it was glued in! I needed to heat the lens repeatedly with a hair dryer and use a rubber padded pliers to get the thing unscrewed. First, the A2 lens bezel unscrewed leaving the lens barrel itself in place but eventually I was successful in removing the rest of the lens without damaging anything. Not a project for the feint of heart!

 

[TonyM]

@TonyM, on a different note, I can't help but notice all the diffraction spikes in your windshield night footage and they seem to be having a detrimental affect on the footage.

Yes I could do with a new windscreen, and new headlights, and a lot more things besides since this one is starting to fall apart. Basically I need a new car

 

[TonyM]

EDIT: I forget to mention that removing the A2 lens the camera shipped with was a BEAR! Even though the lens is secured with a bung screw it was glued in!

That's a surprise, and not a welcome one. My A2 had glue around the M12 thread at the end of the holder, which I stripped away with a small knife. After that the lens unscrewed fairly easily.

 

[TonyM]

Just the other day I received my M1S in the mail and have begun checking it out. So far the performance is nothing spectacular but the camera is a nice upgrade from the M1, especially the much improved noise levels in low light.

I agree with 'nothing spectacular but a nice upgrade'.

I assume you haven't had any issues or concerns about overheating?

 

[Dashmellow]

No overheating so far. The camera gets about as hot as the original M1 even at the highest bit rate setting. I have yet to try 60 fps though.
I probably will want to monitor this on a longer term basis as well as see what happens when it is not quite so cold out as has been the case around here lately.
For now, I think we can ignore the rumors from over at RCGs that the M1S cam has a tendency to overheat.

No other issues have surfaced so far.

 

[TonyM]

M1S F1.5 vs A139 - Night

A side-by-side comparison at night between the M1S (with F1.5 lens) and the A139. Both recording 1440p30 at max bitrate.

Exposure and dynamic range are broadly similar, except away from streetlights where the A139 uses more gain to bring out more shadow detail, at the expense of more noise.

M1S WDR is turned off. I've seen very little benefit of using WDR so far, but it might be useful in very low light?

The AWB on the A139 is much better under artificial lights with more accurate colours. The M1S seems to have the same yellow/green tint as previous Mobius models.

That's it for my comparisons with the A139. I'm going to take some time over the break to fit a telephoto and hopefully put the M1S to good use.

 

[Dashmellow]

Individual features aside, the fact that the $69.00 USD Mobius image quality compares favorably with the much more expensive Viofo A139 is impressive.

 

[Dashmellow]

The M1S seems to have the same yellow/green tint as previous Mobius models.

I always thought this had something to do with the nature of M1's sensor but apparently not.

I notice that the GUI in mSetup no longer has options for A-B-C lenses where one could choose an option that more closely matched the color balance of individual lenses.

 

[TonyM]

Individual features aside, the fact that the $69.00 USD Mobius image quality compares favorably with the much more expensive Viofo A139 is impressive.

Perhaps a return to a novatek processor was a good idea.

 

[TonyM]

I notice that the GUI in mSetup no longer has options for A-B-C lenses where one could chose an option that more closely matched the color balance of individual lenses.

Yes that's at least one thing missing from the old M1.

 

[TonyM]

I noticed there are a few files in the Event folder, presumably triggered by the g-sensor. So that's something new. I've not checked whether it's working properly.

 

[Dashmellow]

I just encountered my first "issue" with my M1S. The "auto rotate" setting is not working. I'm finding that when I want to set the camera up for use upside down as a dash cam I need to manually set it to "inverted". "Auto" doesn't do anything at all......unless I'm missing something. Speaking if which, has there been a M1S user's manual published?

 

[TonyM]

I just encountered my first "issue" with my M1S. The "auto rotate" setting is not working. I'm finding that when I want to set the camera up for use upside down as a dash cam I need to manually set it to "inverted". "Auto" doesn't do anything at all......unless I'm missing something.

I struggled with that for a while and thought it didn't work. 'Auto Rotate' seems to set the orientation at the moment the camera is turned on - the 'initial position' as noted in the mSetup tool tip. Nevertheless, I have mine set to inverted