sofaspud
Member
After getting my issue with the strange interference sorted, I thought I'd try a couple of ideas out for mounting a mobius with a remote lense. This has been an idea bubbling away for several months now, but trawling this site I noticed some postings along the same line by Niko & others which finally spurred me on...
Like others (Niko again... ) I wondered how difficult it would be to capture a wider view but maintain best image quality, so thought about using more than one camera. Initially I bought a Mobius with the wide angle lense B, but not sure I like the fish eye look on the images so thought I'd try the idea out.
The existing wide angle unit will eventually be moved to the rear screen, while I plan to use 2 narrow view units for the front when they arrive.
As this is very much a work in progress to see if the idea is any use in practice I simply knocked up some basic brackets in alloy sheet to hold everything, with Blu-tack used to temporarily stick them in place. If I decide it's worth making permanent I might get some proper housings made which would better hide the cable. Maybe get a plastic case 3D printed that would mimic the way the mobius case holds the lense .
The idea is that instead of having a single wide angle lense pointing ahead, use 2 each angled away from the front. As the narrow lense is reported (on Tom Franks info) to have 85 deg Horizontal field of view I made it so each will point away from the front by 40 deg. This gives a bit of overlap to ensure the images will meet in the middle & allows for any inaccuracies in my construction. I also made the centre section of the bracket just wide enough so I could fix a 3rd lense pointing straight ahead, & bend the sides so the other lense' point more to the sides. I doubt I'll go to this extreme though.
The brackets are drilled to pick up on the existing imaging unit screws (M2 * 6mm) so that each lense unit is fixed to the front of the brackets. This also means the bracket is used as a heat sink for the imagining unit. I've found that when this is disturbed, the lense needs re-focussing after.
The cable simply runs up the back of the bracket to the Mobius hidden higher up the windscreen
This is what it looks like from the outside
Or a more clearer picture in the garage:
So, what does it give?
Heres a couple of screen shots. I will try to upload a sample when I have several hours to give for the process...
Is it worth the effort?
Not sure, I still need to tweak the focus and at present I only have the single wide angle lense in place so its a bit early to decide. But it does show the potential to capture the front corners better than a single wide angle lense pointing to the front.
The reflection from the A pillar trim is causing a problem & needs to be suppressed so need to try a polarising filter as well. Even with this sorted, the A pillar on most modern cars is so thick it blocks a sizeable chunk of the view. Only other location would be on the doors which gives other install issues.
I'll also need to check when the other units arrive whether running 2 extension cables close nearby will cause interference between them.
Like others (Niko again... ) I wondered how difficult it would be to capture a wider view but maintain best image quality, so thought about using more than one camera. Initially I bought a Mobius with the wide angle lense B, but not sure I like the fish eye look on the images so thought I'd try the idea out.
The existing wide angle unit will eventually be moved to the rear screen, while I plan to use 2 narrow view units for the front when they arrive.
As this is very much a work in progress to see if the idea is any use in practice I simply knocked up some basic brackets in alloy sheet to hold everything, with Blu-tack used to temporarily stick them in place. If I decide it's worth making permanent I might get some proper housings made which would better hide the cable. Maybe get a plastic case 3D printed that would mimic the way the mobius case holds the lense .
The idea is that instead of having a single wide angle lense pointing ahead, use 2 each angled away from the front. As the narrow lense is reported (on Tom Franks info) to have 85 deg Horizontal field of view I made it so each will point away from the front by 40 deg. This gives a bit of overlap to ensure the images will meet in the middle & allows for any inaccuracies in my construction. I also made the centre section of the bracket just wide enough so I could fix a 3rd lense pointing straight ahead, & bend the sides so the other lense' point more to the sides. I doubt I'll go to this extreme though.
The brackets are drilled to pick up on the existing imaging unit screws (M2 * 6mm) so that each lense unit is fixed to the front of the brackets. This also means the bracket is used as a heat sink for the imagining unit. I've found that when this is disturbed, the lense needs re-focussing after.
The cable simply runs up the back of the bracket to the Mobius hidden higher up the windscreen
This is what it looks like from the outside
Or a more clearer picture in the garage:
So, what does it give?
Heres a couple of screen shots. I will try to upload a sample when I have several hours to give for the process...
Is it worth the effort?
Not sure, I still need to tweak the focus and at present I only have the single wide angle lense in place so its a bit early to decide. But it does show the potential to capture the front corners better than a single wide angle lense pointing to the front.
The reflection from the A pillar trim is causing a problem & needs to be suppressed so need to try a polarising filter as well. Even with this sorted, the A pillar on most modern cars is so thick it blocks a sizeable chunk of the view. Only other location would be on the doors which gives other install issues.
I'll also need to check when the other units arrive whether running 2 extension cables close nearby will cause interference between them.
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