Mobius support thread and Tech Guide (post all problems/help requests here) Read posts #1-8 first

[SawMaster]

So I finally started using my Möbius but there's a few issues I'm noticing.

- The one day video I recorded, the picture colour seems darker than the real life surroundings.

- Also when I rewatch my videos, the picture isn't clear quality. Not as sharp

- Anyone film video at night and have good results?

Mobius is a good cam but there are better ones along with a bigger cost. IMHO it's great for it's price point. Night recording is where all cams struggle; the more highly pronounced light/dark contrast and changing ambient light conditions make it impossible to obtain greatness in a small portable package. You can play with the exposure settings to see if you can get better color and image quality; mine are slightly tweaked and very slightly better than default was, but trying for more made things worse quickly so default is pretty darn close; stay near there and do one adjustment at a time. I also had to refocus the lens slightly, a known and now-fixed issue which occurred for a short time back when I bought this one. If you make adjustments do it slowly- it doesn't take much- and check both day and might recordings so that a gain in one isn't ruining the other.

Thing is that this is all very easy to do with Mobius which is not true for many cams. And it gives as good a night vid as can be had with the hardware used, being better there than others using that same hardware. It wasn't intended for night-time use when it was designed, but they developed that ability well as they went along. It is and always will be a good cam for the money but it's reached the limit of the hardware which is why they developed the M2. I believe it will still be a viable dashcam for at least another 5 years and maybe longer.

Phil

 

[Rajagra]

what are the advantages or disadvantages of using 'Wide Dynamic Range', and what improvements are made when selecting 'Low Light'
... One top priority I don't want to lose is the recording of approaching car number plates just in case there is an accident at close range.

I'm thinking of leaving camera(s) running overnight and was also wondering about the pros and cons of the WDR/Low Light options. They should improve static images, but will they do this by increasing exposure time of each frame, leading to motion blur (e.g. number plate of another vehicle about to hit mine)?

I'm toying with recording 5 or 10 fps so I can record all night. Might this also enable very slow 'shutter speeds'?

I'll probably do some tests, if I can sort out some kind of rotating object that goes at a fixed speed, but does anyone know the answer already?

The tooltip does strongly suggest Low Light setting causes long exposure times:

 

[RippleTheRippler]

for some reason my recordings ever since the beginning of time, have this faint sound every 3 seconds. Might be related to every time the LED blinks...not sure. I have seen post about it before, where usually the card is to blame. I have tried several cards, all the video comes out great..just the sound is odd. Sound is clear, but there is an interference sound every 3 seconds or so on a loop.

Any ideas?

Thanks

 

[Dashmellow]

for some reason my recordings ever since the beginning of time, have this faint sound every 3 seconds. Might be related to every time the LED blinks...not sure. I have seen post about it before, where usually the card is to blame. I have tried several cards, all the video comes out great..just the sound is odd. Sound is clear, but there is an interference sound every 3 seconds or so on a loop.

Any ideas?

Thanks

If the faint sound is a pulsating buzz make sure the camera is getting enough (clean) voltage. I've had a very similar thing happen when powering the camera with a certain power bank of mine but the problem goes away when I re-plug the camera into my 12V car adapter.

 

[RippleTheRippler]

If the faint sound is a pulsating buzz make sure the camera is getting enough (clean) voltage. I've had a very similar thing happen when powering the camera with a certain power bank of mine but the problem goes away when I re-plug the camera into my 12V car adapter.

I am using a battery pack, i have three different ones...all have the same issue. plugging into the car has the issue too.... it is a pulsating type sound.

The voltage is stable, not sure about "clean" though.

 

[Dashmellow]

I am using a battery pack, i have three different ones...all have the same issue. plugging into the car has the issue too.... it is a pulsating type sound.

The voltage is stable, not sure about "clean" though.

It's not just the Mobius. Over time, I've had several dash cams that do the same thing but it has always been a voltage issue that is highly repeatable and goes away when plugged into my vehicle's power.

Perhaps try with a mains powered 5V USB adapter at home and see if it still happens. If it does then the camera probably has some sort of glitch....or maybe try a brand new card anyway just to make sure that's not the issue, even though you've already done that.

 

[Snickers]

So i still can't find the reason for my not working Mobius.
At home, with a Power supply unit the camera works they way it should. In the car, the cam fakes the recording, but the card stays empty.

I even changed to a dashcam hard wire kit, designed for this use.
The cam shows that it is recording, red LED in the back and the yellow LED on the bottom is blinking. But after a test drive it didn't record one second.

I really think its a broken camera, not working even with a hard wire kit, but then again at home it works.

 

[Harsh]

If it works with the same Micro SD when connected to a wall charger, the most probable cause is the power supply.

 

[DMICS]

Mobius is a good cam but there are better ones along with a bigger cost. IMHO it's great for it's price point. Night recording is where all cams struggle; the more highly pronounced light/dark contrast and changing ambient light conditions make it impossible to obtain greatness in a small portable package. You can play with the exposure settings to see if you can get better color and image quality; mine are slightly tweaked and very slightly better than default was, but trying for more made things worse quickly so default is pretty darn close; stay near there and do one adjustment at a time. I also had to refocus the lens slightly, a known and now-fixed issue which occurred for a short time back when I bought this one. If you make adjustments do it slowly- it doesn't take much- and check both day and might recordings so that a gain in one isn't ruining the other.

Thing is that this is all very easy to do with Mobius which is not true for many cams. And it gives as good a night vid as can be had with the hardware used, being better there than others using that same hardware. It wasn't intended for night-time use when it was designed, but they developed that ability well as they went along. It is and always will be a good cam for the money but it's reached the limit of the hardware which is why they developed the M2. I believe it will still be a viable dashcam for at least another 5 years and maybe longer.

Phil

Should I look into the M2 for a little better recording at night? I obviously don't expect it to be like daytime recording, but if I use the camera in my house at night, something like the bright TV screen (40") should be good enough to capture solid video.

 

[DMICS]

I noticed on a 2 of my videos, they're skip forward a little/choppy. Anyway to stop this?

 

[Dashmellow]

Should I look into the M2 for a little better recording at night? I obviously don't expect it to be like daytime recording, but if I use the camera in my house at night, something like the bright TV screen (40") should be good enough to capture solid video.

No. Unfortunately the M2 has serious low light recording issues at this time, even with the most recent beta firmware which has yet to be released.

 

[DMICS]

No. Unfortunately the M2 has serious low light recording issues at this time.

Ahhhh gotcha. Thanks my man as always.

 

[civic]

Could you guys look at this short video and comment? Do the plates and everything seem normal? I'm frustrated that I cannot read the minibus's plate.
https://www.sendspace.com/file/5epihc

Edit:
I mean, is it too blurry or is this also what you get?

 

[c4rc4m]

Could you guys look at this short video and comment? Do the plates and everything seem normal? I'm frustrated that I cannot read the minibus's plate.
https://www.sendspace.com/file/5epihc

Edit:
I mean, is it too blurry or is this also what you get?

This is pretty much as good as it gets in my experience:

(The van on the right is very close to the focusing sweetspot). At more distance, plates are lost eg you can't even see letters never mind read the car in front although in fairness it is a long way in front and no cam manages this. The Mobius B / C2 is a very good camera for what it is, although spend more and there are probably some newer arguably sharper options now. However, all you get is a sharper clearer image around the sweet spot with the newer cams in my opinion. No-one has yet come up with a cam that I've seen that has large area of sharp focus (depth of field) in which number plates are readable.

The Mobius B/C2 compares favourably to cameras such as the GoPro 2 (although note the GoPro doesn't have loop recording) or in my opinion, quite as good an image when used in car. The Mobius B/C2 is also superior in low light in my opinion.

 

[c4rc4m]

Ok so I'm thinking of putting a new lens in my Mobius B, (I broke the previous one).

I've found a lens online, but now have a couple of questions:

1. Will the original circuit board fit into a new style case?

2. Will the new C2 lens screw into the original B lens sensor (holder) or do I need a B lens?

3. Will the B lens holder fit the new style case?

4. Warranty issue, - although I don't expect Mobius will sort it out given the age of the camera, is that was when I adjusted the lens, I got the edge focusing problem caused by the design defect in the original sensor housing. You can see the issue / blur on the r/h side of this screen grab I made before I broke the lens here:

http://i68.tinypic.com/1zdlia.jpg

The trees / bushes / grass on the R/H are a blur. (Click the picture after following the link and it zooms larger). I think someone said elsewhere the exact cause of this is the rear sensor plate was designed too thin. If I screw a new lens into the old holder, will this still exist / re-appear - I really can't afford to buy a whole new sensor unit as it's double the price of the lens, and I'm currently on a very very low income, but I'm worried that if I screw a new lens (B or C2) into the older holder with the manufacturing defect, that I will end up with distortion.

5. To the same end, I have the USB connector issue although the camera still runs fine from the power cable and I can get around file transfers using a USB hub. I was just wondering if anyone has had this grow to full USB failure, or is it just limited to file transfer issues?

Can anyone positively answer these questions?

Thanks.

 

[Necromancer]

Could you guys look at this short video and comment? Do the plates and everything seem normal? I'm frustrated that I cannot read the minibus's plate.
https://www.sendspace.com/file/5epihc

Edit:
I mean, is it too blurry or is this also what you get?

Keep in mind the license plate is supposed to be readable up to 20 meters.
The camera records at a higher resolution (2304 x 1296) and then reduced to 1080, resulting in loss of information.
This is the primary reason for blurry plates at distance. The only way to "fix" that is with higher resolution and data (-->4K)

 

[Yooshaw]

Keep in mind the license plate is supposed to be readable up to 20 meters.
The camera records at a higher resolution (2304 x 1296) and then reduced to 1080, resulting in loss of information.
This is the primary reason for blurry plates at distance. The only way to "fix" that is with higher resolution and data (-->4K)

It's not the only way to "fix" it, you can fit a "zoom" lens.

 

[Necromancer]

It's not the only way to "fix" it, you can fit a "zoom" lens.

You can also turn 1080 from the center of sensor, but as with your suggestion you loose the peripheral vision, which is IMO is more important then license plate.

 

[c4rc4m]

One way to increase focusing at distance is to adjust the focal point away from being a few inches from the lens. Many action cams seem to be adjusted for close action and so are focused very close to the camera body so as to ensure close items such as surfboards, or faces when held close to the subject, are razor sharp. I think we often see a similar thing with some dash cams where manufacturers probably want dashboards or bonnets to look razor sharp for the same reason - it creates a good impression as Joe Public probably looks at the overall image not considering number plates at distance until after they've bought or had an accident. A blurry dash in the foreground doesn't stack up well against the competition. These closely focused cameras then use dof effect to fool the eye into thinking the whole picture is sharp, when in reality, only a small portion really is. By adjusting the focal point further out, not only do you have the camera focusing perfectly further out, but the dof effect, stretches further out and in as well, giving a greater field of usable focus, before the effect becomes more pseudo than use.

 

[Yooshaw]

You can also turn 1080 from the center of sensor, but as with your suggestion you loose the peripheral vision, which is IMO is more important then license plate.

I don't disagree, just pointing out that more megapixels is not the only way for better resolution at distance. I'm personally running two front cameras now, one with a wide lens and the mobius with an 8mm lens to capture action better directly in front of the car. The other benefit is it reads license plates much better at night. The narrow focus seems to allow for a better automatic exposure.