Yes, I mean to use the thread locker to lock the lens for the case where you have no set screw. I though it more as for a semi-permanent installation as I would use it myself for, you know, set and forget dashcam application. The red Vibra-tite actually stays relatively soft and does not appear to flake off like the normal stuff that jackalopephoto mentioned.
Obviously, if you intent on swapping out the lens frequently, then it's not a good solution. Personally, I find that swapping lens to be a PITA, these small threads seem to be very delicate, I've already damaged one mount. I'd rather swap the sensor board instead of the lens when I want to experiment.
I have not yet found a source for just the mount used by Mobius. Most of the ones I see are 20 mm hole spacing instead of 18 mm. I should contact buymobius.com to see if they would sell me just the mount and not the entire lens+mount+sensor assembly.
It's true that barrel and lens threads on some M12 lenses can be delicate but if one takes proper care, as they should with such things, you won't damage them. I've managed to removed and replace M12 lenses on cameras dozens of times with only a single mishap. With the Mobius, the primary concern is to be careful about over-tightening the grub screw to the point of deforming the threads on the lens which happened to me one time. Even then, unless you've really overdone things, you
should be OK with a little repair work to remove the stripped threads with a precision file. Then again, some people just shouldn't ever mess around with any kind of object that has threads, like the scruffy mechanic who used to work on my car years ago who could strip the threads on a Jack Daniels bottle.
If you feel it is a PITA to swap different lenses then obviously you just shouldn't do so. On the other hand, the entire point of this thread and the other similar threads like it regarding alternative lens options for the Mobius is that many of us
enjoy exploring the possibilities offered by comparing the results and performance of different types of lenses and find it quite worthwhile. For some of us, swapping different lenses onto a Mobius, (which is essentially the ONLY camera on the market
specifically designed to do this) is not only
NOT a PITA but rather a big part of the hobby and the whole point of the endeavor. As for the notion of swapping the sensor instead of the lens barrel, this strikes me as impractical since one probably couldn't source them individually and even if you could buy them it could get expensive. I think most of us just prefer to basically screw in a new lens which seems to me as being far less of a PITA than swapping the sensor board in a module.
For me, going back six months now to last August I've swapped four different lenses into a single Mobius camera to include two different 6mm ƒ/1.2 lenses, the 4mm ƒ/1.2 and the Varifocal IR 2.8-12mm ƒ/1.4. I've had hours and hours of great fun, learned quite a lot, had a really worthwhile and enjoyable experience sharing my results with other members of like mind here on the forum and otherwise found the whole exercise to have much practical value going forward in terms of actual dash cam use when at some point one or more of these telephoto lenses will become a permanent part of my dash cam "arsenal". I've also shared all this with the kids I work with at the local environmental center who eat this stuff up while learning about wildlife observation and photography. Many of these kids have now become Mobius devotees themselves and their parents love the fact that you can buy a couple of Mobius cameras for far less than the cost of a single GoPro. (which is what most kids seem to be clamoring for these days.)
As for the threaded lens holder part of the module base, I've also swapped in a longer beefier one than the original that came with the Mobius as I happen to have couple that were sent to me by a camera developer. I have a few others I've scrounged from old cameras. It's true that it can be hard to find them for sale with 18mm screw hole spacing but you'll find a few on AliExpress at modest prices. One word of caution, be aware that changing threaded lens barrels, even brand new pristine ones can easily throw a lens out of alignment which will require careful adjustment. I encountered this with my Varifocal IR lens at one point even though close inspection of the threaded barrel mount I installed on the module reveals no obvious misalignment. See the blur on the far left side of
THIS image to see what I am talking about. At first I thought the lens itself had developed a problem but I finally figured out that it was the alternative threaded barrel I'd installed on the Mobius module.
