Mobius Telephoto Dashcam

[SawMaster]

I like the 12mm too. It seems to capture details better and more crisply

Phil

 

[Harsh]

12mm (1/2.5"), f/1.8

 

[Lola]

One of the key problems is finding a "Good" 12mm lens with no more than a f1.8 aperture lens. If you look as much as I have you will soon find out that good 12mm lenses are hard/impossible to come by, impossible for some reason unknown to me. I have emailed about 15 companies in the US and China asking the question "why can't you make a good 12mm lens f1.2 to f1.6" Not one manufacture has answered the question! At the most I get answers for "on the shelf lenses" they have. It's evident they don't want to answer the question but I have no knowledge of why!
You can get f1.2 to f1.6 in most of the smaller Focal Length lenses but get past 6mm and things become weird. Try asking a Aliexpress lens seller/intermediary to a large lens company questions about Aspherical lenses or 12mm lenses and see what happens, all of a sudden they don't understand the question, or send you the specs and price for something totally different then what you are asking about.

China is not as backwards as some think in lens technology but for some reason they only want to sell the 5 to $10.00 dollar lenses and they all make certain ones (about the same) that you can buy just about anywhere with the same basic quality. Try asking for a high quality Aspherical lens in 12mm f1.4/6 or a 2 to 4mm f1.2/4 and see what happens, LOL. All the above are my opinions from looking, reading, and emailing to many companies.

 

[TonyM]

One of the key problems is finding a "Good" 12mm lens with no more than a f1.8 aperture lens. If you look as much as I have you will soon find out that good 12mm lenses are hard/impossible to come by, impossible for some reason unknown to me. I have emailed about 15 companies in the US and China asking the question "why can't you make a good 12mm lens f1.2 to f1.6" Not one manufacture has answered the question! At the most I get answers for "on the shelf lenses" they have. It's evident they don't want to answer the question but I have no knowledge of why!
You can get f1.2 to f1.6 in most of the smaller Focal Length lenses but get past 6mm and things become weird. Try asking a Aliexpress lens seller/intermediary to a large lens company questions about Aspherical lenses or 12mm lenses and see what happens, all of a sudden they don't understand the question, or send you the specs and price for something totally different then what you are asking about.

China is not as backwards as some think in lens technology but for some reason they only want to sell the 5 to $10.00 dollar lenses and they all make certain ones (about the same) that you can buy just about anywhere with the same basic quality. Try asking for a high quality Aspherical lens in 12mm f1.4/6 or a 2 to 4mm f1.2/4 and see what happens, LOL. All the above are my opinions from looking, reading, and emailing to many companies.

That's not much different from looking for a 300mm F1.8 full frame lens for a full frame SLR. Very hard to find. Whereas it's easier to get a 50mm F1.8 lens. With a smaller field of view on a telephoto lens, it's much harder to maintain the same large aperture than on a wide angle lens.

 

[Harsh]

Have switched back to the 8mm for the time being. Ordered a 12mm from Treeye, they've assured me that it's way better than the one I currently have.

Also they'll be listing a Starlight version of the 8mm soon!

 

[Lola]

Have switched back to the 8mm for the time being. Ordered a better 12mm from Treeye, they've assured me that it's way better than the one I currently have.

Also they'll be listing a Starlight version of the 8mm soon!

I thought they (Treeye) already had a 8mm Starlight, I might be confusing (memory) with another company. What are the stats on the new 12mm you ordered?

 

[Dashmellow]

I thought they (Treeye) already had a 8mm Starlight, I might be confusing (memory) with another company. What are the stats on the new 12mm you ordered?

6mm

 

[Harsh]

I thought they (Treeye) already had a 8mm Starlight, I might be confusing (memory) with another company. What are the stats on the new 12mm you ordered?

This one - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/12m...ra-Lens-F2-0-M12-Mount-Fixed/32321311328.html

The 12mm I tried and then went back to the 8mm - https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pr...r-cut-filter-m12-lens/215179_32680519689.html

This is what I actually received from above vendor, Treeye also carries the same lens - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3-0...-horizontal-viewing-angle-F2/32791121665.html

The Treeye one is f/2.0 compared to f/1.8 on the other, my car's headlights are bright enough to compensate for that minor difference.

Looking forward to getting the Starlight 8mm.

 

[TonyM]

6mm

Did you get the 6mm starlight? I'm currently using it for my rear camera. I should check how it's doing.

 

[Harsh]

Tried the 4mm as rear cam but it couldn't even hold a candle to the A119S, took it off.

 

[Dashmellow]

Did you get the 6mm starlight? I'm currently using it for my rear camera. I should check how it's doing.

I ordered two different 6mm Starlight lenses. One (from Yumiki) arrived a few days ago and I've been checking it out. The other one, from TreeEye along with the 4mm I ordered from them arrived just today. Unfortunately, the two lenses I received from TreeEye do not have the specified IR-cut filters they were supposed to have installed on them, so now I am involved in the process of seeing what can be done about this and am waiting on a reply to the message I sent a few hours ago.

Interestingly the two 6mm ƒ1.2 lenses are quite different in optical and physical design. The one from TreeEye has an unusual concave front element and the one from Yumiki has a flat glass front element and a different bezel which acts a bit like a stepped lens shade. The Yumiki is listed as an aspherical but I believe both 6mm lenses are even if TreeEye doesn't mention it.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Yum...-b426-4ea8-a230-1d9c136522c1&rmStoreLevelAB=5

 

[Harsh]

8mm Starlight (f/1.5) - https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pr...meras-Lens-M12-For-HD/725056_32842285324.html

 

[Dashmellow]

The 2.8-12mm varifocal IR ƒ/1.4 lens I've been experimenting with for the last several months is specifically designed for a 1/3'' sensor which makes it a perfect match for the AR0330 sensor in the Mobius and thus gives us a point of reference for analyzing these other telephoto lenses we've all been testing and discussing which are designed for sensors that are either 1/2.5" or 1/2.7".

While it goes without saying that any lens designed for a larger sensor will yield an increased (narrower) telephoto FOV due to its larger circle of coverage on the smaller Mobius sensor, the question has been, how much?

The results have been somewhat surprising.

Using the Yumiki 6mm ƒ1.2 lens mentioned above fitted to a Mobius and comparing it to the 2.8-12mm varifocal ƒ/1.4 IR when set to its maximum zoom of 12mm the FOV is almost an exact match!

6mm Yumiki ƒ/1.2 lens


Varifocal ƒ/1.4 IR set to 12mm, shot from the same position.

 

[Harsh]

The results have been somewhat surprising.

Using the Yumiki 6mm ƒ1.2 lens mentioned above fitted to a Mobius and comparing it to the 2.8-12mm varifocal ƒ/1.4 IR when set to its maximum zoom of 12mm the FOV it is almost an exact match!

Yumiki could be 1/3 or the Varifocal is actually 1/2.5, in all probability there's misrepresentation by one of the two sellers.

As suspected and somewhat confirmed by your post, this is one of the reasons I didn't dig too deep while ordering similarly priced lenses, it's the real-world result that matters, which one will only come to know by trying out the lenses in the setup they're intended for.

 

[Harsh]

@Dashmellow

BTW what's wrong with the IR bock filters from Treeye?

Filters on the 4 and 6mm from Treeye do look different than the ones received fitted to the 8 and 12mm from a different vendor.

 

[Dashmellow]

Yumiki could be 1/3 or the Varifocal is actually 1/2.5, in all probability there's misrepresentation by one of the two sellers.

As suspected and somewhat confirmed by your post, this is one of the reasons I didn't dig too deep while ordering similarly priced lenses, it's the real-world result that matters, which one will only come to know by trying out the lenses in the setup they're intended for.

You may well be correct. This is one of the problems buying products from retailers in China, you never know what you are really getting.

 

[Dashmellow]

@Dashmellow

BTW what's wrong with the IR bock filters from Treeye?

Filters on the 4 and 6mm from Treeye do look different than the ones received fitted to the 8 and 12mm from a different vendor.

The lenses I received from TreeEye don't appear to have any IR-cut filter installed at all! They happily agreed to provide them but somebody screwed up.

At first they offered to send me the IR-cut filters asking if I had some "glue" so that I could "paste" them on. Now, I just a received a message asking for photos of the lenses and suggesting that I send them back. The said they "may" be willing to pay for return shipping but I have a hunch it will be far too expensive and I've always heard of problems shipping items back to China. The whole experience is turning into a huge PITA and I'm not sure what to do at this point. Later in the day I hope to stop at the post office and see what is actually involved for shipping as the whole price structure has changed since I last shipped anything internationally.

My experience with Yumiki was great. They were very friendly and shipped immediately. With TreeEye it took a few days for them to ship and I assumed the requested IR-cut filters were the reason for the delay.

I'm glad I decided to order two different 6mm lenses!

BTW, can you explain in simple terms the different appearances of the IR-cut filters on the lenses you are describing?

 

[Harsh]

The lenses I received from TreeEye don't appear to have any IR-cut filter installed at all! They happily agreed to provide them but somebody screwed up.

At first they offered to send me the IR-cut filters asking if I had some "glue" so that I could "paste" them on. Now, I just a received a message asking for photos of the lenses and suggesting that I send them back. The said they "may" be willing to pay for return shipping but I have a hunch it will be far too expensive and I've always heard of problems shipping items back to China. The whole experience is turning into a huge PITA and I'm not sure what to do at this point. Later in the day I hope to stop at the post office and see what is actually involved for shipping as the whole price structure has changed since I last shipped anything internationally.

That sucks! I don't think installing these without the correct glue and tools is easy, the film seems very prone to damage.

BTW, can you explain in simple terms the different appearances of the IR-cut filters on the lenses you are describing?

Please ignore my comment on them being different (one looked redder than the other), had looked at them separately under different lighting and at different angles. Other than the shape and size, they look identical.

 

[Dashmellow]

That sucks! I don't think installing these without the correct glue and tools is easy, the film seems very prone to damage.



Please ignore my comment on them being different (one looked redder than the other), had looked at them separately under different lighting and at different angles. Other than the shape and size, they look identical.

Yes, it certainly does suck. Even if I send them back there will be a huge delay until I get the proper lenses or a refund on my shipping. I will send them the photos of the lenses they requested and get them some prices on a couple of shipping options and see what they say.

Thanks for clarifying the IR filter question. Yeah, IR-cut filters are dichroic thin film coated and therefore appear different colors depending on the viewing angle of the light hitting them.

As for installing IR-cut filters on my own I've done it using glue but it is difficult and tricky and it is easy to damage both the filter and the lens. The fact is that IR-cut filters should be set with optical cement which is expensive and needs to be cured with UV light. I've even looked into purchasing some optical cement but it's not worth the investment to install just a couple of filters since you need to buy a minimum quantity and of course you still need the UV light source.

 

[Lola]

I ordered two different 6mm Starlight lenses. One (from Yumiki) arrived a few days ago and I've been checking it out. The other one, from TreeEye along with the 4mm I ordered from them arrived just today. Unfortunately, the two lenses I received from TreeEye do not have the specified IR-cut filters they were supposed to have installed on them, so now I am involved in the process of seeing what can be done about this and am waiting on a reply to the message I sent a few hours ago.

Interestingly the two 6mm ƒ1.2 lenses are quite different in optical and physical design. The one from TreeEye has an unusual concave front element and the one from Yumiki has a flat glass front element and a different bezel which acts a bit like a stepped lens shade. The Yumiki is listed as an aspherical but I believe both 6mm lenses are even if TreeEye doesn't mention it.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Yum...-b426-4ea8-a230-1d9c136522c1&rmStoreLevelAB=5

View attachment 34783

How many days did it take to get your lenses? It doesn't seem that very long since you ordered them. Really looking forward to what you think about them, especially the 6mm ones. I was thinking they might make a great rear lens sense they would have more time then usual to get the rear vehicles plate number before the impact. Gruesome way to look at it though!

On the aspherical lens wouldn't the first lens be convex instead of concave? The samples I have seen (pictures) picture them as being something like a marble that has been cut in half with the flat side down, round up, though that is a rough example of an aspherical lens, LOL. I went and copied a picture/explanation of aspherical lenses and you are right about how they appear, I was wrong.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspheric_lens