Mobius vs 0806

[Pottsy]

Just comparing my old Mobius and my brand new 0806, and although the picture looks huge, sharp and wide, I find it harder to read oncoming number plates on the 0806 than the Mobius...

These are both crops, exactly doubled in size:

0806 is using Nigels firmware at 2560 x 1980 x30 superfine.
Mobius is all at default settings, standard lens.

 

[Nigel]

It's a disadvantage of the WDR and gets worse as the relative speed increases, in other situations it helps significantly though.

Probably also made a little worse by using the CPL which lengthens exposure and thus increases motion blur.

 

[Pottsy]

In the future, a lens with less of a wide angle would be good (more like the Mobius standard lens). It would increase detail where you need it, at the expense of a load of picture you don't need.

 

[Nigel]

In the future, a lens with less of a wide angle would be good (more like the Mobius standard lens). It would increase detail where you need it, at the expense of a load of picture you don't need.

View attachment 14694

But how do you know where you need it?

If a car was to come in from the right side where that road sign is and hits you then on the Mobius you would never see it, just like you can't see the road sign on the Mobius image.

It actually gives you the best of both worlds with both extra pixels covering the oncoming car and a wider view including the road sign.

If they increase the resolution further then I don't think we want it any wider though!

Your CPL seems to be working well 🙂

 

[Pottsy]

CPL is working well!

I really don't think I need the wideness of the 0806. Those images are a poor comparison, because the two cameras are not pointing in the same direction. If I superimpose (and a bit of warp to fit):

then you can see that the Mobius needs to be shifted right, and would cover everything needed. The image quality at the far edges of the 0806 is very poor anyway.

What is surprising is that given that both images are the same height in pixels, the Mobius has fewer vertical pixels to capture number plate detail, and yet does better....

 

[Nigel]

...The image quality at the far edges of the 0806 is very poor anyway.

What is surprising is that given that both images are the same height in pixels, the Mobius has fewer vertical pixels to capture number plate detail, and yet does better....

You get more motion blur at the edges and the wider the image the greater the motion blur at the edge. The result depends on the light level and the closing speed. If you are stopped then it should be sharp right to the edge and the 0806 will appear to do best, same in bright sunlight, then at night the 0806's WDR may result in it being the best. In cloudy conditions at speed the WDR does cause problems on license plates but does let you see the bicycle hidden in the shadows which other cameras may miss.

I like having the wide view, but often watch it zoomed in to the central 1080x1920 area. More resolution would always be good but that does increase the motion blur at the edges so when moving the gain is often only in the distance. A more sensitive sensor would probably make the biggest difference since that would remove the motion blur but sensors don't show much sign of increasing sensitivity in the near future.

 

[Pottsy]

I wonder what it would look like if we could disable the HDR/WDR function. Maybe less photogenic, but more detailed. The artefacts on the number plates appear to be diagonal lines...

The OV4689 provides timing to capture full-resolution HDR using frame-based "sequential HDR" or line-based "staggered HDR", and quarter resolution HDR using "alternate row HDR". The benefits of using "staggered HDR" compared to "sequential HDR" are significant reduction in motion artefacts and lower memory requirement for host processing.

 

[Nigel]

You could try the HDR mode to see if there is a difference, I think that uses the OV4689 sequential HDR while the other modes just use the processor for WDR which works on sequential frames rather than sequential lines. I guess there is less motion blur caused by the HDR but I've never checked because the resolution of the 2560 mode is so much better and the WDR effect is better than the HDR effect...

 

[Pottsy]

2560 seems to be best. Mobius does have it licked though!

Motion blur test (1:1 crops):

 

[Pottsy]

Incidentally - the edge of that wall is vertical, so the shutter effect is causing the tilt. So the amount of angle of the wall edge is proportional to the movement of the camera. Some shots are going left, and some right.

 

[Nigel]

I didn't expect that from the HDR - it's given you a whole extra plant!

Maybe it's the WDR that uses the sequential lines then, not sure why the HDR mode exists in that case.
The Mobius has darker shadows than both which can be a big disadvantage in some lighting conditions. It's not that much clearer in these cases but certainly there are cases where it wins significantly.

 

[Pottsy]

Where the Mobius is better is it's ability to keep straight lines (important with reading number plates). Look at the vertical wall line - you can see how the 0806 is creating some pretty odd jaggies.

I wonder if it is a software (codec) thing, and therefore can be improved.

 

[richcam]

The blurring of number-plates of oncoming cars is a major drawback to the 0806 dash cam compared to the cheaper 0801 model, and the Mobius which beat it quite substantially in this department.

Nigel mentioned that the WDR might help with seeing detail in the shadows so I selected WDR ON in the Mobius options (there is also an Wide Dynamic Range 'Low Light' option but I don't know what that does) and was pleasantly surprised with the Mobius to see that oncoming vehicle registration numbers were still relatively easy to read.

Having used both the 0806 and Mobius for several months now I still feel the 0806 has the edge in video quality (since I installed the firmware update provided by Nigel) compared to the Mobius, which although very good, seems just a little bit soft compared to the 0806, though this may be down to me not focusing the lens properly even though I have tried on several occasions.

Techmoan has now released a video review of the 0806 on YouTube and he seems well pleased with it, the link is:

though I feel he won't be so pleased when he realises that the dual SD card recording facility is still not working properly despite many firmware updates.

The Mobius is more reliable and provides more options because it is a proven action cam rather than a dash cam, the 0806 is less fiddly with it's initial set-up, more fit and forget with its easy to use menu system all accessible using the rear LCD screen.

Both the 0806 and Mobius are excellent dash cameras, and having purchased and still using both of them I'm somewhat torn as to say which is better.

The choice is yours!