Quality and reliable nighttime dashcams

Icar

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Hello, I have a Dashcam which is unreliable and it did not provide a video of the crash ...
I'm looking for a reliable Dashcam that works 100% bug free with maximum nighttime quality.
I have seen the Viofo A119 V3, A129 plus or pro, Street Guardian models but they are no longer in stock on amaxon, is there a new model coming out soon? I am open to other quality proposals.
Thanks,
 
In case you will decide I do have all Street Guardian models in stock for EU customer ready for the next day dispatch.
 
Well if you are hoping to capture license plates at night, it / you better not be moving faster than a 1 legged man can jump backwards, but most dashcams will give a okay picture of what happened.
Are you planning to use parking guard ?
 
Well if you are hoping to capture license plates at night, it / you better not be moving faster than a 1 legged man can jump backwards, but most dashcams will give a okay picture of what happened.
Are you planning to use parking guard ?
Yes, parking mode is being considered.
I saw that the dashcam sensors are relatively small 1 / 2.8, as well as the small size of the pixels, it does not pose a problem during the day but at night it is another story.

The Vantrue N4 uses an IMX335 1 / 2.8 sensor, wide angle too far: 4/3 format useless for dashcams, the 16/9 cropping causes a lot of loss, the pixels are 1/3 smaller than an IMX291 (16 / 9), it is as much light of cumulative lost.

Which 2K and above dashcams offer a better sensor than IMX335?
 
I think only the IMX 335 sensor are in use for 1440p cameras, it is what have been in the 3 1440p cameras i have tested.
The best sensors used in the 291 as you said, maybe the IMX 327 if my memory serve me right, but that one have not seen much adoption so far.
 
I think only the IMX 335 sensor are in use for 1440p cameras, it is what have been in the 3 1440p cameras i have tested.
The best sensors used in the 291 as you said, maybe the IMX 327 if my memory serve me right, but that one have not seen much adoption so far.
I will wait for the new Sony Starvis 2, the "Clear HDR" mode is perfect for a dashcam.
According to sony, this new HDR is about 8 times better than the conventional model in a single exposure and when integrated with AI, Starvis 2 enables high-precision image recognition in urban areas or other environments. involving fast moving objects and other difficult conditions at all hours.

The Starvis 2 list is going to grow but at the moment there is the IMX662 for 1080P, then the IMX678 for 4K, the IMX585 is excellent but very big and more expensive ($ 40). 2K should be released soon.

All that's missing is integration into dashcams.

IMX662: https://www.sony-semicon.co.jp/products/common/pdf/IMX662-AAQR_Flyer_ver01.pdf
IMX678: https://www.sony-semicon.co.jp/products/common/pdf/IMX678-AAQR1_Flyer_ver01.pdf
 
Yes starvis 2 do sound very interesting, and hopefully we will get there soon, but the dashcam market do seem to move very slow.
 
According to sony, this new HDR is about 8 times better than the conventional model in a single exposure
Although the HDR is good, these sensors are not significantly more sensitive than the current sensors, so the main problem in low light of motion blur is not improved even 1.5x. I think overall for dashcam use, these are only a small improvement on the current Sony sensors, definitely not 8x improved image quality. Also, improved HDR has become available from other sensor manufacturers so we might get this improvement before the Sony Starvis 2 sensors are actually available in dashcams. We have already seen Viofo using an Omnivision sensor in their new T130 because of its low light and IR performance, although I think that is currently not using the HDR, not needed for a cabin sensor.
 
these sensors are not significantly more sensitive than the current sensors,
Can you spot the difference between IMX678 and IMX515 or IMX317 regarding sensitivity in low light?
 
IMX 335 are a fine sensor for a 1440p camera, but i think at least with some resolutions things will soon move on with Sony starvis 2 sensors.

IMX 335 is what all the latest cameras i have tested have used, and i have been quite happy with them all, i have even gotten a 1440p monitor for my PC, though i must admit that i got that as i thought my old 1080p screen had died, but it was my GFX card that died, so in a sense i wasted money there and now i have a spare 1080p screen.'


As it have been in the past 10 years, dashcams will slowly move on and get better and better, but sadly there are no major sudden improvement.
It do seem to be that with most sensors and dashcam brands there are always room for improvement, and that can be made if they have a R&D guy that are given the time to search them out, i think so as modders often improve on dashcams just by hacking into the firmware and play around with the image parameters.
Sadly i do not have that kind of skills myself or i would have the time to play around with such things as i am on a pension and so don't have a job too.
 
Can you spot the difference between IMX678 and IMX515 or IMX317 regarding sensitivity in low light?
That is an interesting question!

Not sure it is valid to compare them,
  • The IMX678 is a 1/1.8" sensor, while the IMX515 is a 1/2.8", so the IMX678 is 90% larger, so it will have roughly half the motion blur due to its size.
  • The IMX678 is 52% larger than the IMX317.
  • The IMX678 is a Starvis 2 sensor while the IMX515 is a Starvis 1 sensor, so the IMX678 has extra sensitivity, combined with the size difference that gives 182% extra sensitivity, so roughly one third the motion blur.
  • Sony say Starvis 2 has 2.5x the dynamic range, and presumably you can increase that by 90% due to the extra size, so 4.75x the dynamic range compared to the IMX515? I'm not too sure how this comes out into the final image though.
  • Starvis 2 also brings multi-exposure HDR which works properly. The results will depend on how it is implemented in the SoC, but for dashcam use, we could see another 10 stop increase in dynamic range.
  • The IMX515 is maybe the best Starvis 1 dashcam sensor, but very few people have a dashcam containing one, so it is an odd choice for a comparison, it would be better to choose the IMX415 which is in many dashcams. The IMX515 has, according to Sony, a 175% increase in sensitivity compared to the IMX414, so it is already significantly improved on what people are used to having. The sensor that most people have is the IMX335, which has similar sensitivity to the IMX414, but that is only 2K, while all the sensors in your question are 4K.

So back to the question:

Can you spot the difference between IMX678 and IMX515 or IMX317 regarding sensitivity in low light?
Yes, it is significant :)

But it is the dynamic range that is the big noticeable difference, especially when using the HDR.

And then there is the image noise, at just over a third, resulting in nice clean images, easy for the codecs to compress, thus saving on bitrate, and resulting in more detail being saved.

And then there is the fact that the IMX678 is big enough to give 4K video without sacrificing quality over the 2K sensors we are used to, twice the detail and no disadvantages!
 
I am very much looking forward to see / try starvis 2, hoping very hard that we will see cameras with it soon.
Aside for 1440p sensors comming in, there have not been much change lately in sensors in operation in dashcams, at least that is what i feel.
 
I will wait for the new Sony Starvis 2, the "Clear HDR" mode is perfect for a dashcam.
IMX678 for 4K,
All that's missing is integration into dashcams.
IMX662: https://www.sony-semicon.co.jp/products/common/pdf/IMX662-AAQR_Flyer_ver01.pdf
IMX678: https://www.sony-semicon.co.jp/products/common/pdf/IMX678-AAQR1_Flyer_ver01.pdf

And then there is the fact that the IMX678 is big enough to give 4K video without sacrificing quality over the 2K sensors we are used to, twice the detail and no disadvantages!

I am very much looking forward to see / try starvis 2, hoping very hard that we will see cameras with it soon.

Are you ready? :sneaky:
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60FPS do not prevent motion blur, all it do is set a lower exposure time of 1:60 second in order to capture 60 frames in a second.
But general photo knowledge will tell you if you want to take a crisp picture of something moving, even at a fairly modest pace, 1:500 second are about as slow as you want to go.
That could be a runner running 200 M or something like that, and thats slow even compared to a slow car that is say 40 - 50 kmh
If you want to take a crisp picture of a F1 car going thru a turn at 220 kmh,,,,,, well you need a much faster exposure if you want the picture to not have motion blur.
if you and your camera in another car go the other way on the race track at the same speed as the F1 car, then you again need a even faster exposure as now your total speed are now 440kmh, this mean that the 2 cars approach each other with quite a few CM for every 1:60 second, so you probably have to go into a exposure time of many 1000 / second to get a crisp picture.

I will stay with 30 FPS for my dashcams.
 
Low-light environments such as dark alleys or parking lots make it very difficult for most dash cams to record clear usable footage and easy to miss some important details. In addition, crash data suggests that most serious accidents happen at night – which means it's vital to have your dash camera working well, even when it's dark. It's exactly why we introduced Super Night Vision.
 
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