SG9665GC v2 occasionally recording out-of-focus

laf said:
Again, the condition was a car parked outdoors for a couple hours in the sun. It never returned to focus during the drive. Only started recording in focus after I went to a store and turned the car on again..
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Hi, guys, I have the same problem. In sunny days (cca 20°C) and car parking at the sun my camera has focus problem. I thought that it will be OK after some time of ride and AC on but after 1 hour of driving I think the focus was even worse. Dashboard is sharp but the rest is unsharp, cars plates of oncoming cars are unreadable even in this sunny days (good light). Is there any solution for me? Thanks.

Snapshot, picture after 39 minutes of ride, we just stop to have an ice cream (844kB):
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/79177960/SG9665GC/Frame%202016.05.12%2014-59-30%20%280-39-57.829%29.jpg

Video to look (299MB):
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u...6 (25) (14-56-19 - 14-59-02) unfocus.MOV?dl=1
 
THeBaNDiT said:
Hi, guys, I have the same problem. In sunny days (cca 20°C) and car parking at the sun my camera has focus problem. I thought that it will be OK after some time of ride and AC on but after 1 hour of driving I think the focus was even worse. Dashboard is sharp but the rest is unsharp, cars plates of oncoming cars are unreadable even in this sunny days (good light). Is there any solution for me? Thanks.

Snapshot, picture after 39 minutes of ride, we just stop to have an ice cream (844kB):
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/79177960/SG9665GC/Frame%202016.05.12%2014-59-30%20%280-39-57.829%29.jpg

Video to look (299MB):
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/79177960/SG9665GC/Fragment of 2016_0512_141935_506 (25) (14-56-19 - 14-59-02) unfocus.MOV?dl=1
Click to expand...

Your images look very much the same as mine after my SG9665GC V.2 went out of focus and had to be taken out of service. In my case, I've speculated that the problem began after the camera spent the night in temperatures that went down to -26.1111° C (-15° F). Did your camera experience and any similar low temperature extremes at any time since you've owned it?
 
It turn out: SG9665GC don't like cold weather :)
In winter of Giraltovce , the lowest tem is -16 C, but I remember storage temperature range of 9665 is from -20 to 60.
@THeBaNDiT Did you harewire the cam for running 24/7 ?
201684ec5591-bfdc-451f-8a21-01fb920d6f37.jpg
 
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Hi, I live in Bardejov, my SG9665GC arrived to me on february 29th, lowest temperatures in March were about 0°C, I think no problem for cam. I don't use hardwire, I don't use the cam 24/7, I'm using the original adapter from package and the cam is ON only for ride, 2 hours maximum. The picture was good in cold days, but when sunny days and warmer weather came (15-20°C) and the car was parked a few hours at the sun, the picture was unsharp, not good.
 
My SG9665GC was installed in my vehicle when the temperature went down to -26°C overnight but was not running at that time. The other cameras in the vehicle are all Mobius and the extreme cold has never damaged them although one of them needs to warm up for about 60 seconds before it will boot up properly.

So there are two issues for what specs the camera can tolerate. One is how cold or hot a temperature it will tolerate while operating and the other is how cold or hot a storage temperature it will tolerate. My theory with my camera going out of focus is that something happened to the lens as it warmed up due to contraction and expansion.
 
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THeBaNDiT said:
Hi, I live in Bardejov, my SG9665GC arrived to me on february 29th, lowest temperatures in March were about 0°C, I think no problem for cam. I don't use hardwire, I don't use the cam 24/7, I'm using the original adapter from package and the cam is ON only for ride, 2 hours maximum. The picture was good in cold days, but when sunny days and warmer weather came (15-20°C) and the car was parked a few hours at the sun, the picture was unsharp, not good.
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Thanks for your answer. One way or another, the focus issues with the SG9665GC are apparently more widespread than we've been led to believe. When my first SG9665GC was replaced because of a focus problem I was told it was a "one-off" issue. So now this is the second unit I've had with a focus issue and more are coming out of the woodwork. All in all, the out of focus issues appear to be worse in the V.2 version.
 
THeBaNDiT said:
Hi, I live in Bardejov, my SG9665GC arrived to me on february 29th, lowest temperatures in March were about 0°C, I think no problem for cam. I don't use hardwire, I don't use the cam 24/7, I'm using the original adapter from package and the cam is ON only for ride, 2 hours maximum. The picture was good in cold days, but when sunny days and warmer weather came (15-20°C) and the car was parked a few hours at the sun, the picture was unsharp, not good.
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most likely a lens fault, we haven't made any changes to the lens base/lens assembly at all, they've been the same through every production from day one, there has only been a couple of instances of this so far so component problem is the most likely

anyway just talk to whoever you bought it from and we'll arrange to replace it for you
 
@Dashmellow Now that we just got new stock again, I'm sending you out a replacement camera as well. (pre-paid return label will be in the box) I live in the hot desert of Nevada and haven't seen any heat focus issues in the Mustang and Explorer GC vehicles we drive here. It's hard to say what happened to yours, but a replacement is no problem. (stand by)
 
Pier28 said:
@Dashmellow Now that we just got new stock again, I'm sending you out a replacement camera as well. (pre-paid return label will be in the box) I live in the hot desert of Nevada and haven't seen any heat focus issues in the Mustang and Explorer GC vehicles we drive here. It's hard to say what happened to yours, but a replacement is no problem. (stand by)
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Thanks Pier28. That's good news and much appreciated.

I'm afraid my V1 GC that I've been trying with mixed results to use since the V2 developed the out-of-focus issue has developed yet another problem that I'm afraid led me to finally take it out of service too, just yesterday. (a mechanical issue with the lens angle click adjustment causing an audio vibration and less than sharp video while driving that was very hard to track down). I'm planning to post further details about it in my other thread on the subject, soon.

It's weird that I've had such bad luck with the GC. I'm not sure what to make of it at this point. As for the focus issue with the V2, I'm really pretty sure that it happened that night when the temperature went down to -15F below zero. That's pretty extreme and probably not the camera's fault per se. The camera appears to have suffered some sort of thermal shock. On the other hand I know there must be other customers who live in cold climates who haven't run into this issue. The question for me will be what happens next winter when it gets that cold. Where I live the temperatures usually don't get quite so cold except perhaps a couple of times per season.

There do seem to be more very similar focus complaints trickling in but so far it doesn't seem to be an epidemic. Anyway, I've considered dismantling the problem camera to see if anything obvious reveals itself. Usually such problems are related to the lens mount but it is possible the something may have occurred to the lens elements themselves. On the other hand, since you are sending a new unit and a return label I guess I'll leave it alone. (Actually, truth be told I already partially opened the camera to see what will ultimately be involved but held off doing major surgery so far and put everything back together. It was interesting to note that the GC uses NanoForce super-caps - the same brand I used in my GT680W mod.)
 
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Dashmellow said:
I'm afraid my V1 GC that I've been trying with mixed results to use since the V2 developed the out-of-focus issue has developed yet another problem that I'm afraid led me to finally take it out of service too, just yesterday. (a mechanical issue with the lens angle click adjustment causing an audio vibration and less than sharp video while driving that was very hard to track down). I'm planning to post further details about it in my other thread on the subject, soon.
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that's what warranty is for, if you have an issue send it back and we'll replace it
 
jokiin said:
that's what warranty is for, if you have an issue send it back and we'll replace it
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@jokiin, I really appreciate the conscientious and generous warranty policy and your unique approach to customer service in general but I believe you're sort of missing or perhaps avoiding the point I've been trying to make regarding my overall experience with the SG9665GC.

I have now had three different SG9665GC units fail on me in one way or another. Two have had focus issues and all three cameras have had the contrast/exposure issues I've posted about. Now one of them appears to have developed loose click stops on the lens adjustment that is causing a vibration noise issue and an apparent wobble that shows up as unsharp video under certain driving conditions.

I purchased the GC because I needed a reliable set-and-forget camera with superior video quality as an alternative to the usual DIY, experimenter's appoach I've basically been engaged in since I first became interested in dash cams six years ago. I wanted something to complement the bullet proof reliability of the three Mobius cams I have facing out the side and rear windows of my vehicle. Instead, I've spent the last 15 months hassling with all the issues I've experienced with these three cameras, along with countless hours documenting, corresponding and then finally posting about them. While both you and @Pier28 have been extraordinarily friendly, courteous, helpful and generous in responding to these problems, each step of the way there's been what increasingly feels like an effort to minimize and marginalize these problems. I could cite numerous examples here on the boards. Sometimes it also feels like the terrific customer support and warranty approach has the effect of drawing attention away from any given problem that arises.
 
FYI: For the record, I've never had to service a customer as many times as you, so it's unclear what caused your most recent troubles but another replacement is no problem. If there was a widespread issue, there would be a lot more reports, and there wouldn't be a 5 star Amazon review today. V2 is improved over the V1 you first received a year ago though.
 
the first camera was never focused correctly from new, that's operator error, annoying but it happens, the recent focus issue is something hardware related, not sure what as it's not common and I haven't had the camera back to look at it yet, the problem you mentioned with the camera you've had all year with the loose click is something new also, getting it back so we can find out what happened helps us so that if there's a problem we can find out what it is, this mechanism is identical in the B40/A118 and you don't see reports of this issue so again it's probably a one off but best to look at it and see what happened regardless, the contrast stuff is firmware related

why you keep getting all the problems I don't know, bad luck I guess
 
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