Shadow/low light performance

[basior]

Checking some of random vids I noticed how bad xiaomi performes in shadows or with low hanging sun.
I thought after I bought it (firmware 1.0.9 IIRC) cam was dealing in such situations much better.
Could it be fault of new firmwares (installed 1.1 and was same bad)?
Yesterday I made some comparison recordings with mobius, which I thought will be worse, and xiaomi side by side.
Welll... long story short mobius simply destroyed xiaomi.
Do your cams work same way or maybe there is some tweak to change it?
The only thing I changed im my cam was seting higher bitrate - 25 mbps.

mobius up, xiaomi bottom.

 

[reverend]

You might want to try changing the metering mode setting - what is it set to currently?

 

[Dashmellow]

This is not a valid comparison between the two cameras because they are not aimed out the car's windscreen at the same angle. If you tilt the Xiaomi down so there is less sky in the image and more of the car's hood, the shadow detail will be vastly improved and it will more closely match the performance of the Mobius.

 

[basior]

Cams were tilted at same angle, xiaomi simply reaches more sky (but also dashboard of the car) since it has wider angle lens. I'd have to lean it down much more to leave same amount if the sky as it's visible in mobius.
Currently set to average metering mode, tried two other, no difference.

 

[Dashmellow]

Cams were tilted at same angle, xiaomi simply reaches more sky (but also dashboard of the car) since it has wider angle lens. I'd have to lean it down much more to leave same amount if the sky as it's visible in mobius.
Currently set to average metering mode, tried two other, no difference.

That's not quite what it looks like in your screen shots but either way if you have more sky in the Xiaomi's FOV the camera will compensate by underexposing the shadow details you wish to capture.

 

[reverend]

Maybe they've ****ed up the metering in the firmware, average is trying to get everything exposed across the entire frame which it's doing in your screenshots - centre or spot should be better when they're working correctly for dashcam usage but as this is an action camera I guess it's not something they're that worried about getting right.

 

[Dashmellow]

From the looks of these screen shots even a center metered image on the Xiaomi would still have too much sky and the sky appears to be overwhelming the exposure bias towards underexposure of the lower foreground.

 

[reverend]

Yeah these super wide lenses can be a pain like this as you end up with it pointing down at a very strange angle but like you say it should definitely work better.

I took my Yi out to record the local duck race yesterday but I haven't had chance to go through the footage yet.

 

[basior]

On all of xiaomi vids sky doesn't take more than quarter of the frame, so I don't reeally think that unfair comparison. Cmon, not gonna point camera at the ground all the time to get better exposure.

 

[Dashmellow]

On all of xiaomi vids sky doesn't take more than quarter of the frame, so I don't reeally think that unfair comparison. Cmon, not gonna point camera at the ground all the time to get better exposure.

You have more sky in the Xiaomi images than you should have to achieve a proper exposure. If you were to tilt the Mobius up to have the same amount of sky, or it had a wider lens in it as with the Xiaomi you would have the same complaints. I think the bottom line is that the Xiaomi is an action cam that is not designed or intended to used as a dash cam.

 

[basior]

My intention wasn't using it as dashcam, simply used it in this role to get some comparison without embarassing walking with two cameras in the front of me through the town.
Will try to make some more vids, carefully watching lean anlge. Still, I don't really think decent actioncam (as I thought about xiaomi) should work this way in daylight.

 

[Dashmellow]

My intention wasn't using it as dashcam, simply used it in this role to get some comparison without embarassing walking with two cameras in the front of me through the town.
Will try to make some more vids, carefully watching lean anlge. Still, I don't really think decent actioncam (as I thought about xiaomi) should work this way in daylight.

Try some shots where you intentionally point the camera(s) to have more sky in the image and then point them down in the same situation and then compare the difference. That will tell you more about what the cameras are doing. The "rule of thumb" for a dash cam is to have no more than one third sky and two thirds road and car hood. In the Xiaomi examples above, the sky extends down to around the middle of the field of view in most of the shots. The first two photos are a good example of that.

 

[basior]

After changing cam angle I must say there's slight possibility that I was wrong 😉 But be serious; most people don't hold camera tilted downward when they fillm. It's obvious that sky will always take large share of video frame. Still, need more testing to find out the truth, it's still out there.
Below video frames taken arround 5 and 8 PM (yesterday vid was taken few minutes to 7 PM). I see some improvement 😉