kamkar
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2013
- Messages
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- Denmark
- Dash Cam
- 10 years, many dashcams
So you desided to go all in and install cameras at the sides of your vehicle too, then allow me to share some of my experiences and ideas on the matter.
First if you want a reasonably stealthy install there is a fjew things to consider beside the shape and size of the camera.
To make the camera stand out as little as possible it have to hug the edge of the window, this in turn mean that if you use a wide angle lens there is a chance of it having some of the edge in the footage, even if the lens is right up against the glass in the side window.
This is a picture of my experimental setup using my innovv C3, and as you can see its not extremely close to the edge of the window, and even at this distance there is a good chance of getting the edge in the footage.
And this is just the 90 Deg C3 camera, with a wider lens installing discreete can be even more problematic.
Here is a sample of what kind of readability you can expect to get in daylight and nighttime in a small town without too much ambient light from massive billbords and the like, so its just streetlight and a little from shop windows.
The daytime footage is captured at 40 - 50 - 70 km/h speeds, the night time is 70 - 60 - 50 km/h.
This is the link for DL of the raw footage.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B36pu7lzytG1cndUdTNtVU8xR1k/view?usp=sharing
I see it this way.
1. In daytime on a sunny or really bright day like today you can expect to read licenceplates and other things along the road, but they have to be at a car length distance or more to be captured good, things too close will suffer from motion blur at the most common speeds ( 50 km/h and up )
2. On cloudy days the performance will drop more in regard to motion blur, but do remember just becuz you cant read the plate of the car that T-bone you, it should still be proof that you are not to blame.
3. Nighttime, again as above on cloudy gray days motion blur will be a issue, even more than a camera pointing forward, but this is the prize for capturing things moving by in low light with current CMOS technology, but again in a court of law if it get to that there should be some validity to the footage captured.
Cameras for side mounting will benefit from a design thats made for this kind of use, things as curtain airbags and the like need to be taken into consideration when designing and installing cameras on the side.
It would be nice if they could be made extremely small, i am thinking cellphone small camera + lens, the small Innovv C3 camera housing might be too large for many cars, not least the new ones.
I think with a cellphone size camera/lens module it should allso be possible to get the unit in a more stealthy position, and not least allso in a place where ppl getting in and out of the car dont hit the camera.
I like the side camera idea, but i will hold back from following thru on it untill there is dedicated cameras for it, or if dual cams with 2 remote cams get small enuff.
I dont think a dual panorama X1 like setup will do it due to the shape of the X1 camera unit, C3 might be better then, but i dont want to collect a handfull of SD cards from my car when i need to save captured footage.
My dream is to have only 2 SD cards or even better 1 SSD to capture the footage from.
I hope this have given you a little to think about before you get too hooked on side cameras in the car, and do remember by far the most situations you will encounter on the road can be dokumented with just the 1 front camera.
First if you want a reasonably stealthy install there is a fjew things to consider beside the shape and size of the camera.
To make the camera stand out as little as possible it have to hug the edge of the window, this in turn mean that if you use a wide angle lens there is a chance of it having some of the edge in the footage, even if the lens is right up against the glass in the side window.
This is a picture of my experimental setup using my innovv C3, and as you can see its not extremely close to the edge of the window, and even at this distance there is a good chance of getting the edge in the footage.
And this is just the 90 Deg C3 camera, with a wider lens installing discreete can be even more problematic.
Here is a sample of what kind of readability you can expect to get in daylight and nighttime in a small town without too much ambient light from massive billbords and the like, so its just streetlight and a little from shop windows.
The daytime footage is captured at 40 - 50 - 70 km/h speeds, the night time is 70 - 60 - 50 km/h.
This is the link for DL of the raw footage.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B36pu7lzytG1cndUdTNtVU8xR1k/view?usp=sharing
I see it this way.
1. In daytime on a sunny or really bright day like today you can expect to read licenceplates and other things along the road, but they have to be at a car length distance or more to be captured good, things too close will suffer from motion blur at the most common speeds ( 50 km/h and up )
2. On cloudy days the performance will drop more in regard to motion blur, but do remember just becuz you cant read the plate of the car that T-bone you, it should still be proof that you are not to blame.
3. Nighttime, again as above on cloudy gray days motion blur will be a issue, even more than a camera pointing forward, but this is the prize for capturing things moving by in low light with current CMOS technology, but again in a court of law if it get to that there should be some validity to the footage captured.
Cameras for side mounting will benefit from a design thats made for this kind of use, things as curtain airbags and the like need to be taken into consideration when designing and installing cameras on the side.
It would be nice if they could be made extremely small, i am thinking cellphone small camera + lens, the small Innovv C3 camera housing might be too large for many cars, not least the new ones.
I think with a cellphone size camera/lens module it should allso be possible to get the unit in a more stealthy position, and not least allso in a place where ppl getting in and out of the car dont hit the camera.
I like the side camera idea, but i will hold back from following thru on it untill there is dedicated cameras for it, or if dual cams with 2 remote cams get small enuff.
I dont think a dual panorama X1 like setup will do it due to the shape of the X1 camera unit, C3 might be better then, but i dont want to collect a handfull of SD cards from my car when i need to save captured footage.
My dream is to have only 2 SD cards or even better 1 SSD to capture the footage from.
I hope this have given you a little to think about before you get too hooked on side cameras in the car, and do remember by far the most situations you will encounter on the road can be dokumented with just the 1 front camera.
Last edited:
( and i often do the same in Danish )
i think its best to just not be too serious about this for a while untill more optimal solutions are available.
