Some IQ questions/issues

A

alexp999

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Dash Cam
SG9663DC
Not sure if I have an issue or it is just a limitation of the camera. Got my CPL filter now which has made a great difference to the reflections, I can't help but feel the camera is struggling with the sun in this footage though.



Also in this night footage there seems to be a lot of artifacts and flashing pixels:

 
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Skip to around 4:25 on first video to see what I mean about the sun.
 
At night video "flashing lights" are not so called hot-pixels, but rather surrounding area lights and reflectiosn from them. If there would be "hot-pixels", then they would stay on place. New batch has censor calibrated, so there should be no hot-pixels.

Regarding day time video I can see especially to the end of the video it has over-brightened scenes. Unfortunately direct sun scenes are very hard for most dashcams especially in our area where sun can be too low to horizon and still at it's full intensity. I have experienced similar scenes in some occasions. However there are some tweaks in the new firmware which should improve image quality.

Please tell what firmware version is your unit ?
 
I'm running firmware SG20151109.V2

They are not hot pixels, but when you view the night time video in full 1080p, you can see little flashing white(ish) pixels in the dark areas, like the dashboard.
 
alexp999 said:
I'm running firmware SG20151109.V2

They are not hot pixels, but when you view the night time video in full 1080p, you can see little flashing white(ish) pixels in the dark areas, like the dashboard.
Click to expand...

Ok, I try to view on the bigger screen, not clear to me now, but if you could maybe make a screenshots and point them out, this would help to see which exact area.

Please upgrade to the latest FW. Download and instructions can be found here:

https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/sg9665gc-firmware-updates-and-pre-release-access.16310/
 
I'll give that a go and see if it helps with the winter sun thanks.

Here is an enlarged screenshot, the bright pixels appear randomly all over the dark areas, they just flicker in random places, never the same spot. I can only see it at 1080p though, I think they are only 1 pixel sized dots.
dots.png
 
I thought calibration was for permanently stuck pixels though?
 
Feel free to run the calibration as many times as you wish. Be aware we are pushing the Sony sensor to the max for night performance so it's not always possible to make 100% of the minor ones completely disappear in the darkest conditions. (without sacrificing night performance)
 
It's not too distracting, I just wanted to make sure I didn't have an issue.

I'll try the BETA firmware first, then might give calibration a go, although it might just be anomalies as a result of the high sensitivity (high ISO I assume?).
 
I see what you mean with the sunny video, I wonder if it would help to angle the lens up a notch
The horizon in your video looks like it's fairly high up so maybe it's basing the exposure off of your dashboard/road too much thus overexposing the sky
 
I tried to aim for about 40/60 as recommended. Most of that trip is on a hill which might be affecting it. If I adjust it a notch it looks more like 50/50, lol. I'll see if the new firmware helps and following from there.
 
alexp999 said:
I tried to aim for about 40/60 as recommended. Most of that trip is on a hill which might be affecting it. If I adjust it a notch it looks more like 50/50, lol. I'll see if the new firmware helps and following from there.
Click to expand...

it's not a strict rule, if you find it works better for you aimed up a bit higher that's fine
 
Best if you can test driving same short route within short period of time: 1st with 50/50, then 40/60. And on PC you will be able to see and compare which setup works best for you in those extreme light conditions.
 
Couldn't drive all of the route again, but did a bit, here are some comparisons, I think it does look better pointed a bit further up, more 50/50 road/sky, but then you could only see the dash before.

Frame 2016.01.19 13-47-11 (0-12-47.120).jpg
Frame 2016.01.20 13-13-30 (0-07-00.340).jpg
Frame 2016.01.19 17-47-36 (0-10-15.146).jpg
Frame 2016.01.20 17-43-55 (0-08-26.807).jpg
 
Yeah, now its 50/50.
Have you updated to latest firmware as well ?
 
No, I thought I'd try one thing at a time to see how it is affected.

It didn't seem to wash out anywhere near as much in the footage with it pointing up a bit further, although colour temp goes a bit screwy every now and then, quite a lot of compression blocking too, so I'll have to give the firmware a try to see if it helps with that.
 
alexp999 said:
No, I thought I'd try one thing at a time to see how it is affected.

It didn't seem to wash out anywhere near as much in the footage with it pointing up a bit further, although colour temp goes a bit screwy every now and then, quite a lot of compression blocking too, so I'll have to give the firmware a try to see if it helps with that.
Click to expand...

Compression blocking can be seen quite often on many dashcams if driving in do called extreme conditions, especially nearby trees. Processor / CMOS / software working at their limits there.
Try latest FW. There has been some image quality adjustments done.
 
niko said:
Compression blocking can be seen quite often on many dashcams if driving in do called extreme conditions, especially nearby trees. Processor / CMOS / software working at their limits there.
Try latest FW. There has been some image quality adjustments done.
Click to expand...
The amount of changes in the scene per frame doesn't actually change the load on the processor/cmos/software at all, it's always constant.
CMOS might get a different load depending on the lighting conditions though (darker image -> more overdrive applied on the CMOS), but the compression is and always will apply the same load.
 
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