Thinkware F50 clarity.....

[tsouzee]

Hello everyone. For anyone running a Thinkware F50 dashcam, do you feel the picture quality is acceptable? I would like to be able to capture nearby license plate numbers if needed. Is it capable of this or should I be looking at something else?

 

[jokiin]

Some raw files have been posted previously, probably best to download and check them yourself and see if it meets your expectations or not

 

[russ331]

For anyone running a Thinkware F50 dashcam, do you feel the picture quality is acceptable?

@WA3PNT seems impressed with his F50 ...

https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/f50-cpl-filter-work-around-solution.20800/page-2#post-277188

 

[Maddog1974]

I haven't had any complaints about them, i've seen some footage day & night from my colleagues Audi TT and it looks pretty good for the entry level model.

 

[niko]

I would like to be able to capture nearby license plate numbers if needed.

It's all depends. Do you mean parked or slow moving nearby cars plates numbers, or high-speed moving cars?
From my experience few dozens dashcams I had which records at around 10 Mbps bit-rate 1080p/30Fps they can read-record numberplates in good day time at max speed 50 km/h, so for driving in the city you should be fine with F50. At speeds over 50km/h those daschams can not capture other towards moving cars numberplates.

 

[Nitram]

I tend to agree with this. The F50 is fine around town. Once on fast A roads or motorways it struggles to pick out number plate detail.
Hopefully if you have an incident it'll be under 40mph anyway: any faster and I guess there would be plenty of "evidence" left around such as lumps of cars. :-/
I over analysed the quality of the picture before deciding that for such a competitive price it's plenty good enough.

 

[tsouzee]

Thanks everyone. I received a faulty QVIA T790 but the seller is replacing it, so I'll wait and see if the replacrment works. If not I may try this one. Looks pretty good overall for half the price.

 

[niko]

for half the price.

you mean for half the normal present online price ? How did you get such deal ?
Or you mean swapping T790 for F50 and rest money is refunded, right ? Then it makes sense

 

[tsouzee]

Haha. Yes exactly. The F50 is about half the price of the QVIA, but I'm hoping either way it works out.

 

[jokiin]

Haha. Yes exactly. The F50 is about half the price of the QVIA, but I'm hoping either way it works out.

depends on your expectations I guess

 

[niko]

Haha. Yes exactly. The F50 is about half the price of the QVIA, but I'm hoping either way it works out.

Time will tell.
But if you bought from reputable local dealer, then you should be safe.

 

[Codester3388]

I was able to get this cam for $62 with my work discount. I'm thinking about returning it and getting the A119. I had to turn the sensitivity all the way down for continuous driving recording but my subs still trigger the event recording every 20-40 seconds. Not getting rid of my music for this cam. haha

 

[kamkar]

Just turn G-sensor off, if you get hit while driving i am sure you will notice it and have ample of time to stop the camera recording and so save the file you need.

In my view G.sensor is useless for driving, but for parking thats what i would use and not motion detect.

 

[Codester3388]

Just turn G-sensor off, if you get hit while driving i am sure you will notice it and have ample of time to stop the camera recording and so save the file you need.

In my view G.sensor is useless for driving, but for parking thats what i would use and not motion detect.

There isn't anywhere in the settings to actually turn it off in continuous mode. It's already at the lowest setting for the sensitivity.

 

[kamkar]

And no custom values you can enter either ? i know there was on my lukas when i played around with G-sensor for a few days before i turned it off.
The lukas was the same even on low setting it was way too sensitive, and even when i did found some custom values to enter for the 3 axis it would still go off some times, but then not more than 1 time for about 1 hour of driving.

On the Lukas dashcams ( mine as the LK-7500 ) you had to make changes via the lukas software as those cameras was without a screen.
No option for such things in the player provided with the F50 ?

The thinkware guys have a little firmware fixing to do i think, no good if you cant stop event files from being created all the time, cuz in the end they will fill the card up leaving room for nothing else.

 

[Codester3388]

Yea there isn't any place to turn it off. I love the parking mode on this brand but the constant event saving due to my subs are kind of annoying. Have until the 15th to return it.

 

[jps2011]

I am rather disappointed with the night video quality of the F50. Images are blurry. Any one experiencing the same issue? I am currently on my second set of F50 replaced by the local distributor but problem still persists.

 

[jokiin]

that looks very poor, was the first one the same?

 

[Maddog1974]

That looks about what i would expect (a screenshot always looks a little worse than the actual video) below is a clip from a F50 of me driving in a streetlight scenario. It's got good lighting but you will struggle with detail. You have to remember this is the entry level camera, if the video was amazing on this one there wouldn't be a lot of point in having higher end models with better lenses etc. If you can go up a couple of models the X330 is very good for a lower end camera.

F50 - https://chameleoncodewing-my.sharepoint.com/personal/spaget_chameleoncodewing_co_uk/_layouts/15/guestaccess.aspx?docid=002ae4295cc6a4e939426896bfa70ae2d&authkey=AY2Vhmp8zsrMbK9JHNeYrKs&expiration=2017-11-03T08:14:27.000Z

X330 - (This was on a suction mount so does vibrate slightly in a few places) - https://chameleoncodewing-my.sharepoint.com/personal/spaget_chameleoncodewing_co_uk/_layouts/15/guestaccess.aspx?docid=09985e0b48351446c876cd0d77ed0a37a&authkey=ATHE9EaGyFewMDTiI7xwBos&expiration=2017-11-03T08:15:27.000Z

Right up to the new F800 (coming approx August) with Super Night Vision 2 this is off of a pre production model - https://chameleoncodewing-my.sharepoint.com/personal/spaget_chameleoncodewing_co_uk/_layouts/15/guestaccess.aspx?docid=0f261d5627a7945db90d15248a176fc8d&authkey=AXY5rGvWePNfOfCGGvGDZYY&expiration=2017-11-03T08:19:41.000Z

 

[jps2011]

That looks about what i would expect (a screenshot always looks a little worse than the actual video) below is a clip from a F50 of me driving in a streetlight scenario. It's got good lighting but you will struggle with detail. You have to remember this is the entry level camera, if the video was amazing on this one there wouldn't be a lot of point in having higher end models with better lenses etc. If you can go up a couple of models the X330 is very good for a lower end camera.

F50 - https://chameleoncodewing-my.sharepoint.com/personal/spaget_chameleoncodewing_co_uk/_layouts/15/guestaccess.aspx?docid=002ae4295cc6a4e939426896bfa70ae2d&authkey=AY2Vhmp8zsrMbK9JHNeYrKs&expiration=2017-11-03T08:14:27.000Z

X330 - (This was on a suction mount so does vibrate slightly in a few places) - https://chameleoncodewing-my.sharepoint.com/personal/spaget_chameleoncodewing_co_uk/_layouts/15/guestaccess.aspx?docid=09985e0b48351446c876cd0d77ed0a37a&authkey=ATHE9EaGyFewMDTiI7xwBos&expiration=2017-11-03T08:15:27.000Z

Right up to the new F800 (coming approx August) with Super Night Vision 2 this is off of a pre production model - https://chameleoncodewing-my.sharepoint.com/personal/spaget_chameleoncodewing_co_uk/_layouts/15/guestaccess.aspx?docid=0f261d5627a7945db90d15248a176fc8d&authkey=AXY5rGvWePNfOfCGGvGDZYY&expiration=2017-11-03T08:19:41.000Z

Yes, I do understand that this is an entry model dash cam. However I have also used other entry level dash cams from Blackvue, XiaoYi and Thinkware but have not seen such disappointing night quality. Main reason why I chose these dash cams is the size. I wanted something sleek and compact therefore the mid range and high end models from Thinkware are out.

This is my third dash cam from Thinkware. I have used H100 and H50. The H100 night videos were pretty good. H50 night videos are dark but not blurry. F50 really disappoints me. I just bought a XiaoYi cam recently and the video quality beats F50 hands down.