Which is better?

[M Basta]

Question for the experts on this board (you know who you are @Dashmellow, @TonyM, @Nigel ... and I'm sure countless others I'm missing - my apologies ... I just know I'm not one!).

In short, based on these limited images, which would you be inclined to assume is the better cam of these two? I know this is limited information and you may arrive at a different conclusion if you considered all of their attributes, but based on these alone, what do you think?

I'm particularly curious about what exactly it is that gives one a seeming advantage in luminescence over the other. Is it some kind of artificial configuration/setting or better software/hardware?

Both cams are at their default settings, with no HDR, WDR, etc. I'm keeping them anonymous for now just for the sake of absolute fairness.

No headlights - pitch black driveway


Headlights on - pitch black driveway


Headlights on - pitch black country road

 

[Dashmellow]

Well, I assume the particular sensor is primarily responsible for improved luminosity perhaps along with how fast a lens is in each camera. Of course, how well the firmware is crafted can also make a difference.

Here are my choices:

I guess, all in all the one on the left wins. (Aukey DR-02?...just a guess)

Hard to really say definitively. Motion blur is worse on the left in the roadway shot but shadow detail is much better.

 

[DashcamDPR]

the differing position of the cams in the windscreen has a definite difference in effect especially on the driveway, I suspect the fact that the cam on the right is altering it's contrast as it picks up the lights in the distance to the left of the shot just above the fence

the cam on the right, despite not being angled as well as the other, appears to be slightly sharper.. is it the better cam?

 

[Harsh]

Mount them side by side and do a comparison. Probably won't need to ask...

 

[kamkar]

I am gravitating towards the same pics as DM are.
BUT ! in the grand scheme of things it are pretty much the same to me, just one are more easy on the eye as there are more for my brain to work with telling me that everything are hunkydory.
The light sensitive one will be fine / much better when there are no movement, but thats only when / if you use parking mode, otherwise we always deal with some degree of movement in our footage.

 

[Nigel]

In short, based on these limited images, which would you be inclined to assume is the better cam of these two? I know this is limited information and you may arrive at a different conclusion if you considered all of their attributes, but based on these alone, what do you think?

1st pair, we can see far more in the left image, so that is the best.
2nd pair, the right one has a bit more sky detail, but as a dashcam it should be recording detail of number plates so you want good exposure and detail in what is lit by the headlights and the left image has more detail and texture in the wooden fence, so I would say the left image is best.
3rd pair, there is a lot more detail in the left image so that is best.

In addition, the colour balance is much better on the left images, the first right image has the fence completely red instead of wood colour and in the last right image the road has turned too blue. The left images look like they are a lot closer to reality and are more consistent between dark and light areas.

I wont judge the detail since I only have 380 pixel high images when the originals would have been 1080 or more.

Hard to judge which is best on motion blur from those images. In the image with you on the road, they both seem to have used adequate shutter speeds but I can't tell which is fastest from that image.

I'm particularly curious about what exactly it is that gives one a seeming advantage in luminescence over the other. Is it some kind of artificial configuration/setting or better software/hardware?

It appears that one of them is using a much more sensitive sensor, the left images in the 1st and 3rd pair are a lot brighter, about 3x the sRGB values. It could be that the right camera has chosen to use a low ISO setting when it didn't need to, but assuming that is its best then it looks like maybe an old Aptina AR0330 coupled with a low quality lens, while the left camera looks more like one of the newer Sony starlight sensors, maybe an IMX 291 with a decent lens. In the 2nd pair of images, both sensors are sensitive enough to get a good exposure so sensitivity isn't an issue, although if something was moving then there would presumably be a lot less motion blur in the left image and the more sensitive sensor would have given the best result.

 

[SawMaster]

Left is brighter so you see more; right is sharper so you get more details. "Better" is whichever quality you want most

Within reason, I prefer seeing something over seeing nothing even if there is a little loss of detail in accomplishing this. A sharp all-black image of nothing at night is essentially useless while an un-sharp daytime image can still show car positions and movements well, which is usually the most important need in a traffic incident Therefore I "prefer" the left cam but I won't call it "better"

Phil

 

[Submariner Gold]

Pretty sure the better exposed night view, is down to the latest Sony Sensor?

 

[M Basta]

Thanks for the input guys on this hastily planned, impromptu little test.

Left side is the Aukey DR-02 (good call @Dashmellow); right side is the Blueskysea B1W, which I’d borrowed from a friend to see if I could get AV out of it somehow, unfortunately to no avail. I also couldn’t get the app to work to view its positioning, hence its poor placement. I probably would buy the B1W if it had AV-out capabilities as I like its small footprint. Would work well as rear or side cams.

The DR-02 (front) and Mobius (rear) are currently connected to my 9” multimedia/nav screen, but I’m always looking for additional cams with smaller footprints and AV-out capabilities. My diy can take up to 4 AV inputs, only 2 of which I’m currently using as demonstrated in my brief video here:

https://tinyurl.com/y8bya74e

 

[M Basta]

Seems the Dropbox link isn’t working for some. Here’s YouTube.