Oppo Dash Cam Help?

Kinja'd!!! "sm70- why not Duesenberg?" (sm70-whynotduesenberg)
08/22/2015 at 17:39 • Filed to: None

Kinja'd!!!1 Kinja'd!!! 7

I have a Black Box GW1-H in my car. I’ve had it for about 8 months, and it mostly works pretty well. Occasionally it glitches out and erases clips, but whatever, it was only $50. The problem I have, and I know I’ve complained about this on here, is that it has a fisheye lens or something similar. This lens gives the camera a very wide field of vision (125 degrees, I believe) but severely warps distances, making to the side of the car look very close, and things in front of the car look very far away. I was wondering if it’s even possible to buy something that has a wide field of vision without the depth perception issues, or if that’s just the nature of a wide angle lens? At the end of the day, having more vision is more important, but the distance issue does turn close calls in traffic into what look like non-issues. For example, this is a random clip I pulled of a car turning in front of me. This was about as close as I’m comfortable with a driver pulling out at 35mph without it being an issue.

It looks like I was well over a block away, doesn’t it? In reality, the distance was much shorter. Here’s an actual cut off, where I had to brake for the driver:

It looks closer than the first one, but it looks like the Pontiac turned at least 30 feet in front of me (7 second mark when I was perpendicular to him) when in reality it was more like half that. It’s not really a huge issue, but when I’m trying to be whiny to you guys, this makes me seem even whinier.


DISCUSSION (7)


Kinja'd!!! TheOnelectronic > sm70- why not Duesenberg?
08/22/2015 at 17:48

Kinja'd!!!0

Sadly, I believe that’s just the nature of a wide angle lens. The solution would be a curved imaging chip, similar to the eye’s own retina, but those are still several years away from consumer use.

Or you could go insane with it and just get three narrower-field dashcams and stitch the video together later.


Kinja'd!!! sm70- why not Duesenberg? > TheOnelectronic
08/22/2015 at 17:50

Kinja'd!!!0

Here’s a follow-up question: This is currently mounted at the top of my windshield. Would mounting it lower make the perspective better or worse?


Kinja'd!!! TheOnelectronic > sm70- why not Duesenberg?
08/22/2015 at 17:55

Kinja'd!!!1

It probably wouldn’t help much, but it might improve.

I know the struggle. When my friends and I go snowboarding/skiing, I’m usually the camera guy, and I’ve got to basically shove the GoPro up their ass for it to look like I’m anywhere near them.


Kinja'd!!! facw > sm70- why not Duesenberg?
08/22/2015 at 18:00

Kinja'd!!!0

I have a B40/A112, which seems to have an even more extreme fisheye than the G1W. It’s basically something you’re stuck with, there’s not really any other way to capture the periphery aside from moving the camera back or having multiple cameras. It is possible to use post-processing to unwarp fisheye images or video, though of course the results will be lower quality.

If you were ever in a position where you had to use the video in a trial or whatever, it should be easy enough to explain how the fisheye warps perception.


Kinja'd!!! sm70- why not Duesenberg? > facw
08/22/2015 at 18:40

Kinja'd!!!0

If you were ever in a position where you had to use the video in a trial or whatever, it should be easy enough to explain how the fisheye warps perception.

This is the most important thing, and I think you are correct.


Kinja'd!!! Rico > sm70- why not Duesenberg?
08/22/2015 at 18:48

Kinja'd!!!1

“Why would you stop?!” is one of my most used phrases when I drive.


Kinja'd!!! sm70- why not Duesenberg? > Rico
08/22/2015 at 18:48

Kinja'd!!!1

Lol that’s my friend in the passenger seat.