G90 A7LA70 unfocused videos

[reverend]

That's a good idea - I was thinking raised markings on the lens though so that it could be adjusted from the outside easier without having to take the camera to pieces.

I even looked up to see if you could get small plungers that you could just stick onto the front of the lens to rotate it but I haven't turned anything up just yet :/

 

[FourEyes]

Conventional pliers can do the job, just put some soft cloth (a handkerchief maybe) between them and the lens; lenses' plastic housing is easily scratched and starts looking very ugly if it slips when rotated with pliers.

 

[reverend]

Ah sorry I was thinking for when the camera is fully assembled - there's nothing to grab onto from the front - so it's either creating a lip on the lens that you can grab hold of to adjust or something that would hold onto the glass part which is where I was looking for the small suction cups as they'd do it (although getting them off could be fun

 

[reverend]

Here we go, something like this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/B00EZ5C5MM
I don't know if they'd be strong enough to twist the lens from outside the camera but I'll order one (when I've decided what size) and see

 

[FourEyes]

Sorry I have misunderstood you; that would be quite a novelty - a 12mm plunger Can you just separate the plastic covering the lens from the front part of the camera's housing? I don't own a G90 but as far as I've seen in most other dash cams this is a separate part and can be reasonably easily removed - some are held with tabs, others with small screws on the inside of the front half oh the housing. Then you'll be able to adjust focus freely for as long as you want until you're completely happy with it and use the camera in the process.

 

[reverend]

Ah sorry yes I did have the camera into pieces earlier to do the focus and yes you can run the camera with the lens board out of the plastic housing to do the adjustment - I've done it, but was thinking of a way of adjusting the focus longer term outside of the case - I think even with a plastic plunger it wouldn't give you the fine control. I actually took all of the glue off of the lens thread temporarily while I get it adjusted so that I'm completely happy.

I had the camera apart and fixed the focus on mine along with painting the front

Stealth mode / A slightly more discrete G90

Unfortunately in the G90 the plastic lens holder holds the lens assembly in place so without it there you just have a free floating PCB - it's doable as I've sorted mine out but it's just fiddly.

I did my GT680W focus today too

I guess they build them all this way to try and prevent anyone adjusting the focus once it's all in and done, but I was just trying to think of a way around it

 

[Mandami]

Does your PC monitor have an HDMI input you could use?

No, it doesn't (only DVI and VGA).

 

[reverend]

What about a mini HDMI to DVI cable? That should work on your monitor then?

 

[Mandami]

HDMI to DVI cable

yes, only to buy one.

To be honest I aimed mine further than 2m -

I think the best is to move the focus as far as possible as long as at 2m from the camera something similar to a plate number can be easily read.

 

[Signhere]

Ah sorry yes I did have the camera into pieces earlier to do the focus and yes you can run the camera with the lens board out of the plastic housing to do the adjustment - I've done it, but was thinking of a way of adjusting the focus longer term outside of the case - I think even with a plastic plunger it wouldn't give you the fine control. I actually took all of the glue off of the lens thread temporarily while I get it adjusted so that I'm completely happy.

I had the camera apart and fixed the focus on mine along with painting the front

Stealth mode / A slightly more discrete G90

Unfortunately in the G90 the plastic lens holder holds the lens assembly in place so without it there you just have a free floating PCB - it's doable as I've sorted mine out but it's just fiddly.

I did my GT680W focus today too

I guess they build them all this way to try and prevent anyone adjusting the focus once it's all in and done, but I was just trying to think of a way around it

I'll just remove the beauty ring ( and maybe internal heat can better escape through there ?) ...






Once I get it"focused", I''ll modify a rubber grommet [furniture cushion pad] to secure the lens . The outer black ring can be snapped back on securely with double sided tape ( very thin ones) [actually, I don't think double sided taping is necessary].

 

[Sabe]

Once I get it"focused", I''ll modify a rubber grommet to secure the lens .

It would be ideal if you could attach protractor plate to camera and pointer lever to lens, and then just park your car where ever you like and start record video while turn lever degree by degree yelling numbers at the same time, then just watch video afterwards and select number what looks best on the video.
And then if you like, remove lever and protractor.

 

[Signhere]

It would be ideal if you could attach protractor plate to camera and pointer lever to lens, and then just park your car where ever you like and start record video while turn lever degree by degree yelling numbers at the same time, then just watch video afterwards and select number what looks best on the video.
And then if you like, remove lever and protractor.

I am using reference marks on the lens' casing. It looks like the adjustment will be well under 10 degrees from stock setting.

Thanks @reverend. I haven't yet disassembled my dashcam, but I hope it will be the same.

...
Do you think the battery becomes warmer (to hot) with the time/age ? (and this affects the lenses)

Most of the time, the blame is on the charger for over heating the battery. The blue charging light should not stay on for more than ~ 10 minutes.

If heat is having an impact on the lens itself, I would think the damage would be permanent.

 

[reverend]

Is that purple colour the standard colour then? Mine needed less than 10 degrees of adjustment as well to get it where it is now.

Actually do you even need to have anything at the front to support the lens as it's screwed into the bottom of that assembly?

This definitely makes it easy to adjust when it's all assembled though

 

[Mandami]

@Signhere It's a good solution to remove the silver ring (i.e., air circulation & stealthier).
How is it that your dashcam is violet ? mine is black

What are the results after refocusing ?

The blue charging light should not stay on for more than ~ 10 minutes

from zero to full charge using the car charger ? One thing I can confirm now: only by connecting to USB port it becomes warmer (blue and red lights on; no recording, no data transfer).

 

[jokiin]

How is it that your dashcam is violet ? mine is black

Guess you got the mens version

 

[Mandami]

@jokiin I searched and it seems gearbest sells on this color.

 

[jokiin]

don't think it much matters, I know Reverend has recently painted his black, perhaps he was worried people would think he had the ladies version also

 

[Signhere]

@Signhere It's a good solution to remove the silver ring (i.e., air circulation & stealthier).
How is it that your dashcam is violet ? mine is black

What are the results after refocusing ?

from zero to full charge using the car charger ? One thing I can confirm now: only by connecting to USB port it becomes warmer (blue and red lights on; no recording, no data transfer).

It became violet/purple because of the reflections from the blue leds in the room. A lot of things lid up in blue nowadays. The only blue led that makes sense is the one coming from a bluetooth device!

At least from when the camera wants to power down, my camera takes about 10 minutes to charge before the blue light goes out. Maybe the G90 needs 1amp to really start charging and your USB port is not supplying the needed amp? The red light on its own do get warm though.

I have not start the refocusing attempt yet. Hopefully, I can post some good results later today.

Is that purple colour the standard colour then? Mine needed less than 10 degrees of adjustment as well to get it where it is now.

Actually do you even need to have anything at the front to support the lens as it's screwed into the bottom of that assembly?

This definitely makes it easy to adjust when it's all assembled though

The two outer rings are like dust covers and do not support the lens.

 

[Signhere]

Refocused - about 3-4mm clockwise from stock position. I did one outdoor and one indoor (4m) image gathering captures. Both methods place the lens in the same position to get the desired focus.

 

[Signhere]

...

from zero to full charge using the car charger ? One thing I can confirm now: only by connecting to USB port it becomes warmer (blue and red lights on; no recording, no data transfer).

I had the camera in photo mode with the LCD screen on and let it depleted the battery. The camera's charger took about 80 minutes before it stopped charging ( blue light off) . On initial power up in video mode using the camera's battery power, the camera started to indicate battery low at around 33 seconds and commenced to shutdown. If I were to charge the camera then, it would likely took about 10 minutes to charge.

Is this a firmware issue (v441) ?