I ordered from the same vendor. Still waiting for it. I let you know. When did you order it?

Originally Posted by mavlo77

I ordered from the same vendor. Still waiting for it. I let you know. When did you order it?

8th December. It arrived between Christmas and new year but I've had very little time to use it. I only noticed the problem after I had removed the timestamp and checked the lower right corner of the frame. Rechecking earlier videos I see the problem was there from the start

To be fair the seller eletoponline365 has been very helpful in the past!

Simon

Good luck with that, I did notice the left side of the demo video was not in focus. Here's the one I commented on, back on the MEGA thread. It may be that with HD it's more noticeable, but my old #3's are quite good, but have quite big lenses

Originally Posted by victapilot

Good luck with that, I did notice the left side of the demo video was not in focus. Here's the one I commented on, back on the MEGA thread. It may be that with HD it's more noticeable, but my old #3's are quite good, but have quite big lenses

Thanks for the reply. The demo pic is much better than mine which has more than half out of focus. Whilst we are unlikely to get the perfect picture I'm hoping most (if not all) are better than mine. I also have several #3's and most are very good. I do have one that has a blurred area like in the demo pic.

Plan B will be to refocus myself & try and find a happy medium but I will see what the vendor has to say first.

Simon

Well known problem !
Refocusing does not help.
Reason is bad CHIP !

Originally Posted by ptg

Well known problem !
Refocusing does not help.
Reason is bad CHIP !

Can you elaborate a little in case I need to suggest this to the vendor.

Thanks

Originally Posted by sgbfly

On close inspection I have discovered my camera has a problem with its focus. In the top half of the frame the focus is good, but in the bottom half it is poor. The attached picture of a brick wall shows the problem well. The problem is there in video / pictures and is there for more distant objects too. I think I have a bad lens.

I've contacted the the vendor (eletoponline365), but I'm keen to know if anyone else has a problem like this with large area of a frame out of focus?

I wonder if the lens is cross-threaded?
http://www.chucklohr.com/808/#CrossThreadedLens

Originally Posted by sgbfly

Hi Everyone,

On close inspection I have discovered my camera has a problem with its focus. In the top half of the frame the focus is good, but in the bottom half it is poor. The attached picture of a brick wall shows the problem well. The problem is there in video / pictures and is there for more distant objects too. I think I have a bad lens.

I've contacted the vendor (eletoponline365), but I'm keen to know if anyone else has a problem like this with large area of a frame out of focus?

Simon

Edit: I've attached a couple of video frames for comparison. Same problem!

Simon, it would be normal for focus to drop off towards the edges with the fairly cheap lenses in these cameras, especially true with the much wider sensor array in the HD camera that the lens has to cover with a focused image.

But in your pictures, for just the bottom portion of the image to be fuzzy like that, the lens would have to be poorly centered in the module (doubtful), cross-threaded (possible, it HAS been reported on the old 808 camera), or might have a smudge (or scratch) on one of the lens elements or on the CMOS sensor array behind the lens.

I'd clean the lens front surface first with lens cleaner solution and lens cleaning paper. It's best to blow/brush off any dust with a lens cleaning squeeze-bulb-blower brush before applying cleaning solution. It's hard to get into the edges of the lens in front, but I've done it with a wooden tooth pick with the lens tissue folded on the end. Shoot a test video to see if that helped.

If the fuzzy area is still there, the easiest resolution would be to get a replacment camera from the vendor if you don't mind the delay and/or possibly having to return your camera. But if you are like me, I'd try to fix it first.

I'd first mark the lens and base alignment with a very thin line of paint across them where the threads meet the body, then very slightly (less than 1/4 turn) turn the lens clockwise. This will change the focus to favor more distant objects, which I would normally do anyway without this fuzzy focus problem. Shoot another video and compare the fuzzy area location. If it moved with the lens, then a lens element is dirty, scratched, or not properly aligned. If it stays in the same place, then the lens could be cross-threaded or the CMOS sensor could be dirty or faulty.

If you want to further investigate:

• Unscrew the lens from the base module. Be careful to not let any dust into the inside of the base.
• Inspect the threads on the lens and base for possible cross-threading, and if it looks like there was, try to correct by realigning when you put it back.
• Clean the back side of the lens with lens cleaning solution and tissue. Also, if it looks like there is a smudge on the CMOS sensor, very lightly clean it the same way (I've done that on my #3 camera without problem).
• Re-assemble, re-align the lens near where you started, and shoot some sample video before closing the case. Hopefully the fuzziness will be gone! If so, re-focus the lens and put a drop of glue at the thread/base junction to keep the lens in position. I prefer silicone adhesive for this because it is more easily removed if re-focusing is needed later.
• If the fuzziness is still there, then one of the lens elements must smudged internally, scratched, or misaligned, or the CMOS array is faulty. A replacement lens would be needed as a minimum, or a whole new sensor module (i.e. a replacement camera) to fix the problem.

Good luck with whatever solution you choose. Let us know the outcome!

I don't have an HD, but in the past have had problems getting some devices to charge when a "dumb" USB charger is connected. It turns out that if the device believes it is connected to a live, intelligent USB port, it will not draw charging current until it has negotiated permission to do so with the USB hub controller. But if it believes it is connected to a dumb port, which is just a source of +5VDC, it will go ahead and charge because there's nobody there to negotiate with.

The modern standard is that dumb chargers identify themselves as such by having the two Data lines shorted together, but not otherwise connected to the other pins or the shell. This standard isn't universally followed, but I have built such a dumb charger, and I haven't found anything yet that wouldn't charge when connected to it.

If the car charger can be disassembled, it would be interesting to see if it's anything more than a power source, and if not, how the Data pins are connected.

I got my HD camera this morning... I've removed the time/date, worked as expected! I then tweaked the focus, but I found that I had to turn the lens counterclockwise for a more distant focal point! This is the opposite of my #8 and #3 cameras. I didn't pull the lens out far enough to tell if the threads were reversed or not though, but I assume they are. I'll have to test it a bit more later, but I think the focus is pretty close right now. I did a quick comparison between a #3 and the HD "#11" to compare the field of view. This is something I was wondering about, as the narrow FOV of the #3, and even worse the #8 is something that bugged me. I'm happy to report that the FOV on the HD camera is much larger! Here's a picture to show the difference. Left is a #3, right is the HD. They're both resized for a smaller image, but the relative proportion between the two are the same, and neither is cropped.

Originally Posted by KeithLuneau

I got my HD camera this morning... I've removed the time/date, worked as expected! I then tweaked the focus, but I found that I had to turn the lens counterclockwise for a more distant focal point! This is the opposite of my #8 and #3 cameras. I didn't pull the lens out far enough to tell if the threads were reversed or not though, but I assume they are. I'll have to test it a bit more later, but I think the focus is pretty close right now. I did a quick comparison between a #3 and the HD "#11" to compare the field of view. This is something I was wondering about, as the narrow FOV of the #3, and even worse the #8 is something that bugged me. I'm happy to report that the FOV on the HD camera is much larger! Here's a picture to show the difference. Left is a #3, right is the HD. They're both resized for a smaller image, but the relative proportion between the two are the same, and neither is cropped.

Your FOV comparison seems to match quite well with the FOV test back in post #314... maybe you missed that one? Your two images side-by-side, though, shows how much larger the HD video will display on your PC with equal or better resolution when played back at 100% recorded frame size (I assume those images are individual video frame captures, not still pictures). This alone makes the HD camera worth a lot more to me.

The focus issue is perplexing, though... seems unlikely you'd get one with reverse threads. Did you shoot some video before adjusting the focus? Is it possible your camera came mis-adjusted with the lens too far in (beyond good distant focus point), so backing it out actually made your desired focus better?

I did miss that post!

Yeah I did shoot video with it before opening it up, and it seemed the focal point was about 5 or 6 feet away. I opened it up and screwed the lens in about 1/8th turn, then tried again, and it was blurry. It shot great macro video though... lol So then I took one half off the case and went outside, and let it start recording, then screwed the lens back out to where it was stock, then 1/8th out, and finally 1/4 turn out. Then I came back in and watched the video. It seems that right around 1/8 turn out from stock is best, at least with mine! One thing I did notice is that the lens stick out a lot more, much more area to grab on to turn it than the #3 and #8 cameras. It was also not glued in like they were, it just turns freely, with just enough friction to stop it from moving on it's own. The whole sensor is glued into the plastic case much better too.

I can post some picture of it with the case open if anyone wants to see it!

Tom & Airmob,

Thanks for your thoughts. I am going to wait for the vendors reply first & I will post their reply here (tomorrow hopefully). I am inclined to have a go myself but it's sensible to hear their reply first.

Tom your suggestions are well described and logical. Many thanks.

Simon

Originally Posted by KeithLuneau

I got my HD camera this morning... I've removed the time/date, worked as expected! I then tweaked the focus, but I found that I had to turn the lens counterclockwise for a more distant focal point! This is the opposite of my #8 and #3 cameras. I didn't pull the lens out far enough to tell if the threads were reversed or not though, but I assume they are. I'll have to test it a bit more later, but I think the focus is pretty close right now. I did a quick comparison between a #3 and the HD "#11" to compare the field of view. This is something I was wondering about, as the narrow FOV of the #3, and even worse the #8 is something that bugged me. I'm happy to report that the FOV on the HD camera is much larger! Here's a picture to show the difference. Left is a #3, right is the HD. They're both resized for a smaller image, but the relative proportion between the two are the same, and neither is cropped.

I attempted re-focusing my HD camera a found the Clockwise made the focus worse. I never attempted CCW. Go figure. Thanks.

Bill

Originally Posted by Tom Frank

A more positive test would be to shoot some video until the camera battery is discharged, erase and reinsert the flash card, then hook it up to the car charger cord and start shooting video again. If the camera records until the card is full, then as a minimum the camera is getting power from the charger and not the battery. If after the test you can erase the card, reinsert it, and shoot video with the camera disconnected from the charger cord, then the battery was also being charged while it was shooting video in the prior sequence.

Ideally both the red and yellow LEDs would light when shooting video when powered by the car charger, but it might not have been practical to do that with the circuit arrangement they have.

Okay, I got the answer to my question by following Tom's test procedure (sort of).

The answer is, the car charger does charge without the red light. It also charges when you turn the camera on and shoot video.

In other words, it does what the vendor sez, you just don't get a red light like when you hook up to the computer's usb port.

And yes, that is my final answer.

Yabba