Stewart's SEA-Horse Corral

Evaluating the Mobius Action Cam

page 43
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These pages were created during the development cycle of step 1 firmware. As of 2014-Jan, step 2 firmware is now released and in testing. Therefore consider most of the following issues to be out of date.
The TOP HALF of this page is for archival purposes now.
Many of the tests below can not be duplicated until winter ends, so no new comparisons can be posted immediately.

With those color/brightness problems no longer current, I am moving up the video of photo time lapse activity, showing the happy reaching of a goal:

Click to play AVI
time-lapse video

2013.Sep.04 - Nov.09
Here is a time lapse video, hand picked one minute from each day, gravitating toward sequences of good weather and favorable sun angle, sped up x60. Shows rapid recovery of water level by busy beavers, then new trees fallen, and now day by day tree limbs get chewed off and added to the dam. Water level chart jumps up faster during this sequence. Watch for autumn colors, first snowfall, and a second dropping of water level leaving behind the ice layer.

2014-Jan - Step 2 firmware v1.13

I posted some sample videos of how the color/brightness issue affects motion detect video at rcgroups thread page 6

2013-Dec - Mobius Action Cam running firmware v0.59

• The Brightness portion of the strobing issue is mostly fixed, very stable now. The color tint portion is not yet fixed. I can post some JPG files upon request for the moment the color shifts from normal to blue, and back. But since this is a known issue, I will simply await the arrival of step 2 firmware.

2013-Nov - Mobius Action Cam running firmware v0.57

• White balance strobing is generally fixed at first glance, but after a few days running I can see parts of it are still there. ~~I'm not rushing to post new files, as it seems to be nothing seriously new or different enough.~~
Edit Nov-14 Changed locations and wow the strobing is definitely still there. Just needed to look (light meter) a different part of the sky.

Date/Time	Location		Results
	Pond SW	photo mode time lapse
2013-10-26 14:54 - 18:08		Test results running firmware 0.54 Little change from 0.44 for this issue.	strobing exposure value near sunset
2013-11-01 14:36 - 17:43		Test results running firmware 0.57 Fixed.
v0.57 WDR on	Barn S	photo mode time lapse
2013-11-14 16:28 - 16:32		MPEG4 AVI 3 sec 1.9Mb] Resized and rencoded to save space. Focus on the pattern.	strobing exposure value near sunset
		[JPG raw still photo 873Kb] imag3982 Last steady image before strobing. This brightness level repeated in: imag3984,3986,4005,4007
		[JPG raw still photo 877Kb] imag3983 ISO_SpeedRating 600 pattern repeated: imag3985,3988-3990,3992-3995,...
		[JPG raw still photo 943Kb] imag3987 pattern repeated: imag3991,3996,3999,4002,4008

2013-Sep - Mobius Action Cam running firmware v0.44 - 0.47

• Color saturation is less pronounced, but still higher than real-life-colors
• White balance has faster transitions to shadows, and makes changes in smaller steps

But, unfortunately, there is a bug that only occurs in specific lighting conditions:
• Within 10 minutes of sundown, local time specific to your longitude, upon power on and auto record, the white balance hunts excessively, sometimes looping every 2.5 seconds, and sometimes strobing 8 times in the first second before settling down.
Added Sep.03: Same result with v0.45, and with WDR off.

Here are the results of testing:

Date/Time

color change at sunset

Location

Thumbnail

JPEG Header EXIF MetaData

Results

ExposureTime
1/___

ISOSpeedRating

ShutterSpeedValue
___/10

Road SE

2013-08-31 19:47

Road SE

n/a

loop every 2.5s

[MPEG4 AVI 12 sec 1.2Mb] Resized and rencoded
to save space. Focus on the pattern, not the quality.

2013-09-01 14:33

980

steady

[JPG raw still photo 531 Kb]

2013-09-01 19:10

120

196

steady

2013-09-01 19:17

129

steady

[JPG raw still photo 1,197 Kb]

2013-09-01 19:24

182

settle in 1s

[JPG raw still photo 1,153 Kb]

2013-09-01 19:29

130

settle in 1s

[JPG raw still photo 1,208 Kb]

2013-09-01 19:36

186

settle in 2s

[JPG raw still photo 1,120 Kb]

2013-09-01 19:40

237

settle in 2s

[JPG raw still photo 1,132 Kb]

2013-09-01 19:45

169

loop every 2.5s

[JPG raw still photo 978 Kb]

2013-09-01 19:47

383

loop every 2.5s

[JPG raw still photo 1,018 Kb]

2013-09-01 19:50

600

steady

[JPG raw still photo 1,059 Kb]

2013-09-01 19:55

600

steady

2013-09-01 20:01

600

steady

2013-09-01 20:06

600

steady
black ground

Trail NE

2013-09-01 19:09

317

settle in 2s

2013-09-01 19:14

343

settle in 2s

2013-09-01 19:18

364

settle in 3s

2013-09-01 19:22

388

strobe 8/1s

[1080p MOV raw but clipped to 3 sec 5.4Mb]
[JPG raw still photo 936 Kb]

2013-09-01 19:28

439

settle in 7s

2013-09-01 19:35

600

settle in 1s

2013-09-01 19:38

600

settle in 1s

2013-09-01 19:44

600

steady

2013-09-01 19:49

600

steady

2013-09-01 19:54

600

steady

2013-09-01 20:00

600

steady
black

2013-09-01 20:06

600

steady

2013-09-01 20:10

600

steady

Pond SW

2013-09-01 19:32

167

steady

[JPG raw still photo 1,134 Kb]

2013-09-01 19:42

225

loop 2.5s
only 2 times
then slow drift

[1080p MOV raw but clipped to 2.5 sec 4.5Mb]
[JPG raw still photo 984 Kb]

2013-09-01 19:57

600

steady

[JPG raw still photo 675 Kb]

2013-09-01 20:03

600

steady

v0.45
WDR off

Pond SW

2013-09-02 19:49

355

loop every 2.5s

[MPEG4 AVI 17 sec 1.5Mb] Resized and rencoded
to save space. Focus on the pattern, not the quality.

[JPG raw still photo 728 Kb]

Paddock W

2013-09-02 19:52

407

loop every 2.5s

[MPEG4 AVI 14 sec 1.6Mb] Resized and rencoded
to save space. Focus on the pattern, not the quality.

[JPG raw still photo 595 Kb]

Pond SW

photo mode time lapse

2013-09-04 16:24
- 20:05

Time lapse covering 4 hours at 5 sec intervals
[MPEG4 AVI 1 min 38 sec 9.6Mb]
Resized down to 640 wide.
Watch for beaver activity at dusk.

strobing exposure
value near sunset

v0.47 WDR on

Pond SW

2013-09-11 18:09 - 19:43

Test results running firmware 0.47
No change from 0.44 for this issue.

strobing exposure
value near sunset

2013-09-11 19:16

[JPG raw still photo 1,129 Kb]
beaver in water next to dam

2013-10-06 16:29:37

120

108

normal, before color shift

[JPG raw still photo 1,093 Kb]

2013-10-06 16:29:42

120

108

very next photo: became blue for 1-3 frames, kept shifting back and forth for a minute

[JPG raw still photo 1,130 Kb]

2013-10-06 17:12:13

120

170

stayed very blue for 40 minutes

[JPG raw still photo 1,121 Kb]

2013-10-06 17:12:19

120

176

color shift jump to normal

[JPG raw still photo 1,089 Kb]

2013-Aug - Color comparison with Mobius 0.44 firmware version.

Canon, GOAL resized from 4000x3000	#16 20203 Auto, Standard, +1 saturation	Mobius, WDR on, resized from 1920x1080




Click to enlarge

All frames are captured from the .mov video file. Those filenames ending in c indicate it was cropped to match ratio and/or location of the scene.

The color shifting problems from older Mobius firmware versions seem to be mostly fixed now, [archived first Mobius review], and although the image now looks less over-saturated, the colors are still quite vivid. So the "washed out" feel seems to be coming only when in the shade or pointing up-sun.
As these photos show, when pointed down-sun in bright and sunny weather, the frames are clear and bright. Very nice and clear.
Even in the shade, the edge in the sun is still over-saturated, so the remaining issue is not that.

2013-Jul - Measuring EMR emissions that may interfere with other devices, as discussed recently with GPS signal reception.

Yes I noticed the Mobius is noisier than the 808 cameras, (emits more unwanted electro-smog)
Click through my pages to learn more on this subject.
Here is a excerpt from my testing page, specific to the Mobius and 808 cameras:

device being measured	Acoustimeter at zero distance, and distance for audio to disappear	Zap Checker 180 at zero distance, and distance to get 5 at 10	Cornet at zero distance	GaussMeter at zero distance, and distance to get <= 0.2mG	GS meter
808 #16 Keychain Mini DVR	0.06 V/m 5 feet (152 cm)	80 at sensitivity 6 (bottom) 20 at sensitivity 5 (top) 6 inches (15 cm)	0.010 mW/m²	12 mG 2.5 inches (8 cm)	n/a
808 #16 Keychain Mini DVR	Sound recording of Power On, Auto Record 10 sec. Shutter off. Power Off.
Mobius Action Cam DVR Causes RFI (interference) with GPS devices	0.38 V/m top 0.13 V/m bottom 9 feet (274 cm)	30 at sensitivity 6 (bottom) 50 at sensitivity 5 (top) 8 inches (20 cm)	0.032 mW/m²	9 mG 2 inches (5 cm)	n/a
	Sound recording of Power On, Auto Record 10 sec. Shutter off. Power Off.
Carcam HD Car DVR pre-IR night vision and HDMI	0.11 V/m 10 feet (304 cm)	100 at sensitivity 6 10 at sensitivity 5 8 inches (20 cm)	0.020 mW/m²	5 mG 5 inches (13 cm)	n/a
EZO Power USB 5200mAh Li-Ion battery	0.06 V/m 8 inches (20 cm) FM radio: 12 ft. (366 cm)	30 at sensitivity 4 6 inches (15 cm)	Below calibrated threshold, Test mode detects approx≅ 0.0015 mW/m²	0.6 mG 1 inches (2.5 cm)	n/a
EZO Power USB 5200mAh Li-Ion battery	Using this battery as a power source to run the 808 camera does cause significant (40 ft.) interference with FM radios of passing vehicles. It is not recommended for stealthy surveilance. The USB cable acted like a broadcast antenna, although just the EZO alone caused significant EMR and RFI.
6000 T-Pocket Power 5000mAh Li-Lipo battery USB (4 blue leds)	0.23 V/m 49 inches (124 cm) FM radio: 12 ft. (366 cm)	40 at sensitivity 6 13 inches (33 cm)	Below calibrated threshold, Test mode detects approx≅ 0.0017 mW/m²	3.5 mG 2.5 inches (6.4 cm)	n/a
Solar Charger USB 2600mAh Li-Po battery	<0.02 V/m 1 inch (2.5 cm)	5 at sensitivity 10 0 inch (0 cm)	Below thresholds	4 mG 2 inches (5 cm)	n/a
Solar Charger USB 2600mAh Li-Po battery	Using this battery as a power source to run the 808 camera does cause damage to the battery and charging circuit, as it is unable to deliver the needed 5.0V under load for more than 2 hours.
Just Mobile PP-08 Mobile Power Pack 4400mAh Li-Po battery	<0.02 V/m 0 inch (0 cm)	75 at sensitivity 7 3 ft. (91 cm)	Below thresholds	0.2 mG 0 inches	n/a
Just Mobile PP-08 Mobile Power Pack 4400mAh Li-Po battery	Recommended: Using this battery as a power source to run the 808 camera. It does deliver 11 hours of run time. When used to power the Mobius ActionCam, this battery does maintain good voltage of 4.88 V while delivering 242 mA. (photo time lapse mode or on standby)
Auto USB Charger N10117 Z528	<0.02 V/m 0 inch (0 cm)	10 at sensitivity 10 0 inch (0 cm)	Below thresholds	0.22 mG 0.1 inches (0.2 cm)	n/a
Mains AC Adapter USB Charger Model KY-758	0.76 V/m 10 inches (26 cm)	15 at sensitivity 10 5 inches (13 cm)	Below calibrated threshold, Test mode detects approx≅ 0.0012 mW/m²	10.5 mG 15 inches (38 cm)	113 gs
Mains AC Adapter USB Charger Model KY-758	When used to power the Mobius ActionCam (photo mode or standby), drawing only 210 mA, the voltage was LOW at only 3.94 V, which is out of spec. This device's rating of 1000 mA is not consistant with this observation.
Mains AC Adapter USB Charger Model KY-02	0.65 V/m 7 inches (18 cm)	15 at sensitivity 10 2 inches (5 cm)	Below thresholds	>13 mG 12 inches (30 cm)	230 gs
Mains AC Adapter USB Charger Model KY-02	When used to power the Mobius ActionCam (photo mode or standby), drawing only 210 mA, the voltage was LOW at only 3.95 V. This device is only rated for 300 mA, which is below the Mobius draw when recording HD video.

2013-Jul - First tests with the new Mobius Action Cam running firmware v0.34

• Excellent clarity at 1080p and 720p, better than the previous 808 #16 lens (A & B) quality.
• MUCH better audio quality, excellent signal to noise ration. Although the slight buzzing of the DSP working can still be heard, but MUCH less than the 808 #16.
• Startup delay to recording is 5.3 seconds.
• Very welcome change in design to put card slot and usb plug in the back, along with a red led that is visible (when driving).
• Still in a very small case.
• The power button is recessed, so is less likely to be pressed accidentally.
• At 1080p Standard quality, a 16Gb chip will hold 47 files of 3 minutes each. I can press the Mode button to save interesting events, as many times as memory allows. (Another dedicated car cam I considered only allowed 5 files to be saved... Not adequate when living in a rural area with the nearest large town over an hour away.)

1920x1080 good frames, beautiful views
White Mountain, Kettle Crest, WA	Columbia River, Kettle Falls, WA
318Kb JPG	360Kb JPG
Click to enlarge JPG files have been saved at quality=90

Previous review of Mobius 0.34
Comparisons of 808 cameras, including color comparison with Mobius 0.44

To get current firmware, or find sellers, visit the forums at:
Mobius Action Cam Read the first post for sellers, and links to comprehensive reviews of all mini DVR cams.
Do not ask questions in these forums without first reading the first 5 posts!