at_b

that looks nice, how many of us do we need to be in the list to start the group buy?
also, since that seller has a big selection of lens, could we also get this model+a different one from there(i for one am interested in one of the lenses to have the fov bigger than 95 so i can use it in the back of the car)...just an idea
thanks mark for doing this for us

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kornkow

Yes, no problem, I will try to post pictures of the three lenses when I get home tonight.

0-0-7

Hi Mark,

I got a 4mm f/1.6 lens and the picture is very very blury. You can hardly recognize any object. Any suggestions ? there is no display on lcd for night vision mode. Of course the lcd is working and I tried increading the gain for IR as well as contrast for LCD.

Here is the lens.

Thx

http://cgi.ebay.com/4MM-4-MM-CCTV-Ca...QQcmdZViewItem

kornkow

try reading what mark recommended on pg 16

NiteMax Mark

I agree with what korn kow said! I've used the 16mm version of this lens and they do work -- some needed the adjustment.

It does worry me that you say the focus is so terrible bad because that wasn't the case for me. At the risk of asking stupid questions, let me list the things that might be going wrong...

- The silver stud sticking out is for locking down the focus. You'll need to unscrew it and rotate the outer body of the lens to focus.

- Sometimes the lens gets jammed when you screw it into the camera body because you're actually applying force to the focus adjustment. If you can't rotate the endmost part of the lens while the part next to the NiteMax stays stationery, then it is jammed. You'll need to remove the lens from the NiteMax and twist the two parts in the "unscrew" direction to get them loose again.

- Even if you can't adjust the focus, you should be able to have objects in focus that are extremely close or extremely far. Can you see an object that's a few inches from the lens?

- For testing, you can extend the focus adjustment range by unscrewing the whole lens from the NiteMax. In fact, you can hold the lens a few millimeters in front of the CCD and get it to focus if it is way off. What you can't do is get the lens CLOSER to the CCD once it is screwed all the way in.

Remember: The lens WILL focus when the CCD is at exactly the correct distance from the lens. A standard lens is expected to be a standard distance away from the CCD and this is what the CS designation is for. Not all things are equal and this is why lenses have a range of adjustment for focus. By playing with the distance between the CCD and the lens, we're trying to see which direction things are off by and by how much. Once we understand where the lens needs to be, we can make adjustements accordingly.

- There's no Night Vision Mode -- it's always in the same mode. If you can see, the camera can see! If you can't see anything with your eyes (it's dark) the camera can't either. The camera can see IR. If you can't see and the camera can't see, turn on the IR -- you still won't see but the camera will.

0-0-7

Yes, I had tried adjusting the focus. the outer portion moves back and forth when the silver stud is loose. but no improvement in the picture.

I had also tried bringing the object back and forth. when object is about 1 foot away, you can see the outline of the object and color of the object but barely recognizable.

I will try kornkow's suggestion tonight.

thx

ROMbler

I am having the same issue with this lens. It seems the lens needs to be closer to the sensor. The image gets a bit clearer as the focus is moved back towards the sensor, but is stopped by the case. I think it would work perfectly if mounted to the board with an adapter. Fortunately, I bought two different lenses and have no problem with the other.

0-0-7

what is your other lens ? (I mean spec ?)

MP3Car.com

 

kornkow

all right, well, on my 2.8mm F1.4 lens, which also didn't focus enough (like the lens wanted to be closer) I tried what Mark had suggested to fix that, but it didn't work. it only allowed me to turn the lens another 1/8th rotation, which still wasn't close enough.

*close enough for typical viewing that is. I could hold my finger really really close and it focused on that.

NiteMax Mark

That sucks!

Did you try the suggestion where you back out the stop screws on the lens and let it travel farther? This works until the lens bottoms itself out internally.

There's a couple of options that might help get the CCD closer to the lens. If you have the smaller CCD board, you could clip out the platistic supports and screw the CCD Board directly to the metal lens attachement -- this will get it another millimeter closer. (I've got the screws if you need them.)

With the larger Color CCD, the Board can't be attached directly to the metal lens attachement because the screw spacing in wrong. There's still an extra millimeter or so of space to be gained if you can carefully shorten the plastic mounting posts that hold the CCD Board.

NiteMax Mark

I'm not saying you're wrong, but only 1/8 turn sounds suprisingly small. If you didn't back those two little black screws out far enough it would act this way. You can take them all the way out as long as you don't try to unscrew the lens completely while you focus.

Some lenses have a "seam" between the two halves. You can tell if the focus is at the limit of travel if the two halves bottom out against each other.

kornkow

Ok, here are a few pictures of the lenses.

I dont have a close up of the 2.8mm b/c I'm fussing with it, but it feels like its bottoming out (and ok, maybe its more than an 1/8 rotation but its less than 1/4)

I like the 4mm F1.2. It has metal threads and just seems of overall better construction, but yes, it doesnt have the FOV that the 2.5mm has (76deg vs 130deg)

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g1...w/IMG_5127.jpg

0-0-7

I found the problem with my lens.

while playing with it, i removed the two black screws and the silver screw.
then tried unscrewing the lens while holding the other half of the lens.
It turns out that the lens is in two part. the lens and threaded sleeve. When the lens is out of the sleeve, it can go all the way to the CCD. I tried it holding right next to the CCD and it can focus clearly.

then I tried to see if I can remove something from the camera. turns out that I had installed one of the spacer that mark had provided on the camera which prevented the lens to go all the way to the ccd. I removed the spacer and put the lens back together and tried installing lens. It worked like a charm. It was my mistake.

removing the black screws from lens allows it to focus very sharply.

thanks everybody for the help.

cheers

0-0-7

here is the lens that I have.

NiteMax Mark

That's a big relief -- I was kind of getting bummed-out!

You can probably put the black screws back in now so it can't come completely unscrewed when you change the focus again.

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