What Role Does HDR Play in Dashcam Capturing?

Assume that you have ever tried to capture dash cam footage in an environment with drastically different lighting conditions, such as at sunrise or sunset when the sun is low in the sky, resulting in intense backlighting, shadows, and stark contrasts between the brilliant sky and the dark road. Under such circumstances, your movie may either appear underexposed in the gloomy areas, obscuring crucial details, or it will appear overexposed in the brighter portions of the picture due to the strong sunlight in the backdrop.

This is because cameras may have a limited dynamic range, but the human eye can adjust to a broad range of lighting conditions. However, drivers may skip this irritating period in return for clear, sharp, and well-balanced recordings owing to new picture technology heroes, Wide Dynamic Range (WDR) and High Dynamic Range (HDR). Thus, we will explore how HDR characteristics might impact dash cam quality. High Dynamic Range (HDR) aims to preserve image quality while enhancing contrast.

Taking many photos at various exposures yields the best results, and HDR increases image quality by increasing brightness, contrast, and colour visibility.

Before purchasing, please be aware:

What is Dynamic Range in Dash Cams?
Exposure Value (EV) differences
Sony Starvis 2 IMX678 on dashcam

What is Dynamic Range in Dash Cams?

The simplest approach to conceptualise dynamic range is as the range of light intensities that a camera's sensor can record in a single image, including the brightest highlights and the darkest shadows, while maintaining all the fine details of the image. There will be overexposed or underexposed portions in the footage if a dash cam's dynamic range is exceeded, which will cause those areas to lose detail.

In many real-world scenarios, which span from extremely bright, direct sunshine to severe shadow, HDR photographs may display a wider range of brightness levels than can be accomplished with merely Standard Dynamic span (SDR). This is sometimes accomplished by taking multiple, more focused exposures and ranges of the same region and then merging them.

Exposure Value (EV) differences

Exposure value (EV) discrepancies are used to quantify dynamic range in dash cams. The amount of light doubles with an increase of one EV. On the other hand, a reduction of one EV means that the amount of light is cut in half. Therefore, high exposures are needed to expose detail in the darkest of shadows, whereas very low exposures are needed to preserve detail in extremely bright circumstances. Because of their smaller dynamic range, the majority of dash cams are unable to give this range of exposure values in a single exposure.This upgrade to more expensive Dash Cam models guarantees that clear, detailed photos are taken in a variety of weather, light, and driving situations. The function guarantees that photos taken under all circumstances can be used as a stand-alone witness in insurance claims.

A low-end dash camera, for example, will have a restricted dynamic range, resulting in footage that is either very bright and illuminated or very dark and underexposed. A lot of them won't even have the ability to change automatically when necessary. Because of its small range, it can only provide one or the other, not both at once. Because of the limited dynamic range, the range from the darkest point cannot stretch to the brightest, hence the brightest and darkest points of the dynamic range are linked.

Let's learn about the Sony Starvis 2 IMX678 on 70mai dashcam

Dash cams with image sensors, such as the Sony Starvis 2 IMX678 may adjust the exposure time, or how long it takes the camera to catch light, to produce images that are best suited to the scene's brightness. While a short exposure time in a bright environment keeps the photodiode from being oversaturated, a long exposure time in a dark situation ensures that sufficient light is captured.

Thanks to Sony's most recent STARVIS 2 IMX678 CMOS sensor, which exhibits sensitivity beyond the human eye and exceptional low noise characteristics, the 4K A810 offers better front 4K.The 1/1.8" sensor doubles the low light performance, increases the chip size by 68%, and increases the photosensitive area of the pixel by 90%.