I recently realized that some of my wyzecam 2s had a very foggy image compared to others. I took one apart to get to the bottom of this and to my surprise, I found a very scuzzy little piece of glass under the lens of the camera but over the sensor. I cleaned it off and the difference has been pretty drastic. I’ll try to fix another camera and get some before and after photos.
Can anyone explain the purpose of this little piece of glass? UV filter? And do you mess anything up by cleaning it or removing it?
So not a massive difference indoors but definitely better contrast around the lights. Look at artwork in background as well as color and contrast of table. I’m going to do the same thing to one of my exterior cameras this weekend and post the results. Should be more drastic, especially at night time.
Yeah, that’s definitely a noticeable difference. I have issues with headlights triggering the camera too often at night, so I may try this and see if it helps.
@UserCustomerGwen I’m not sure exactly how the manufacturing QC process works, but it seems like it might be worth adding this to the QC check process, or asking the hardware people about it at least. I’m surprised what a difference it made for him, cleaning off the scuzz. Ideally, it wouldn’t be scuzzy in the first place.
Out of curiosity, how well is the night vision on those cameras working now? If it has now degraded, there might be a good reason for that coating. Just speculation at this point.
Well, the indoor camera seems to be doing just as well at night. I’m going to trial the one I just cleaned tonight outside. Previously light blooming was an issue. I’ll share those before and after photos.
Does it look like an intentional coating, or is it like a greasy smudge or something? Did you just clean it off with a cloth, or did you use a chemical?
That’s what I was thinking. That’s why I tagged @UserCustomerGwen. If it’s widespread, I doubt they could replace every camera, but they could at least fix the problem in the manufacturing process to make sure the next run of cameras are better.
My theory is that it doesn’t seem like the gasket/foam piece that seals the lens to the sensor is sealing this little glass filter off from the outside very well. I’m not sure though.
If anyone out there has a new camera, take it apart and see if that little piece of glass is fogged up from the factory. Just be careful not to get dust on the sensor.
I’ve got 7 of these things. I’m going to move on to number 4 and see if they all have this trait.
Camera 4 also has a foggy filter. It does seem to be made of very very thin glass. I thought maybe it was plastic and the plastic was fading or attracting dust over time. Well, here are the sensor photos and examples from camera 4.
I agree, whatever it is, it doesn’t look intentional. If it were a coating that served some sort of purpose, I would expect it to be evenly applied, which this is not. I’ve seen a few people complain of “blurry spots” on their cameras, and now that I’ve seen this, that makes sense.
That would be pretty typical for me if I was going around cleaning off an intentional feature of the camera thinking I was making things better. Image does seem to be slightly improved though. If there is anyone from engineering around or able to comment, let me know what you think before I open up my other 3 lol.
That first camera was really bad though. This has definitely made it less hazy.
Well, it seems to make a big difference with “light pollution.” At night, I’ve got constant headlight halos entering the detection zone, because my house is on a fairly busy street. I’m hopeful that this will cut down on that. My smallest screwdriver was a little too big, so I need to get the right size, but I’m definitely going to try this. How tough is it to access? Is there a lot to take apart? I don’t want to break anything in the process, but the results are worth trying for me. Haha.
There is another screw in that little white tube just below left the micro usb port. That has to come out so that the midframe and circuitboards can be removed. Careful not to damage antenna at top left stuck to side of case.
Frame comes out and the little black and red connector needs to come out at top left of this photo. This power for the camera I think. There are also 2 black screws connecting the circuit board to the midframe that need to come out. Once these are removed the 1st circuit board is free. but still attached by ribbon cable to the other boards.
I don’t have very good photos of the back circuitboard but it also has 2 black screws that need to come out so you can get to the sensor and lens. This is a view with the back circuitboard removed. The sensor board is the only one left on the frame. The two black screws at the outer edges of this board remove it from the frame. There is a flip up ribbon cable connector and then this is completely free.
Lastly, there are two screws towards the middle of this camera board that release the lens from the sensor. This is where that little piece of glass is located, This is a view of that last board. There is a foam gasket with that little glass filter resting on top between the lens and the sensor. Trickiest part is keeping everything in place while you screw it back together. I usually place the lens on top in alignment with the middle two screws, pinch the board to the lens and flip it over to feed the screws back through the board. Magnetic screwdrivers are a lifesaver.
Well, I’ve gotten this far, but these two screws absolutely refuse to come loose. The screwdriver is tiny, so I don’t have leverage and I feel like I’m stripping out the screws every time I try.
