Wyze Cam v2 Component Change: Transition to JX-F23 CMOS Sensor

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Wyze Cam v2 Component Change - Transition to JX-F23 CMOS Sensor

Beginning in mid-October 2018, there will be a change to the CMOS sensor in Wyze Cam v2. We will be transitioning from the JX-F22 CMOS sensor to the JX-F23 CMOS sensor. Overall, the JX-F23 sensor is a newer and more optimized sensor that will provide the same or better image quality as the JX-F22 sensor, particularly in low light settings. This change will have some impact on Wyze Cam v2’s performance, and will have a slight cost benefit for Wyze, which we will use to re-invest in the company. We are letting you know because we believe it is important to share changes we make to Wyze products with the Wyze Community, particularly for key components like the CMOS sensor.

Why is Wyze making this change?

We are making this change because our supplier is transitioning to the JX-F23 sensor so it is becoming increasingly difficult to source the JX-F22 sensor in the volumes we need. Before making the change we tested the JX-23 sensor ourselves and also asked members of the Wyze Community to test it. The information below includes comparison images provided by Wyze Community testers.

How does the JX-F23 sensor compare to the JX-F22 sensor?

There are three main differences between the JX-F23 sensor and the JX-F22 sensor:

  1. The JX-F23 sensor has much lower active power consumption, half of what JX-F22 consumes. Lower power consumption means less heat generated, which improves image quality stability.

  2. The dark current for the JX-F23 sensor is 4mV/sec, a 75% decrease from the 12 mV/sec dark current of the JX-F22 sensor. Dark current is one of the main sources of noise in image sensors, as a result the JX-F23 sensor has better low-light performance compared to the JX-F22 sensor. Below are two sets of comparison images from Wyze Community testers.

Set 1, JX-F22:

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Set 1, JX-F23:

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Set 2, JX-F22:

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Set 2, JX-F23:

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  1. The sensor size of the JX-F23 sensor is 1/2.7’’, which is slightly smaller than the JX-F22 sensor size of 1/2.9’’. As a result, the FOV of the JX-F23 sensor is 110 degrees, compared to the 120-degree FOV of the JX-F22 sensor. In the tech specs on our website we always listed the FOV for the Wyze Cam v2 as 110 degrees, so in the past Wyze Cam v2 has had a larger FOV than advertised. With this change the FOV will match the tech spec on our website. Below is a comparison image from testing done by the Wyze team. The full image was taken on a Wyze Cam v2 with the JX-F22 sensor and the orange box indicates the comparable FOV of a Wyze Cam v2 with the JX-F23 sensor.

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We have included a detailed tech spec comparison chart below.

Although not a driver for this transition, the component change provides a $0.13 cost saving/camera to Wyze. This cost saving will be re-invested into our company to support R&D, product development and the growth of our customer support team.

How will I know if a Wyze Cam v2 I purchase in the future has the JX-F22 sensor or the JX-F23 sensor?

We have listed the CMOS sensor type on the Wyze Cam v2 purchase page of our website. We expect to begin shipping Wyze Cam v2s with the JX-F23 sensor in mid-October, but the exact date will depend on how quickly we sell through our current inventory of Wyze Cam v2s with the JX-F22 sensor. We will update the purchase page as soon as we start shipping Wyze Cam v2s with the JX-F23 sensor.

Does this change impact Wyze Cam Pan?

Wyze Cam Pan uses a different variation of the F22 sensor than what Wyze Cam v2 uses, so it currently is not impacted by this change.

Why are you telling me all of this?

We believe in being open and transparent with the Wyze Community. The CMOS sensor is a critical component of Wyze Cam v2 so we thought it was important to tell you about the change. We are making the announcement in our forum to give Wyze Community members the opportunity to give feedback, discuss the change or ask any further questions. We’ll be monitoring this topic closely, so please let us know what you’re thinking!

This is pretty cool. How can I get involved in future product testing?

We’re glad you asked. Feedback and involvement from the Wyze Community are critical to how we prioritize feature updates, test changes, and develop new products. Here are some ways you can get involved:

  • Become a beta tester. Before we release new versions of our app or firmware, we release a beta version to our beta testers to give feedback and help find bugs. We also recruit hardware beta testers before releasing new product or major hardware changes. Click here to learn about how to become a beta tester.
  • Participate in our forums. Our forum is the place Wyze Community members can connect with other Wyze users, ask questions and troubleshoot issues, read about and discuss product updates, and share interesting videos or time lapses captured with Wyze Cams. We’re actively working to improve the experience of using our forums, keep an eye out for updates!
  • Join Reddit AMAs. We host Reddit AMAs to give community members a chance to talk with our product team in real-time. Keep an eye out for announcements in our newsletter for the next scheduled AMA.
  • Subscribe to our newsletter. Be the first to know about product updates and new product launches, get tips & tricks on using Wyze products, and get to know more about Wyze and the team making it happen by subscribing to our newsletter. You can find the subscription link by clicking here.
Here is a detailed comparison of the JX-F22 and JX-F23 sensors:

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You mentioned that “This change will have some impact on Wyze Cam v2’s performance”. Can you clarify what is meant by that?

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Yeah I was wondering will the wyzecam v2 with the new F23 have worse performance? Is this what “impacts” means?

How does a smaller sensor size of the F23 have improved low image quality? Usually bigger sensor sizes have better picture quality.

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x2 Can you clarify what is meant by that?

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Besides what we listed in three main differences above, the impact on v2’s is not drastic as you can tell from the comparison photos and spec sheet. During hardware testing with our selected Wyze community members, most of them couldn’t tell a big difference in image quality, some said the clarity on the new v2 is better, the image looks sharper, color is richer, and some believes the new camera performs better in close-up details than distance detail.

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The performance impact referred to the 3 main differences as compared to F22 are -

  1. New F23 has lower power consumption. Generally speaking, the image quality is same or better than F22.
  2. New F23 has lower dark current. Generally speaking, low-light and night vision image is same or better than F22.
  3. New F23 has slightly smaller sensor size, so the FOV on new F23 cameras will be 110 ( same as advertised spec ), while F22 was about 120. ( larger than advertised ).
This sections "How does the JX-F23 sensor compare to the JX-F22 sensor?" in the original post has the details. Hope this helps.
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Great! Ok Thanks. I guess I read it wrong. To me it read that besides these three differences additionally there will be an impact on performance

Thanks for clearing it up.

WyzeCam is awesome. Can’t wait for the outdoor cam and doorbell cam!

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How will I know if a Wyze Cam v2 I purchase in the future has the JX-F22 sensor or the JX-F23 sensor?

We have listed the CMOS sensor type on the Wyze Cam v2 purchase page of our website. We expect to begin shipping Wyze Cam v2s with the JX-F23 sensor in mid-October, but the exact date will depend on how quickly we sell through our current inventory of Wyze Cam v2s with the JX-F22 sensor. We will update the purchase page as soon as we start shipping Wyze Cam v2s with the JX-F23 sensor.


Will there be a way to tell the JX-F22 and JX-F23 versions apart by looking at them or by the serial #?

If they’re purchased from Amazon.com, how will we tell which version we got?

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If you already purchased them from Amazon, they are F22. For future purchased on Amazon, we are not able to tell since we can’t control Amazon inventory and fulfillment.

For our website purchase, we will update spec page once we switched to F23. For individual units, sorry, we are not able to tell by Mac. ( no serial # on camera ).

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OK, so it sounds like the F23 version is already available for other retailers like Amazon.com to purchase and stock. Amazon went out of stock yesterday and won’t be back in stock until 2 days from now, so I wonder if that’s the F23 version coming in.

I noticed the standby power of the F23 is 10x more than the F22, and know that it’s insignificant given it’s in microAmps. But just curious if the CMOS Sensor is ever in standby mode on the Wyzecam, or is it always in active power consumption as long as the Wyzecam is on?

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with wyzecam, we don’t use ‘standby’ mode. It is always active power consumption when camera is on.

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Any update when the new sensor is shipping? I’ve been patiently waiting to order 5 more of them.

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It’s incredibly refreshing to get an update like this from any manufacturer. I’ve worked with mobile device manufacturers before and often we would receive devices with different cameras, WiFi chipsets, re-arranged board layouts (even different CPUs!) with zero warning. Then we have to scramble to fix our software because it no longer runs on the new hardware.

Thank you for the update Wyze! This is how you build customer trust!

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It is estimated to be early Nov.

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Thank you.

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So if you want maximum FOV, you should get the WyzeCam2 with the larger JX-F22 sensor before it sells out. Otherwise, get the Jx-F23 sensor.

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From the specification sheets:

JX-F22 maximum frame rate is 60 FPS.

JX-F23 maximum frame rate is 30 FPS.

Seems worthy of mention in your “Main Difference” list.

 

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since our FPS is only 15 FPS, this spec is much less relative to our product, hence we did not highlight it.

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Just picked up one of these V2 cams from MicroCenter.
How do i tell if they have the F23 sensor compared to the same cams i bought a few months ago direct from Wyze?

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We actually don’t have a good way to sort that out. Since we recently made the switch, it is likely that your new Wyze Cam has the older sensor.

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