Backup Camera Design Flaw

[Fulgerite]

So I noticed that my backup camera has a very dark image when the rear bumper is facing the sun. I did some tests and I can see that because the bumper below the license plate is in view of the camera it can reflect bright light into the camera and cause the camera to stop down to a very dark image. I tried placing a piece of black felt under the license plate and this makes the camera show a significantly brighter (and more useful) picture.

I have taken a picture to show the issue:

Please consider masking the camera's view of the shiny bumper... Or adjusting the camera so it's not looking into the bright reflection off the rear bumper. (This is especially a problem on silver & white Volts.)

Also... Please add a manual brightness adjustment menu setting to brighten the camera's image.

[Cord]

Good pictures and graphics to show the problem.

I wonder if a collimator tube (hope that's the word I am looking for) would help if too much of of the bumper was in view or the camera.
We would still need to see the edge of the bumper for safety.

A few times I have see this blooming of the display due to sun reflection but there generally is a delayed auto adjustment which could have been me adjusting the car position.

[Fulgerite]

Good pictures and graphics to show the problem.

I wonder if a collimator tube (hope that's the word I am looking for) would help if too much of of the bumper was in view or the camera.
We would still need to see the edge of the bumper for safety.

A few times I have see this blooming of the display due to sun reflection but there generally is a delayed auto adjustment which could have been me adjusting the car position.

This particular image does not really show the full extent of the issue. Sometimes when the sun glints off the bumper it can make the camera go nearly BLACK. This example is actually pretty mild. In general I think a simple brightness control for the camera gain would solve the issue. On my screen with my console brightness set to 50% I generally can't see the image on the camera because it's too dark. Now maybe if I bought a black Volt I might get a better image.

The real answer is to use a higher dynamic range camera with tone mapping. (And yes they exist for under $100.)

Simply masking the image or tilting the camera would also help with this issue. My temporary solution of putting black felt on the bumper works OK. Simply painting this strip of bumper flat black would even help.

[daryllafferty]

The backup camera is one of my few disappointments with the Volt. Almost every other car I have driven that has a backup camera works better than the Volt's camera (Prius, Acura, Hyundai). The contrast is low, it easily gets washed out, and the field of view is too small.

[mhoepfin]

I've been happy with the camera (maybe because I have a black Volt?).

Not thrilled with the parking sensors though. Would like a better visual on exactly where things are. On my previous BMW, it had a screen that I will describe as something similar to sonar, that would show you exactly where things were.

I have notice on a few occasions I was inches from hitting something near the back corner and there was not a beep to be heard from that side of the car. Also it's too sensitive, as in I can still be pretty far from something and get the full beep sound, only wishing it could be more granular.

[tboult]

Thanks for posting.. it may explain why some people are more unhappy with the camera than others. Maybe the faster
red cars just don't have this bright bumper problem :-)

I could see adjusting the camera so you the bumber is at the very edge... I always considered that wasted pixel space anyhow.

[virkambhatt]

Amazing information is provided here about the back of camera design flaw and pictures are also provided to convey the message correctly and i like this information.