Model S 2018 Overall Camera Quality Query

[FBLivi]

Hi everyone. I have recently purchased a late 2018 Model S P100DL which is my first EV nevermind first Tesla, but I have a query about the cameras.

I notice that the image from the rear camera is vastly superior to that of the front or side cameras (noticeable in the dashcam/sentry mode recordings) and would like to know if that is normal? What I mean is that the colour, brightness and detail from the rear camera is accurate but the other cameras produce washed out "muddy" images that, while still relatively sharp/focused, have inaccurate exposure and poor colour accuracy too.

Can anyone confirm how their cameras perform on a similar age Model S?

Thanks

 

[DerbyDave]

Perhaps the rear camera has been replaced and is a newer version.

 

[turns2stone]

I believe it’s because only the rear camera uses a CCD sensor, the rest use CMOS, resulting in lower quality.

 

[vcor]

You have Gen-1 cameras - that only see red and monochrome. The software converts the images to washed-out color. This approach was done to maximize low-light sensitivity with the cameras available then. The rear camera offers full color and wasn't thought to need as much low-light sensitivity.

Tesla then switched to Gen-2 cameras that offer full color with RGB pixels as the technology for low-light performance improved quite a bit. If you buy FSD, Tesla will switch out the Gen-1 cameras for Gen-2 and you'll get a dramatic improvement in video quality.

Tesla has now moved to Gen-3 cameras with about 5 times the resolution in new cars. So far no plans to retrofit older cars with Gen-3, and even the software doesn't use the higher resolution yet. Tesla is targeting the software (neural networks) for Gen-3 higher resolution late this year.

 

[Bigriver]

Tesla then switched to Gen-2 cameras that offer full color with RGB pixels as the technology for low-light performance improved quite a bit. If you buy FSD, Tesla will switch out the Gen-1 cameras for Gen-2 and you'll get a dramatic improvement in video quality.

This is for AP2.0 cars. Tesla switched to AP2.5 around August 2017. The OP has a late 2018 car.

 

[FBLivi]

This is for AP2.0 cars. Tesla switched to AP2.5 around August 2017. The OP has a late 2018 car.

Thanks for your replies. I believe my car does have AP 2.5 so does that mean it has Gen 1 cameras? If so can these be changed to Gen 2 and would that provide much better image quality? Thanks.

 

[vcor]

Sorry, I was wrong camera based on the date for your car - Bigriver is right. You should have Gen-2 cameras - they were released to production around Aug-2017. The Gen-2 cameras do look a lot better than Gen-1.

 

[FBLivi]

Sorry, I was wrong camera based on the date for your car - Bigriver is right. You should have Gen-2 cameras - they were released to production around Aug-2017. The Gen-2 cameras do look a lot better than Gen-1.

Thanks. Have searched the forum further abd it seems it may be possible to replace the front/side cameras with those from a newer model Tesla such as the M3. Would doing so improve the image quality?

 

[vcor]

Thanks. Have searched the forum further abd it seems it may be possible to replace the front/side cameras with those from a newer model Tesla such as the M3. Would doing so improve the image quality?

I don't think that is possible. The new cameras on all Teslas are 5 MP resolution, while the older ones are about 1 MP. The new cameras require the new HW3 processor to handle 5 times the data.

HW3 is also liquid-cooled, while older HW is not. So to switch to HW3 would require liquid plumbing changes through the firewall. Connectors are different too. Then there are the software changes, and I suspect it would be quite difficult to get HW3 software to install when the rest of the car is an older platform. Perhaps one of the Tesla engineers has access to the software and build process could do it, but no way are any of us going to get that kind of access!