Image Quality of Rear View Camera on F01 7 Series
 

For those of you who have been asking how this compares to the E70 camera, please see the image below. NOTE: This picture was taken in an area where there was NO AMBIENT LIGHTING WHATSOEVER and is illuminated only by the reverse lights. When in an area with street lights, it's near daylight quality.

http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/9793/dsc0002w.jpg

In other words, it still sucks...

100K for a car, and the backup camera is no better than a $20 webcam one can buy at Best Buy. Pathetic.

i don't get it. is bmw under contract to use those crappy cams for years to come?

BMW is just stubborn on many of these types of things.

I disagree


The picture below is from an area which has street lights. It looks pretty decent in person compared to the E70 one. Remember, this shot is pretty well zoomed in and your eyes would not be as close and hence the pixelation much less visible.

http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/1403/dsc0002b.jpg

Not bad, but could be much better
 

Here is the backup camera on my previous ride - a minivan !!!

Judge for yourself !

Note - NO STREET LIGHTS for the dark shots !!!

The trick is simple - my minivan had large reverse lights...

I think the perceived better-view in person might have something to do with the nicer resolution idrive display you have on the 7, but the picture itself still looks grainy as if the backup-cam pic is not high enough resolution. You can definitely see it in the blacks and it looks similar to what we have now. The original pic with complete darkness using only backup lights looks to be better, but again the resolution could be much better. I wouldn't pay top dollar for a backup-cam like this again. It works, but it's also disappointing.

yea, cant beleve it too.. is sucks also... damn


Is that the new idrive sistem? more pics?
thanx!

looks crap to me, no better than my X5

There's no room for perception here. It's miles better irrespective of screen quality - period!

You're not comparing apples with apples by posting pics at that resolution. Here's the same pic posted again this time resized.


http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/1403/dsc0002b.jpg

you're right it does look a lot better than the other pic - would you mind posting the first one with no ambient light other than what the vehicle might provide, in that size?

Here you go.

http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/8933/dsc0002wl.jpg

hmm yeah I take it back, that's a lot better than my X5 with no lighting
thanks for that

For what it's worth. The camera on the 7 looks identical to the E70. Clearly that in itself doesn't guarantee compatibility though.

I agree that the picture quality with lighting is better... but the picture quality without lighting is horrible. NO excuse for a car in this price range to have such shitty equipment. I've seen better quality on Mazdas...

I'd be happy if that is what our camera looked like. It is miles better than our POS camera.

Just as important, how fast does it appear when going in to reverse? That's the other shortcoming of the E70 camera.

Side note, I really wish that BMW would change PDC so that it is like the MB Parktronic system. Separate display that always illuminates when below a certain speed.

I agree. I was never happy with the E70 camera but perfectly happy with this one. BMW has certainly improved it as far as I'm concerned.

I'm pleased to say it's pretty much instant. Even when you've just started the car up for the first time.

I think the MB feature is pretty helpful that way, especially for forward movement.