IMX462 low-light is not good at low light

erik

Hi @BenjaminKiefer ,
I'd say that is more or less as good as you can get it. Looking at datasheet, Sionyx's pixel size is like 10.7x larger than IMX462, which would be the main reason for such low-lvl performance. Just curious, how much did the Nightwave cost?

BenjaminKiefer

That would explain it certainly. I was just hoping to see results more along the lines of, e.g., this:

But, I understand that it's hard to compare their scenes/setups/comparisons to ours and it might very well be the same.

The Nightwave is much more expensive: ~2000€

I think this concludes it then. In case I have more information or anything related to it, I'm happy to provide them. Thanks for your help! 🙌

erik

Hi @BenjaminKiefer ,
Thanks for sharing the info! I thought perhaps we could look into this sensor, but after seeing that pricetag - I think we're in a different market🙂

WRT Arducam's video - I'm fairly sure that's just marketing. No way (latest) iPhone has that bad low-light performance at "default" settings. Either they decreased the exposure time down to like 5ms, or used some very old iPhone.

BenjaminKiefer

Yes, it's quite a price. Although, I'm not sure what the "raw" sensor costs or whether it can be easily purchased in small quantities.

That makes sense 👍️

erik

Hi @BenjaminKiefer ,
We noticed that we haven't yet tested the conversion gain mode, which could improve low-light performance. We are now looking into it, and if it provides better results we will expose the configuration to the API.

BenjaminKiefer

Hi @erik

that's great to hear. Curious to hear what the results are 🙂

BenjaminKiefer

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RobvanHoeij

The IMX462 has a HCG mode for low light. You can also consider IMX462LLR Mono, its 0.7x better in low light. The IMX485LQJ is 3.5x better in low light.

BenjaminKiefer

RobvanHoeij hi! Thanks for the the note!

Do you know of any material that showcases the difference or performance of the cam?

It's not supported by Luxonis, is it?

smat

What lens do you have on the imx462, this can actually make a big difference. For the best low light performance you want something with around F1.0. Also any scene "contaminated" with IR light is going to make the imx462 and Sionyx appear much better than they actually are compared to human vision. Which could be happening in those low light examples from Arducam, I am not sure if the lux meters they use are sensitive to IR light. In your use case if having an IR illuminator is ok, then you will get almost daylight performance from the imx462 wherever the IR light is reaching.

BenjaminKiefer

It's a good question, I actually don't know; we bought this

https://shop.luxonis.com/products/oak-ffc-imx462

which came with the lens as shown in one of the pictures. Do you know which one that is? Or maybe @erik?

They have since integrated high gain mode fyi:

https://discuss.luxonis.com/blog/3672-see-the-unseen-sony-imx462-for-superior-night-vision

erik

Hi @BenjaminKiefer, just checked datasheet, It's F1.0 (+-10%)