The most frustrating thing about choosing new backup bulbs for my MDX was that I couldn't find before/after shots of how the light was thrown out the back.

So, I bought some VLED 921s, and took two manual exposures at 30" f/5.6 ISO 100. These are straight out of the camera (skipped RAW this time, just straight to JPEG). I apologize for the motion blur in the after shot -- the vehicle must have still been shaking from when I put it in reverse and shut the door. Camera was on a bean bag on top of the roof antenna, in front of the rear hatch.

You can tell in the "before" shot, from all the red, that the main light source is the tail lights. Brake lights were not on. The Moon is not up, and our 'hood is very dark. You can see a streetlight out there, but it's fully shielded. It's really dark -- long exposure grabbed the detail. Something like an iPhone would just show a black noisy image with no detail (I can elaborate for anyone interested who isn't familiar with exposure).

Distance-wise, the seam at the bottom is 12' behind the vehicle, and the next two seams are 10' further, each. So, 12', 22', and 32'. Yeah, the kids have that hoop at 7' right now

Let me know if you need any more details. EXIF is intact in the images.

Before:


After:

 

Nice, But How Well Does It Show On The Nav Screen?

 

Very nice! I am curious as to what the Rear Cam shows also.

Also which VLeds are these the 5K or the 6K ones?

 

Looks bright from outside, but mostly interested on the navi screen display. That's where the limitation is, post some pics of the navi

 

Understood. I'll see if I can get a pic or video of the nav backup screen soon. I did this as preparation for the upcoming dark mornings, and as it is, I'm not in the vehicle in the dark very often.

Visually, it's not great, and I don't know that I'd say it would solve the problem for everyone. It's enough better for me that I can actually use it safely now, where I could not do so before.

Here's a comparison of the histogram for the two images. There is a ton more light in the after image:


One note on the nav screen with the backup camera: as with most video codecs, whatever the MDX is using has very low quality with dark tones. There are a lot of blocky artifacts, as the codec doesn't offer as many colors on the dark end, so the image is posterized. I think that tripling the brightness of the view out the back still leaves it so dark that much of the image remains at the same compressed color on the screen. The end result is that the screen is barely useful when you're sitting there, but actual video of motion is much more useful, as your brain can fill in the blanks a bit with things moving. In this way, the backup nav is better with the VLED lights than with the stock bulbs.

It's also much better in the mirrors, which I could only barely use with the stock bulbs.

So, I think this is a legitimate fix for me, with my driveway in my neighborhood, but it's not a night/day difference by any stretch. This is an incremental improvement, and I think the limiting factor must be the reflector design around the bulb, because these VLEDs are SO much brighter on their own than a bulb.

 

Here's a shaky cam backout this morning, about 45 minutes before sunrise. If the original bulbs were this bright, I don't think I'd have complained. Solves my problem for sure.

Sorry for the J.J. Abrams treatment. Makes the action choreography a bit more entertaining.

http://waterrockets.smugmug.com/Other/Stuff/i-qfhQDLH/A

 

Thanks for that info waterrockets. I will add this to my list of updates for my MDX. May even do my DRL's also. Did the License plate bulbs already.

 

It is a difference! Not huge but enough for me. I am in. Thanks for the video.

 

Glad it's helpful.