[SteveL1]

I have AW 435 and the back up camera works fine at night and have not touched the brightness. Dealer may have before we picked it up but not sure.

[DeltaFX1942]

Originally Posted by PCR0303

Really? What did you do to make it visible? Most AW owners have issues. I forget the actual cause, but something to do with license plate light and reflection. There's a few threads deep down somewhere.

I have a AW 328i and my camera works fine at night on stock settings. Have never had an issue with visibility.

[tboooe]

I tried adjusting contrast and brightness without much luck. My next step is to try and cover the lower part of the lens that is "seeing" the white bumper.

[DominicJE]

Very weird how some AW owners have issues and some don't. I am one of those AW owners who think the camera is completely useless at night unless there is a bright LED light above the car in a parking lot. Otherwise, useless.

[DeltaFX1942]

Originally Posted by DominicJE

Very weird how some AW owners have issues and some don't. I am one of those AW owners who think the camera is completely useless at night unless there is a bright LED light above the car in a parking lot. Otherwise, useless.

I find that my backup lights illuminate the area very nicely. I'll take a picture on of these nights and post what my image looks like.

[chazmink]

Works fine at night with my Estoril Blue 2.

[DominicJE]

Hmm, it's very odd. My friends 328 who has the all around camera, his backup camera works perfect at night, although his car is silver. At first I was thinking maybe the two packages have two different quality cameras between them.

[Krash7172]

Got my wife an AW 435i for xmas and the rear camera at night is her only complaint. A small piece of black tape covering the bottom of the lens worked perfectly as previously suggested. Just leave the car in park and turn on the backup camera. Position the tape so you cannot see the bumper on the screen. Done. The only drawback is that you see black on the bottom of the screen instead of the bumper.

[bstuntz]

I had the software updated at the dealer, then they replaced the camera. I have increased the brightness, but the camera is still useless at night - screen repeatedly shifts from light to dark and is unusable.
Update: I installed the thickest black license plate frame that would fit, plus a $15 rear bumper protector from Amazon ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ) and that seems to have solved the problem. The camera iris apparently gets confused by the reflection from the white bumper. You can test this by putting a loop of black tape (electrical) under the camera to shield it from the reflection to see if this would work for you.
Astounding that a $90k car requires a hack like this to work - why hasn't BMW fixed this???

[wrickem]

Originally Posted by USC2000

I've got Alpine White and no issues with my backup camera at night.

+1 (really2). I've got 2 Alpine white BMWs and one Sapphire Black one and the back up cameras are all really good at night on all of them.

[Billfitz]

I've never had a problem with mine, when it's dark the camera automatically compensates for it. A white or other very light color bumper can fool the camera into thinking it's brighter out that it actually is, a black bumper guard fixes that and protects the bumper at the same time.

[arok99]

I thought I was alone (also Alpine White), dealer tried to brighten the settings but didn't work. Only work around I found was to turn off my lights ("0") then the camera refocused and I was able to see behind me. But I think I'll try the tape method as well.

[paul e]

Try one of these

http://www.zetaproducts.net/Rear-Bum...ies-Sedan.aspx

The black solves the contrast issue, plus instead of tape you actually get bumper protection as well.

[omaralt]

Originally Posted by paul e

Try one of these

http://www.zetaproducts.net/Rear-Bum...ies-Sedan.aspx

The black solves the contrast issue, plus instead of tape you actually get bumper protection as well.

that looks like a nice idea. would this fit a 17 M3?

EDIT: just ordered it. i'll post before/after pics once i receive

[paimon.soror]

I was actually pretty impressed with the backup camera quality at night on mine. Miles better than my wife's '16 CX5 back up camera at night.

[omaralt]

Originally Posted by paimon.soror

I was actually pretty impressed with the backup camera quality at night on mine. Miles better than my wife's '16 CX5 back up camera at night.

what color is your car? my black 435i was perfect. my white M3 is horrible at night

[paimon.soror]

yep sapphire black. I should have mentioned that sorry.

[BEAR-AvHistory]

Mineral Gray is good to view.

[omaralt]

The difference is huge. Look at the before and after pictures. I didn't install it perfectly because it's freezing here, but you can still see a huge difference

[IK6SPEED]

Originally Posted by tboooe

Has anyone else found that the back up camera at night is not very useful? All is see in the display is black! In my previous cars (Audi and Infiniti) the nighttime visibility was much better.

I find it comical that people cannot function in a car without all the electronic extras (especially M3/M4 owners).

How many threads are there where the owner blames their curbrash on the side cameras not operating properly.

[chicagoshark]

Originally Posted by 300hp

At one time I had 3 cars my G37, X5 35i and the 335i so I can speak to this. The BMW back up camera is worlds ahead of the Infiniti

Infiniti's back up cam at night was horrible. Also affected by lighter colored cars

[omaralt]

Originally Posted by IK6SPEED

I find it comical that people cannot function in a car without all the electronic extras (especially M3/M4 owners).

How many threads are there where the owner blames their curbrash on the side cameras not operating properly.

who said we cant function? and honestly your comment is so absurdly stupid that i had to reply. we have a back up camera in our car, but for some odd reason bmw allows the camera to pick up the color off the bumper on light colored cars which throws the image off. so we're here to discuss how to fix it.. you've added nothing to this.. but thanks?