Hero 3 with interchangeable lens mount

My dream has come true: a GoPro with interchangeable mounts.

Thanks to Radiant Images and View Factor Studios, this now exists!

I was talking to the Drone Dudes at Maker Faire and saw this camera amongst all their other awesome gear. It is a sweet little piece of kit.

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The groundbreaking Novo digital cinema camera, available exclusively at Radiant Images, is the ideal solution for cinematographers who are enamored by the capabilities of the GoPro Hero3 but held back by the Hero3’s cinematic limitations.

The Novo, developed and engineered by View Factor Studio in collaboration with Radiant Images, is a completely re-engineered GoPro Hero3 making it a much smaller and more robust cinema camera with the flexibility to allow more creative choices.

Key new enhancements include a C-mount lens system with adjustable back-focus which allows for extreme macro shooting. As well as exposure control capabilities that open up a wide-range of artistic possibilities for cinematographers and camera operators. An internal CPU interfaced to the camera permits users to disable the auto exposure feature and then adjust the aperture manually via the lens. This feature gives a cinematographer the control to set a desired exposure and stops.

The lightweight aluminum housing itself is 20% thinner than the GoPro Hero3 and includes three 1/4-20 and two 10-32 mounting points. Also, four buttons on the front (REC, PWR, WiFi & AUX) are assignable to several functions depending on the application. The Aux button turns the auto exposure on/off, but in the near future will also be utilized for other functions, such as digital zoom, a tool to check critical focus.

The Novo offers more robust features while retaining all of the key functionality and accessories of the GoPro Hero3, such as the LCD touch screen, power backpack and WiFi connectivity for wireless camera control.

The Novo addresses the needs of cinematographers without compromising the power and versatility of the most advanced GoPro ever.

Like the GoPro Hero3: Black Edition, the Novo is capable of capturing cinema-quality video at 2x the resolution frame rate of previous models while delivering twice the performance in low light. – 1440p 48fps, 1080p 60 fps and 720p 120 fps video and 12MP photos at a rate of 30 photos per second, plus the ultra-high resolution 2.7KP-30 fps and 4KP-15 fps video modes.

Radiant Images offers rental packages that include the Novo, custom geared C-Mount lenses and all the required accessories.

The biggest issue for something like this is not the sensor or lens or battery but the processing to capture and compress 1080p video. I'm not sure what the GoPro's use but 1920x1080 = 2,073,600 pixels per frame @60 Hz = 124,416,000 pixels/sec if pixels are 8b Red Green and Blue that ends up at 373 Mbytes/sec. Sensors ussual use a Bayer pattern which reduces this somewhat as does YUV processing but even so this is a tremendous amount of data and processing before considering the need for white balance, motion estimation and the standard compression. There are camera SoC (System on Chip) devices designed exactly for this but they are ussually highly proprietary i.e. the chip maker won't let you see the data sheet without signing NDAs and verifying that you are a serious business. Even if you can get the chips they will be in tiny BGA which are difficult to layout and impossible to manufacture without specialized ($$$) equipment.

I would therefore suggest that the best plan of action might be to remove the GoPro from its case and put the guts in another case with a C/CS mount. It will still be boxy and not the ideal form factor but the desired features can be added. While not necessarily ideal, there are plenty of cheap security cam lenses available with fixed focus (but at least decent glass and a wide aperture $5-30) and more expensive auto iris, and zoom lenses available ($30-$200).

The GoPro is nice for its small size but this has built in some limitations, small sensor (less light per pixel) smaller lens (cheaper but less quality than traditional camera lens) and need for low power processing to maintain battery life (i.e. other cameras with larger batteries can use better/more processing). If you are going to put money and effort towards a new device it may be worth wile to consider other cameras as a base. The Sony NEX-3/5/7 a micro Four Thirds camera has become popular as a target for gimbals and supports interchangeable lens (like a DSLR) the sensor is smaller than a DSLR but certainly much bigger than GoPro or other "action cam". I haven't seen a direct comparison but feel pretty sure that Sony > GoPro. This does increase the size, weight and cost, but if image quality is the end game then maybe it is worth it. If small size/weight is the goal, certainly stick with GoPro.

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Comments

John Tomelevage June 12, 2013 at 6:31am

For that kind of money I think a CCD sensor might be a better choice.
Emin Bu June 12, 2013 at 2:05am

this are my favorits:for CMOS version

http://www.ptgreystore.com/products/150-flea3-32-mp-color-usb-30.aspx

http://www.ptgreystore.com/products/213-flea3-88-mp-color-usb-30.aspx

CCD(global shuter)

http://www.ptgreystore.com/products/255-grasshopper3-28-mp-color-us...

http://www.ptgreystore.com/products/238-zebra2-28-mp-color-gige-hd-...

would be nice if someone here explain how we can use this,how to control and record,is raspbery Pi become strong enough or we need something more powerful?
Joshua Ott June 11, 2013 at 10:04pm

Interesting link, Emin. Thanks
Emin Bu June 11, 2013 at 5:57pm

as we mentioned before,there is camerassimilar to this one http://ww2.ptgrey.com/
John Tomelevage May 28, 2013 at 5:40pm

@R Lefebvre, I finally posted a little about my low profile gimbal:

http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/diy-low-profile-gimbal-mechanics
Developer

John Arne Birkeland May 23, 2013 at 2:15am

R, not that many that offer 2.7K@24, 1080p@60 and 720p@120fps and 48mbit h.264 recording in this price range.
Rob_Lefebvre May 22, 2013 at 2:02pm

Or, decase something other than a GoPro and then you will get the form-factor you want. Why is everybody stuck on the GoPro? There are other cameras out there.
Joe Bloeski May 22, 2013 at 1:31pm

The biggest issue for something like this is not the sensor or lens or battery but the processing to capture and compress 1080p video. I'm not sure what the GoPro's use but 1920x1080 = 2,073,600 pixels per frame @60 Hz = 124,416,000 pixels/sec if pixels are 8b Red Green and Blue that ends up at 373 Mbytes/sec. Sensors ussual use a Bayer pattern which reduces this somewhat as does YUV processing but even so this is a tremendous amount of data and processing before considering the need for white balance, motion estimation and the standard compression. There are camera SoC (System on Chip) devices designed exactly for this but they are ussually highly proprietary i.e. the chip maker won't let you see the data sheet without signing NDAs and verifying that you are a serious business. Even if you can get the chips they will be in tiny BGA which are difficult to layout and impossible to manufacture without specialized ($$$) equipment.

I would therefore suggest that the best plan of action might be to remove the GoPro from its case and put the guts in another case with a C/CS mount. It will still be boxy and not the ideal form factor but the desired features can be added. While not necessarily ideal, there are plenty of cheap security cam lenses available with fixed focus (but at least decent glass and a wide aperture $5-30) and more expensive auto iris, and zoom lenses available ($30-$200).

The GoPro is nice for its small size but this has built in some limitations, small sensor (less light per pixel) smaller lens (cheaper but less quality than traditional camera lens) and need for low power processing to maintain battery life (i.e. other cameras with larger batteries can use better/more processing). If you are going to put money and effort towards a new device it may be worth wile to consider other cameras as a base. The Sony NEX-3/5/7 a micro Four Thirds camera has become popular as a target for gimbals and supports interchangeable lens (like a DSLR) the sensor is smaller than a DSLR but certainly much bigger than GoPro or other "action cam". I haven't seen a direct comparison but feel pretty sure that Sony > GoPro. This does increase the size, weight and cost, but if image quality is the end game then maybe it is worth it. If small size/weight is the goal, certainly stick with GoPro.
John Tomelevage May 21, 2013 at 6:49am

That's where you software/hardware wizards come in. I have faith that you folks who can develop firmware that reads data from gyros and barometric sensors and use that data to control a slew of electronic speed controlled motors that you can also create firmware to handle the data from a good quality image sensor, like the Sony I mentioned. Afterall, the GoPro guys did it.
Developer

John Arne Birkeland May 21, 2013 at 6:40am

With C mount you can get pretty much anything you want, including motorized zoom and auto iris lenses. Only thing missing would be proper manual exposure and white balance settings in the camera, and it would be a true "very close to pro" solution.

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