image of Olympus AIR A01

The latest trend in camera products - modular cameras - is good news for us as drone users.

With Sony releasing products such as the QX100 and QX1 it seemed like high quality alternatives to the gopro we're becoming available.

Now with Olympus and soon Vivitar being the latest companies to add their own modular camera to the list, it looks like 2016 will be an interesting year for modular camera technology.

Here is a shot of the new AIR A01

4484-thumb.jpg

And the yet to be released Vivitar IU680 Model

Vivitar-IU680-interchangeable-lens-camera-module-for-smart-phones-2.jpg

Unfortunately two key requirements have still not been met from what information we have available.

1 - The ability to record 4k video

2 - A simple Analogue Video OUT for FPV

In addition it seems there are very few reliable options for stable camera gimbals that have been designed for these cameras.

Hopefully the options will get better in the very near future.

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Comments

  • I've had my eye on the Air A01 since it came out last year with it in mind as a stills camera. Paired with the 12 or 14mm prime lenses, this thing would be a great camera.

    Olympus has claimed this camera is an "open" platform, though I haven't seen any projects making use of that yet. Their docs are pretty minimal.

    http://opc.olympus-imaging.com/en/

    Unfortunately, I don't see USB cable control mentioned anywhere even though Olympus' other cameras do have a wired release capability. Their wireless protocol is well-defined, but works on 2.4GHz so might interfere with flight controls.

    I'd really like to make one of these work. :)

    Notice of Website Closure
  • I don't think either of your two key requirements are very strong requirements.  These are stills cameras, not video cameras.  Why have 4k video anyway?  So you can have YouTube crunch it down to 16MB/s so it looks worse than uncompressed 720 video?

    I'm with Tridge.  What is more important is their picture taking and communications abilities.

    If you want video, get any number of dedicated video camers.  I just picked up a Sony CX430 for a song, and it's superior to most stills cameras.  And even has it's own internal brushless gimbal.

  • Developer

    can any of them take photos and get the photos at full resolution over USB? Or if only wifi, can they do 5.8GHz WiFi?

  • Yeah, and those cameras available only in US. There are no in Europe.

  • kkkkk another time traveller news ..... from the past to the present.

  • Moderator

    Olympus and Sony sell this cameras for 2 year. New?

This reply was deleted.