Sensors in a box...They're coming!

J

Jon7athan

Member
Someone has repurposed a GoPro Hero3 with a C mount adapter for interchangeable lenses with back focus adjustment. New digital cinema camera is called the Novo and could be the first shot before NAB.

Novo rental

novo_08.JPG
 
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It's an advantage, because perhaps one day we'll have a very well designed camera body for processing and controls, but perhaps the sensor can be interchangeable, like film stocks. Maybe one sensor will be like the Epic Monochrome, utilizing the advantages of not having color filters over pixels. Maybe another sensor will be for low light, and another for daylight and another for tungsten, etc.

I think that would be cool, to swap out sensors like they are film stocks.
 
Ryan Patrick O'Hara said:
It's an advantage, because perhaps one day we'll have a very well designed camera body for processing and controls, but perhaps the sensor can be interchangeable, like film stocks. Maybe one sensor will be like the Epic Monochrome, utilizing the advantages of not having color filters over pixels. Maybe another sensor will be for low light, and another for daylight and another for tungsten, etc.

I think that would be cool, to swap out sensors like they are film stocks.
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That would be crazy awesome. A high sensitivity sensor, a B&W sensor, an "all in one" sensor, etc. You'd buy a body and then fill it with what you needed. I like where this could go
 
Any idea on how they are bypassing the auto exposure?

Everything else about this mod is very straight forward and I'm half tempted to build one myself.
 
This is awesome - Edmund optics sells these sort of components for custom scientific and industrial cameras. Would love an opportunity to buy a ready made micro camera like this.
 
The Viewfactor guys build the Novo and they won't be selling it. It's a pretty neat tool and I can see many applications where it will be used, but likely not on small budget productions which IMO is smart. I actually got to see the raw materials for it, it's a tricky little thing to build and I understand why it's rental exclusive (amongst other things).
 
but perhaps the sensor can be interchangeable, like film stocks.
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YES, I've been saying this for a awile now, I don't think it's such a big stretch considering the speed at which tech. is moving. One camera platform, interchangable lens mounts and sensors. Man that would be sweet.
 
Kholi said:
The Viewfactor guys build the Novo and they won't be selling it. It's a pretty neat tool and I can see many applications where it will be used, but likely not on small budget productions which IMO is smart. I actually got to see the raw materials for it, it's a tricky little thing to build and I understand why it's rental exclusive (amongst other things).
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Do you know what they used for a PCB/program to get around the auto exposure?
 
Ryan Patrick O'Hara said:
It's an advantage, because perhaps one day we'll have a very well designed camera body for processing and controls, but perhaps the sensor can be interchangeable, like film stocks. Maybe one sensor will be like the Epic Monochrome, utilizing the advantages of not having color filters over pixels. Maybe another sensor will be for low light, and another for daylight and another for tungsten, etc.

I think that would be cool, to swap out sensors like they are film stocks.
Click to expand...
I don't see that ever happening, unless the camera is very expensive. There's a lot of fine-tuning that needs to be done between a sensor and the other components. Look at Red -- Dragon is only the second sensor in the Epic and Scarlet lines, and rumor has it that it will be a very expensive upgrade for Scarlet, necessitating adding or replacing multiple boards.
 
Tzedekh said:
I don't see that ever happening, unless the camera is very expensive. There's a lot of fine-tuning that needs to be done between a sensor and the other components. Look at Red -- Dragon is only the second sensor in the Epic and Scarlet lines, and rumor has it that it will be a very expensive upgrade for Scarlet, necessitating adding or replacing multiple boards.
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Well I have many things to my advantage.

1) "In the future"- Is a powerful statement I made that is almost unfairly in my favor. It can win almost any argument, as the future is a fast advancing and usually expectation surpassing thing, and also unprovably wrong. haha. However, for my point, in the last 10 years we've seen an incredible leap in technology and we will continue to see that leap, if not exponential. It's almost damn-right frightening. Ten years ago, the HVX200 was years away from release, and the F950 was arguably the best digital camera you could buy... for well into the six figures. Sensor and camera technology will become simpler and more interchangeable, especially if designed to do so. If anything, we'll have a sensor box that attaches to a processor body. And if I'm wrong, it will be because technology has gone so fast we will have sensors that are so good at everything, there will not be a large enough need to interchange them to justify the extra work.

2) Also to my advantage... this idea isn't in the future, but almost already exists. We have cameras that have the processor in the body and the sensor in removable or detachable units. The only thing needed is if they made alternative sensors to swap in and out. All it would take would be for another sensor (or more) to be made. SI-2K by Silicon Imaging:



  • SI-2K by Silicon Imaging:
    • Small sensor and lens mount in a small box form. Attaches via direct interface with processing camera body or by tethered cable:
    • Screen shot 2013-03-08 at 12.43.59 PM.jpgsi-2k.jpgScreen shot 2013-03-08 at 12.44.14 PM.jpgScreen shot 2013-03-08 at 12.45.21 PM.jpgSI-2K-ws.jpg
    • As you can see, the sensor is connected to the camera body directly or via an Ethernet cable. It is just a mount and sensor, the processing is at the body.




  • Alexa M:
    • A worse example, but something that can show potential. Same type of thing as above but beefier and only designed to be connected via remote hard wired cable. I imagine, if they wanted, they could have had it be attachable to the processing body for an optional one unit or two.
    • web_alexa_m__large.jpg
 

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Tzedekh said:
I don't see that ever happening, unless the camera is very expensive. There's a lot of fine-tuning that needs to be done between a sensor and the other components. Look at Red -- Dragon is only the second sensor in the Epic and Scarlet lines, and rumor has it that it will be a very expensive upgrade for Scarlet, necessitating adding or replacing multiple boards.
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Well, in all fairness, they keep pushing technological limits with each release, thus making the processing requirements vary. If they focused on making more sensor flavors in the same processing range, than my idea would make sense and I think it would be possible. Also not the second sensor, it's probably more like the third, if you count Epic-Monochrome, which is exactly my point. It's a different flavor in the same family of sensor (or exact same sensor)... I have a feeling if the Red Epic had been designed to have the sensor units easily swapped, the Epic Monochrome could very well be swapped with Epic MX if programmed to do so.

Regarding the Dragon, that is a chip of higher processing demand, thus they needed to upgrade the processing power... however, it could be argued that if properly designed, it could be backwards compatible.... meaning A Dragon capable processor, if programmed properly, could likely recognize and work with an Epic MX or Monochrome sensor if they were in a swappable form. Not saying this would be easy, but I imagine it would be possible. Increasingly so as technology progresses.

Again, the biggest issue with this interchangable system is having sensors different enough to justify it.

I think we could have fun with specialty sensors. Perhaps some Monochrome, some without ANY IR filtration, some made to ONLY capture IR light. Maybe some strange ones for special effect. Who knows. This is just the surface.
 
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Tzedekh said:
I don't see that ever happening, unless the camera is very expensive. There's a lot of fine-tuning that needs to be done between a sensor and the other components. Look at Red -- Dragon is only the second sensor in the Epic and Scarlet lines, and rumor has it that it will be a very expensive upgrade for Scarlet, necessitating adding or replacing multiple boards.
Click to expand...

Red dropped the Dragon upgrade for Scarlet bodies as not feasible. Instead they will offer full value brain trade in towards an Epic Dragon.
 
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