Tag Archives: gopro

This GoPro concept with Interchangeable Lenses brings DSLR abilities to the Action Camera

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The GoPro is, on paper at least, an incredibly high-resolution camera capable of recording 4K at high speeds of up to 120fps – that’s pretty remarkable for a camera… but no photographer or videographer will ever take a GoPro seriously, because it lacks the one feature that most professionals look for – the ability to change lenses. The GoPro is perpetually stuck with its ultrawide lens, and that doesn’t appeal to most photographers. Designed to bridge this gap, Liam de la Bedoyere designed a GoPro that actually lets you remove and replace lenses, giving you the ability to choose between macro, telephoto, wide-angle, and fisheye shots… all while still retaining the GoPro’s gorgeously compact aesthetic.

Designer: Bored Eye Design

Bedoyere’s (better known by his online moniker Bored Eye Designs) concept isn’t what you’d call a traditional GoPro – its design is quite the overhaul, with a funky orange-meets-black aesthetic that sort of feels reminiscent of Rabbit, but with a more balanced color palette. The design features the GoPro’s main body, with the screen at the back, but also comes with a removable camera module, reminiscent of the recently launched Insta360 Go 3S. This removable module snaps onto the main body when it needs a battery boost, but can be removed and carried separately as a body-worn or handheld tiny cam. It also features those aforementioned removable lenses, allowing you to change your PoV on the fly.

Designed as a part of a Productober sprint (with daily prompts through the month of October), Liam de la Bedoyere created a rough draft of an action camera with the ability to remove and mount different lenses. Although Bedoyere barely made the deadline for the prompt, his concept existed just as a mere sketch. Taking some more time after Productober officially ended, he decided to flesh out the design by making a proper 3D CAD model of what this shapeshifting action cam could look like.

Bedoyere’s vision of a GoPro with interchangeable lenses is something that quite a few videographers have thought of. In fact, Canada-based hardware company Back-Bone also makes a modified version of the GoPro HERO12 with an armature on the front that lets you attach literal DSLR-style lenses on your action camera, with a choice between M12, CS, and C-mount styles!

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Modified $849 GoPro HERO12 lets you mount Professional DSLR Lenses on your Action Camera

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Not many people really appreciate the GoPro for exactly how advanced it is. For a device that small, it boasts a mighty sensor and can capture media in incredibly high resolutions like 5.3K (with image stabilization no less)… but that tiny form factor has one trade-off, the fact that it doesn’t support interchangeable lenses – and, to be honest, that seems like the one thing that makes photographers and videographers not take the GoPro seriously, even though it outputs videos comparable to larger cameras like the ones from RED and Hasselblad.

So what if you could just switch out the GoPro’s fisheye lens for something much more advanced, like some serious DSLR or film camera lenses? Well, the folks at Canada-based Back-Bone managed to hack together a GoPro Hero12 to make it universally compatible with a whole range of DSLR lenses. The Back-Bone H12PRO comes with quite a few interesting tricks up its sleeve. The front features a special mounting armature to load professional camera lenses, giving your GoPro Hero12 the ability to shoot in ultrawide but also telescopic, or even macro, depending on the lenses you’ve got on hand.

Designer: Back-Bone

For the folks at Back-Bone, creating this modified GoPro was about allowing the action camera to achieve its full potential. The GoPro Hero12 is a multimedia beast, capable of shooting 5.3K HDR videos and even stills with its 27MP shooter. For a camera this capable, restricting it to a simple fisheye lens is quite a disservice if you ask me, which is why the modified H12PRO is so compelling.

The H12PRO lets you attach a variety of mounting brackets, giving you the choice between M12, CS, and C-mount lenses. It’s pretty much the same size as the existing GoPro, which means it also supports the company’s Media Mod, allowing you to add extra accessories like directional mics, flashes, etc. The H12PRO also packs GoPro’s Enduro Battery, offering longer battery life, especially in cold conditions.

With the Media Mod and the ability to pretty much attach any kind of lens to your GoPro, the H12PRO gives you the most powerful camera setup that can fit in your pocket. It’s cheaper and smaller than a flagship phone, and shoots higher quality content than cameras twice or thrice its size. The H12PRO has a tripod mount on the bottom, allowing you to attach it to tripods, gimbals, or even small-ish drones with decent payload abilities. Heck, the folks at Back-Bone are also selling an optional Micro Four-Thirds mounting plate to let you attach MFT lenses to your GoPro. If that isn’t the wildest, most brilliant upgrade to the world’s most advanced action camera, I don’t know what is. After all, an action camera is just a camera designed to capture high quality content at a great frame rate, right? So why not exploit its abilities to the max?!

Back-Bone’s H12PRO is available on its website. The $849 kit includes the following:

  • H12PRO modified HERO12 Black camera
  • Aluminum Tripod Mount
  • Original folding GoPro mount
  • Enduro Battery
  • 5mm C-Mount ring
  • M12 to CS adapter
  • M12 locking ring
  • Plastic cap (C-Mount)
  • USB-C Cable
  • Curved adhesive mount
  • Mounting buckle
  • Spare protective glass filter

Understandably, a modified HERO12 won’t be covered under GoPro’s warranty program, but Back-Bone does offer a 6-month repair guarantee against faulty parts or defects, and a zero-labor-cost repair warranty for a year (you just pay for parts and shipping).

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The GoPro GoKart’s built-in Action Cameras capture your race like never before

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It makes absolute sense. The company that has a brand built around action and adrenaline should be in the racing business… no? After all, isn’t that exactly what Red Bull is doing? Designed by Sean Gao, the GoKart imagines a world in which GoPro goes automotive. The racing cart isn’t like anything we’ve ever seen before. It sports a gorgeously modern design with sleek surfaces that blend into each other… but the kart’s secret sauce is the fact that it has multiple action cameras integrated into its design, capturing your race from multiple PoVs. Designed for thrill but also for entertainment, the kart captures multiple streams from different angles, allowing viewers (or even the driver) to enjoy the race like never before. Easily the coolest thing to happen to karting since Mario Kart.

Designer: Sean Gao

The GoPro GoKart is a modern-day racing vehicle that brings karting into the future. Sure, you could do the rounds of a track on a gasoline-guzzling hunk of metal and fiberglass… but nothing quite beats racing around in these bad-boys. The GoPro GoKart is gorgeous to look at, sporting an uber-slick design that’s just about as gorgeous as a high-end racecar. You’ve got flowing surfaces that create the kart’s beautiful silhouette, with metal and carbon-fiber paneling that reflects light with a soft matte glow that’s subtly classy. Meanwhile, the kart comes outfitted with razor-thin headlights and taillights too, so night-time won’t stop your races.

Where the GoKart functionally differs from other karts, however, is in the inclusion of multiple wide-angle action cameras a la GoPro. These cameras can be found on the front, sides, and rear of the car, capturing multiple angles during the race. The result, breathtaking moments for both riders as well as the audience to enjoy during or even after the race. Gao proposes building an entire racing track around the kart too, with a multi-level course that are studded with cameras that add to the race feed.

The car’s cameras help capture the action right from the driving seat. A front-facing camera documents the track ahead, while a rear camera lets you see your opponents biting the dust. Cameras on the side document a much more high-stakes experience, letting you see two cars going head-to-head side by side.

The kart seats one, but aside from just a simple cockpit with a wheel and pedals, you’ve also got a dashboard with information, controls, and settings. A space underneath the steering wheel (or yoke, rather) lets you dock your smartphone, which starts the car and lets it authenticate its driver. The yoke’s central dashboard lets you see racing stats, as well as quickly toggle camera views to see what’s happening behind you. Meanwhile, video footage also gets sent to your phone, allowing you to replay your highlights after the race and share the footage with friends and fans.

Ultimately for Gao, the GoKart is a massive branding exercise for GoPro, letting it reinforce its position as the apex action-camera company. It also creates a separate channel that exists independent of the action camera business, building a sport that can be followed by dedicated fans. This helps solidify the brand, which has seen some weakening following a few corporate scandals and the rise of other companies like Insta360 and Kandao. Moreover, the karts are pretty much billboards on wheels for GoPro’s cameras, letting people experience their brilliance in the form of high-octane kart racing. If anyone at GoPro is reading this, give Sean a call…

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