DIY gadgetry tends to be expressive and useful to its creator and like minds, but technically homely. Not Sitina, an open-source mirrorless camera that yields little to commercial full-frame offerings from Sony, Sigma and Panasonic.
Inside is a Kodak full-frame sensor behind the Sony E-mount lens, for which all the complex CCD timing and acquisition circuitry has been implemented. The brains of the show lie in a Xilinx Zynq ARM-and-FPGA in a stack of boards with a power board and the CCD board. The controls and battery are in a grip, and a large display is on the back of the unit.
We featured an earlier version of this project last year, and this version is a much better development with something like the ergonomics, control, and interface you would expect from a modern consumer camera. The screen update is still a little slow and there are doubtless many tweaks to come, but this really feels close to being a camera you'd want to try. There's an assembly video which we've placed below the break, feast your eyes on it.
Here's that video:
Why open-source? Sony is charging for some firmware features, suggesting a more pay-to-play future for the device class. Canon might not tolerate Magic Lantern forever. And here people are complaining about the mount! As if the world doesn't already run on adapters.
Previously:
• London's Spitalfields market: shoot the architecture, we take away your camera
• Distressing new, high-end cameras to look decades old
• Taking pictures of the Rolling Stones with the 'best pocket camera ever made'
