Catching our attention on Reddit this week is this under-the-radar post about an open-source “cinema camera”, featuring a 3D printed body and built with “off-the-shelf” components such as a Raspberry Pi.
The CinePI is the work of Csaba Nagy, who goes by u/csabanagy on Reddit. Nagy says the device serves as the foundation for those looking to build their own cameras. As such, the only mandatory components are a Raspberry Pi 4B and a high-quality camera module. Everything else – from the buttons to the display – is up to personal preference.
In its stock form, however, the CinePI boasts features or components such as a Sony IMX477 sensor, 12-bit CinemaDNG recording, a four-inch, high-resolution touchscreen, USB 3.0 external SSD recording, and Noctua cooling system.
For a DIY camera, that’s quite the list – and put to the test in Nagy’s short film, “Timekeeper“, which is available on YouTube, the CinePI holds up, with results that are impressively high quality – although it’s important to note that Nagy added the short’s film-grain effect in post.
Those interested in building a CinePI of their own will have a wealth of resources at their disposal. Aside from Nagy’s Reddit post, there’s a Github build guide, which provides a price list and assembly tips, as well as a separate Github page that spotlights the camera’s design and provides STLs for its body. Additionally, Nagy has set up a Discord community for the project, which users can join discuss their builds, ask for advice, or just have a chat.
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License: The text of "CinePI is an Open-Source Cinema Camera Built with Raspberry Pi" by All3DP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.