Not sure the viability of this or of something is already out on the market....
Seems lots of manufacturers use the same camera housing and mounting system but is there an actual modular camera out on the market? From my experience on taking apart my cameras, there is usually a couple boards and components inside.
Harness with RJ45 and 5521 barrel jack (DC power input) -> PCB board with chips for POE/DC power regulation -> Mainboard with SOC (usually arm variant), sensor, ram, rom, microSD card slot -> Plastic bracket for holding the lens up to the sensor (easily replaceable) -> Cables for mic, IR, white light to the front of the camera housing
Lens and lens mount can easily be swapped on any cameras. Just takes a little time to adjust the lens (screwing it in or out) to get to the desired sharpness/focus at a certain distance. The power portion is more or less the same for all cameras as far as how it works. That brings us to the mainboard with SOC with the CMOS sensor. Usually seems the SOC is rated for a max resolution and then pair a certain sensor with it. Maybe I am oversimplifying the whole thing but if there was a "camera" where you can just buy the main board and then plug in your peripherals, lens..... That would be pretty cool. I guess the firmware side would be a headache depending on the different board variants paired with whatever sensor. I have swapped internal boards from different cameras (of the same manufacturer) and the screws line up and it is able to be done. I guess no manufacturer would want to just sell a mainboard or no end user would want to take the time and effort to do this.
Just food for thought..... Or am what I am describing just what seems to be a modern version of a box camera?
Seems lots of manufacturers use the same camera housing and mounting system but is there an actual modular camera out on the market? From my experience on taking apart my cameras, there is usually a couple boards and components inside.
Harness with RJ45 and 5521 barrel jack (DC power input) -> PCB board with chips for POE/DC power regulation -> Mainboard with SOC (usually arm variant), sensor, ram, rom, microSD card slot -> Plastic bracket for holding the lens up to the sensor (easily replaceable) -> Cables for mic, IR, white light to the front of the camera housing
Lens and lens mount can easily be swapped on any cameras. Just takes a little time to adjust the lens (screwing it in or out) to get to the desired sharpness/focus at a certain distance. The power portion is more or less the same for all cameras as far as how it works. That brings us to the mainboard with SOC with the CMOS sensor. Usually seems the SOC is rated for a max resolution and then pair a certain sensor with it. Maybe I am oversimplifying the whole thing but if there was a "camera" where you can just buy the main board and then plug in your peripherals, lens..... That would be pretty cool. I guess the firmware side would be a headache depending on the different board variants paired with whatever sensor. I have swapped internal boards from different cameras (of the same manufacturer) and the screws line up and it is able to be done. I guess no manufacturer would want to just sell a mainboard or no end user would want to take the time and effort to do this.
Just food for thought..... Or am what I am describing just what seems to be a modern version of a box camera?