Hi bro, thanks for your continued attention and support.
The sample clips in our gallery were shot on the BSI sensor, and each has the ISO value labeled:
https://www.pixboom.com/gallery/
On our updated official site we also show a comparison with traditional high‑speed (FSI sensor) cameras, so you can directly see the improvement in light gathering.
Feel free to check those out. Let me know if you need anything else.
Wow, that’s awesome—really excited to hear your ideas for Spark accessory development. I’ve seen you’ve built a lot of great kits. For a high‑speed, lightweight camera like Spark, what accessory concepts do you already have in mind that you can share with us?
Please contact our CMO at: jing.qi@pixboom.com
Something else that would be amazing is to have an optional Infrared user swappable filter!
If there’s demand from creators, we can consider developing a special infrared version!
As an underwater cameraman, I second an underwater housing. However, for professional grade housings, it would be better to leave it to housing manufacturers. I work with a few of them. I have also designed and manufactured my own range of underwater video lights with some patented tech (SUBNOX) which is currently in production and about to be launched.
In order for housings to be used, basic functions such as aperture and shutter controls must be able to be accessed via physical buttons, knobs and wheels. Touchscreens are practically useless with housings. A handle with these controls are great for surface use, However a side plate with buttons to navigate the menu would be what I hope is possible… Assuming the current hardware doesn’t support this.
My primary work camera underwater is a RED Helium and I can access everything via physical buttons and knobs of the side plate (accessory) through the housing. Please do consider this if the Spark can’t do this in it’s current form.
Having said that, I have backed the project with a deposit already! Looking forward to seeing what I can do with it!
Hi, thank you for your support! Just between us: we already have an amazing underwater cinematographer who has a custom housing made for Spark—it’s from the brand Salty, which I’m guessing you know. Physical button functionality has been fully taken into account. We’re currently running some shooting experiments with it.
That’s great to know that it’s possible!
Yes I’ve heard of them. However they do more surf housings which is different from dive housings. Different handling and requirements. But the fact that they housed it gives me confidence it can be done!
As a rental house owner, we work with a lot of different accessory brands and often see them at their worst. I look for camera accessories (cages, handles, power systems, etc) with elegant solutions, innovative designs, along with high durability and build quality. IMO, the best camera accessory designers/manufacturers right now are Mid49, Bright Tangerine, Mutiny and Ratworks. Tilta and Smallrig are more mass-market manufacturers and I would rank them a notch or two below those I mentioned. Hopefully Pixboom will collaborate with all the best suppliers to create an ecosystem that is innovative and flexible.
That’s an interesting topic. What do you feel are the main differences between Mid49, Bright Tangerine, Mutiny, and Ratworks compared to other accessory manufacturers? Is it mainly build quality, or other aspects?
Hi Young,
Amazing work and price guide too!
In terms of accessories and other providers to work with, I’d reccomend getting in touch with CyanView for remote colour grading options. This is a must in a live broadcast environement.
What are project frame rates are you planning on offering for playback? 50p as a minimum would be ideal! 24/25/30/60p would also be great to ensure you allow for broadcasters worldwide.
Cheer
Brian
Build quality is definitely better, but I think the main thing that distinguishes them from their competitors is innovation. They examine a problem from all angles and come up with brilliant solutions that might not be obvious to a casual observer. Ryan Schorman of Mid49 (and original founder of Wooden Camera way back when) is one of the most innovative designers I know. His cage systems and handles are always elegant, functional and well thought out. Same with Bright Tangerine. Mike and Avery from Mutiny are wizards with power systems, remote run/stop solutions and cabling. Ratworks (in the UK) has some of the best CNC machining I’ve ever seen. All of these companies are great at communicating with their users and integrating client ideas into their products.
Thank you for the recommendation! It seems slow motion has many live broadcast use cases. I have a question: in this kind of live broadcast scenario, does the slow‑motion camera keep recording continuously at high frame rate until something happens that’s worth a slow‑motion replay, and then the device switches to playback mode for the slow‑mo review?
Thank you very much for your suggestions! They’re very valuable to us. I’ll take a look into their products!
Yes please. The Freefly Ember IR filter is a nicely priced / self-swappable option. Would be great to see something similar.
Also, will you eventually be offering users the option to purchase different lens mounts? I know initially it appears the choice is between PL and E mount. Would you consider offering different lens mounts we can ourselves switch?
Thank you and cannot wait to get my hands on one.
Hi Young,
Typically the workflow would be to have the so called pre-record function whereby the first record trigger starts the “pre-record” (armed) which is a looping record buffer of say 5s. Then on the next record trigger the 5s loop is saved as the start of the clip plus everything beyond that point until stop record trigger.
The option to do this workflow from the camera or remotely would be nice. Cyanview have developed hardware to manage this with other manufacturers.
In Spark’s design, to ensure image quality and the stability of the sensor module, the internal filter is not meant to be easily user‑swappable. If you need infrared capability, we recommend having us perform the filter replacement and then re‑shim the flange distance to preserve optimal image quality.
The lens mount, however, is intentionally very easy to swap—that was a core goal from the start. You can simply remove the screws and install a new mount. Additional mounts (such as Canon EF) will be rolled out later, likely as accessories next year.
Yes, Spark will have a pre-record function. Our current planned workflow is: you enable Pre-Record Mode in the menu → the camera continuously maintains a rolling 3‑second buffer → when you press the record button, it saves those buffered 3 seconds plus everything from that moment onward.
Compared with your described two-trigger workflow, ours removes the need for the first “arm” press because the camera is always keeping those 3 seconds ready in the background.
How does this workflow feel to you? Any concerns or suggestions?
This is a great solution, one less button to push to arm it! What playback frames rates are you planning on offering?
We are designing around a maximum playback standard of 60 fps. The actual frame rate you see will be driven by the monitor/output settings.
