Back-Bone Gear Ribcage YI 4K & 4K+ Modification Kit

The Ribcage YI 4K / 4K+ Modification Kit from Back-Bone Gear is a heavy-duty cage for the YI Technology 4K and 4K+ Action Cameras, sold separately, that allows you to significantly expand your shooting options. It supports and comes with interchangeable M12-mount (also called S-mount) and CS-mount lens mounts, and a 5mm C-mount ring that attaches to the CS-mount and allows you to use professional C-mount lenses.

The included M12-mount is reversible to allow the lens to be closer to or farther from the sensor for different conditions. The CS-mount is limited to varifocal lenses only, but does directly support select Entaniya, iZugar, and other fixed focal length lenses that allow for high-resolution, high frame rate 360° spherical VR video capture with fewer cameras. (Custom firmware is available from YI Technology that enables synchronized triggering of multi-camera arrays.)

C-mount compatibility, however, is where this modification kit really takes off. There is a large variety of vintage C-mount lenses, such as those designed for 16mm movie cameras. C-mount lenses are also commonly used in scientific and medical imaging equipment, so the camera can be connected directly to many microscopes and telescopes, and you can additionally insert custom filters in order to capture specific wavelengths.

Among the advantages of using these optional C-mount lenses is the ability to manually control focus, zoom, and iris, achieve more cinematic depth of field, and shoot macro images, depending on the lens. In addition to that, the advantage of interchangeability means you can use one type of lens when using the camera on large gimbals and another when using it on small gimbals and drones.