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MK1

MK-1 Cinema Camera

Bolex D16 Clone · Rev 0.4 · IMX585 Super 16
Open Hardware · 2026

A Bolex,
reborn in Super 16.

An open-source RAW cinema camera, machined in aluminum and built around the Sony IMX585 — the modern equivalent of a Super 16 frame.

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Specs →
01 — Specifications

Modern silicon in a 16mm form factor.

A 1/1.2" rolling-shutter sensor that punches above its size. 14 stops of dynamic range, 12-bit RAW, and a sensor diagonal that maps perfectly to legacy Super 16mm cinema glass.

Sensor
Sony IMX585
1/1.2" Starvis 2 · 8.3 MP · Stacked CMOS
Format
Super 16mm
9.6 × 5.4 mm active area
Resolution
3856 × 2180
Native 4K · 12-bit RAW
Dynamic Range
14 stops
Dual-conversion HCG
Lens Mount
C-Mount
Bolex · Kern · Switar
Body
CNC Aluminum
100 × 66 × 91 mm
Display
2.8" IPS Touch
Peaking · Zebras · ML overlay
Storage
NVMe M.2
Hot-swap · CFexpress class write
Power
USB-C PD
20 V · 60 W · NP-F adapter
I / O
USB-C · HDMI · 3.5mm
Genlock · Tally · 1/4-20 mounts

Sensor settings — IMX585

Live tunables exposed by the CinePI / picamera2 stack. Every value is scriptable over GPIO or the touchscreen UI.

Pixel size
2.0 µm
3856 × 2180 active
Sensor diagonal
11.04 mm
Maps to Super 16
Bit depth
12-bit RAW
Linear · Cinema DNG out
Native ISO
800 / 3200
Dual-gain HCG / LCG
Frame rates
24 / 25 / 30 / 48 / 60
Up to 90 fps at 4K
Shutter
Rolling, electronic
Read-out 1/60 s · 180° default
Analog gain
1.0 – 22.6 ×
Step 0.1 · gain-table from libcamera
White balance
2500 – 10000 K
Auto / preset / manual gains
Interface
MIPI CSI-2 · 4-lane
~3.2 Gbps to Pi 5 ISP
Host SBC
Raspberry Pi 5
8 GB · NVMe HAT · cinepi-sdk
02 — Open Stack

Pi-powered cinema, end to end.

The MK-1 sits on top of a small ecosystem of open-source projects: a Raspberry Pi 5 brain, the Sony IMX585 sensor on a community-designed carrier board, and the CinePI software stack writing 12-bit Cinema DNG to NVMe.

Featured

schoolpost / CinePI

The original open-source cinema camera built on Raspberry Pi — the project that proved a pocketable Pi could record cinema-grade RAW. The MK-1's firmware is a fork of this lineage.

★ 1.4k ● Linux + Pi CM4 Cinema DNG · 12-bit RAW
View on GitHub →
CinePI
↗
cinepi / cinepi-sdk

Official CinePI SDK — record DNG, control sensor, build your own firmware.

The whole software stack: capture pipeline, Cinema DNG writer, libcamera bridge, control daemon.

★ 133Linux · C++
 ↗
will127534 / StarlightEye

The IMX585 sensor board for Raspberry Pi.

The hardware the MK-1 is built around — a Pi-compatible carrier for Sony's 1/1.2" IMX585 with C-mount adapter ring.

★ 280PCB · KiCad
 ↗
Apertar-Studio / Apertar-D1

Open-source cinema camera — Raspberry Pi 5 + Sony IMX585.

A spiritual cousin of the MK-1: same SBC, same sensor, different chassis. Worth studying for layout decisions.

★ 4Pi 5 · IMX585
 ↗
collimatedbeard / IMX585

IMX585 utilities + sensor settings for Raspberry Pi.

Tuning files, dtoverlays, gain/exposure helpers — the practical glue for getting clean image off the IMX585.

★ 7Python
 ↗
raspberrypi / picamera2

The official modern Pi camera library — built on libcamera.

The Python API for sensor control: exposure, gain, white balance, format, frame rate, ROI, all scriptable.

★ 1kPython
 ↗
raspberrypi / libcamera

Raspberry Pi's libcamera fork — the lowest-level sensor stack.

What CinePI sits on top of. Tuning files for every supported sensor including IMX585 live here.

★ 250C++
 ↗
brollbanter / cinema-camera-controller

Wireless touchscreen controller for a Pi-based cinema camera.

Vue + Pi 3, browser-based remote follow-focus / iris / record control over Wi-Fi. Drop-in companion for any CinePI rig.

★ 5Vue · JS
 ↗
DiSCooooo / OpenCam

AI-powered modular cinema camera firmware.

Experimental on-device focus assist + scene detection running alongside the capture pipeline.

★ 0Python
03 — Build

Open hardware, open code.

A camera designed in the open — schematics, firmware, and sensor tuning files are all public. Built solo on top of CinePI, libcamera, and the StarlightEye sensor board.

Why a Bolex clone, in 2026?

The original Digital Bolex D16 was a love letter to small-format cinema — Super 16, RAW, and a body small enough to live in a coat pocket. It went out of production a decade ago. The MK-1 picks up the same idea with a sensor that didn't exist then: the IMX585, with native 4K and 14 stops.

The whole stack is open. CNC files, Swift codebase for the companion app, firmware, the docs you're reading. If you want to fork it, fork it.

0.4
Revision
100%
Open Source
14
Stops DR
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