Putting a real camera lens on a cameraphone with 1-inch sensor is a fascinating mod

Remember that Xiaomi concept camera phone that had an exposed 1” sensor and a mount for removable lenses? It was based on the Xiaomi 12S Ultra that was modded to accept Leica M mount lenses. It was cool, but it was just a concept and it was never made available to regular consumers.

If you have the DIY skills, you can make your own as this video from channel Mod and Shoot demonstrates. It starts with the Sharp Aquos R6, a Japan-only Android from 2021 which has a 1” 20MP sensor.

The phone's 19mm Leica Summicron lens had to go, of course, and it was replaced with a C mount. This mount was originally used on 16mm cameras, these days they are more common in security cameras. With the right adapter, this setup can use lenses from a wide variety of other cameras as you will see in the video. There’s one big downside to this – well, two if you count the added bulk – which is that autofocus doesn’t work, so you have to focus manually.

The creator of this mod has plans for making a similar modification to a Sharp Aquos R7 from 2022 which features a higher resolution 47MP 1” sensor (with an 11MP binned mode) and new video modes like shooting in 8K.

Mod and Shoot’s Instagram account has a couple of videos and a photo taken with the modded R6, so go and have a look.

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