A new Super 16 Cinema Cam: the GoPro Mission 1 Pro ILS?

[newfoundmass]

On 10/1/2026 at 5:31 PM, kye said:

I suspect that we're probably better off without it having AF.  I suspect that (in the parallel universe where they did give it AF) the AF they gave it would have been pretty rubbish and also because it got AF it probably wouldn't have gotten any/many good MF features, so neither pathway would have been particularly useful.  

I get that could be an issue, but for my use, being able to use modern lenses would've been advantageous. Putting a GoPro style camera into tight spots with some of the small M43 lenses would've been really, really nice for my work, especially with the slow mo capabilities. I'm not trying to use vintage lenses for sports, or soften the image, ya know, but I'd love to be able to put a tiny camera behind the backboard of a basketball hoop or attach it to the ring post of a professional wrestling ring and get footage that doesn't have that action camera look.

[kye]

25 minutes ago, newfoundmass said:

I get that could be an issue, but for my use, being able to use modern lenses would've been advantageous. Putting a GoPro style camera into tight spots with some of the small M43 lenses would've been really, really nice for my work, especially with the slow mo capabilities. I'm not trying to use vintage lenses for sports, or soften the image, ya know, but I'd love to be able to put a tiny camera behind the backboard of a basketball hoop or attach it to the ring post of a professional wrestling ring and get footage that doesn't have that action camera look.

I guess without it having electronics in the lens mount there's no using an AF lens even in manual mode, because focus and aperture both need power.
I can't think of any way to get power to the lens either, without it coming from the camera.  There used to be that trick of connecting a lens to a camera with lens controls and setting the aperture, then putting it on a camera without them and using the mechanical MF controls, but I guess that's not really possible either.

With the right lenses I think you could get the shots you want, but it would mean buying new fully-manual glass, which obviously isn't ideal.

It takes me back to the "what is a tiny camera with good image quality" question that has been asked over and over again because it doesn't have a good answer.  Hmmmm.

[John Matthews]

I was only able to muster a few shots today. I'm actually not sure what I'm more impressed with: colors and look with log and FilmConvert Nitrate + Hazy; or, my MacBook Air's (M5) ability to cut through the footage and watch in realtime. Initially, I wasn't that impressed with the Natural or Vivid profiles, but the Log looks great to me with FilmConvert. I need to try more.

The ILS did very well with handheld shots at 17mm, given it's only electronic stab. I will have more lenses next week to try out. Unfortunately, I didn't have a ND of any type to test on this lens (who make a 40.5mm thread anyway? That's stupid). Anyway, next week, I'll have more stuff, including the media mod their new microphone kit. I know it sounds like I'm going all-in with GoPro, but I definitely think they're on to something. I'm quite impressed with the ecosystem too. No need to go through the anxiety in choosing between 5 different cameras either. You want wide- get the mission 1 pro or a Loawa lens.

[kye]

34 minutes ago, John Matthews said:

I was only able to muster a few shots today. I'm actually not sure what I'm more impressed with: colors and look with log and FilmConvert Nitrate + Hazy; or, my MacBook Air's (M5) ability to cut through the footage and watch in realtime. Initially, I wasn't that impressed with the Natural or Vivid profiles, but the Log looks great to me with FilmConvert. I need to try more.

The ILS did very well with handheld shots at 17mm, given it's only electronic stab. I will have more lenses next week to try out. Unfortunately, I didn't have a ND of any type to test on this lens (who make a 40.5mm thread anyway? That's stupid). Anyway, next week, I'll have more stuff, including the media mod their new microphone kit. I know it sounds like I'm going all-in with GoPro, but I definitely think they're on to something. I'm quite impressed with the ecosystem too. No need to go through the anxiety in choosing between 5 different cameras either. You want wide- get the mission 1 pro or a Loawa lens.

Nice images.  Once you get files beyond a certain quality then the film emulation can do the rest.

How are you finding the 17mm F1.4?  Sharp enough wide open for you?

In terms of filter threads, you can get filter-thread-adapters in that size.  I bought a tiny vND for mine, which was really cheap because of the small amount of glass required!

[John Matthews]

54 minutes ago, kye said:

How are you finding the 17mm F1.4?  Sharp enough wide open for you?

It seems sharp enough for me, easily resolving a 4k image. Remember, I'm only using the sweet spot of that lens. Others have notice vignetting, and corner softness- not the case when using just a fraction of the image circle. However, I notice back-lit subject will have a strong chromatic aberration (purple) at f/1.4, but it goes away at f/2.8. It flares a little too- a bonus for me. The usability is absolutely great though.

54 minutes ago, kye said:

Nice images.  Once you get files beyond a certain quality then the film emulation can do the rest.

Thanks. Yes, I really don't have too much time to fuss around with the files- make it look good to my eye and then off to the next one. I just do a few exposure adjustments.

54 minutes ago, kye said:

In terms of filter threads, you can get filter-thread-adapters in that size.  I bought a tiny vND for mine, which was really cheap because of the small amount of glass required!

I got a whole new set of ND filters. The reason being that I haven't had much luck by using VND's on small/pixel dense sensors. Bad things happened when I put my VND on my old camcorder. In the end, I'm going for 55mm and using step-up rings to get there. Why 55mm? Most of my Konica glass uses that with only a few exceptions. Anyway, I got the K&F Nano-x ND4, 8, 64, and 1000 set. They should do the job and still manage decent quality from a 50MP sensor.

[kye]

1 hour ago, John Matthews said:

It seems sharp enough for me, easily resolving a 4k image. Remember, I'm only using the sweet spot of that lens. Others have notice vignetting, and corner softness- not the case when using just a fraction of the image circle. However, I notice back-lit subject will have a strong chromatic aberration (purple) at f/1.4, but it goes away at f/2.8. It flares a little too- a bonus for me. The usability is absolutely great though.

Great to hear it's working for you.  I've long suggested that the cheap Chinese lenses are a lot like the high-end vintage lenses from the SLR film camera days - both had simpler optical designs and simpler coatings.  The only challenge is how good the lens is wide open, but if it's enough for your application then you're all good!

1 hour ago, John Matthews said:

Thanks. Yes, I really don't have too much time to fuss around with the files- make it look good to my eye and then off to the next one. I just do a few exposure adjustments.

Same for me.

I have saved power grades for each camera that convert from camera colour space to Davincis log space, and a few Timeline power grades that apply a few variations of film emulations.  I just pull all the footage into a timeline, apply the power grades, and then adjust exposure on any clips that need it (I use ETTR so this is normal for me) and mostly I'm good.  The wider DR of the GH7 and iPhone 17 Pro means that the images are less crunched and therefore respond nicely to a film emulation contrast curve and so need a lot less fussing than the GH5 ones did.

1 hour ago, John Matthews said:

I got a whole new set of ND filters. The reason being that I haven't had much luck by using VND's on small/pixel dense sensors. Bad things happened when I put my VND on my old camcorder. In the end, I'm going for 55mm and using step-up rings to get there. Why 55mm? Most of my Konica glass uses that with only a few exceptions. Anyway, I got the K&F Nano-x ND4, 8, 64, and 1000 set. They should do the job and still manage decent quality from a 50MP sensor.

I standardised on 58mm filters as that's the largest size that fits most of my lenses.  Actually about two thirds of my lenses have that size natively and for the ones I use a lot that don't have that I bought dedicated step-up rings and just have them permanently attached.  
I have a K&F Concept True Color Variable ND2-32 (1-5 Stops) as my main vND and recently bought a NiSi IR ND8 (3-Stop) fixed ND to stack on it if the 5 stops of the K&F aren't enough (5 stops is enough for full-sun at F5.6 but wider apertures than that will require more).  I wanted to just buy a nice 5-9 stop one but I have a Tiffen? 4-stop filter and when I paired that with the 1-5 stop I got all kinds of IR pollution on the iPhone, so I knew that anything more than 5 stops needed IR filtration too, and I couldn't find anything that had it.
I had to buy an 82mm one for the front of my Sirui anamorphic adapter, but got a cheaper Neewer 1-5 stop which seems to work ok, although that one I only shot at night and colour fidelity is less important for that stuff.
I also bought a few lower-quality 1-9 stop vNDs in specific sizes for when I wanted to keep the lenses as small as possible, so I got a 46mm one for the 14mm F2.5 pancake lens which lives on my GX85, and a 40.5mm one for the 17mm F1.4, which I had thought might be a good low-light lens for the tiny GX85 Super-16 setup but I haven't shot anything with that combo yet.

Funny how people end up with similar solutions!

[maxJ4380]

10 hours ago, John Matthews said:

 

Yes. You can set it to one color or it dynamically decides a color (never seen that before). You'll need to have it on sensitive for it to mean much. I think there might be a steep learning curve if you're not used to manual focus though. I often prefer it. It slows me down and gives me something to do other than being intentional on framing.

Good to know, i have gotten used to the peaking on the e-m1 iii. Occasionally  i can still mess it up however but most times it works ok and i have to add its not the camera, its me with my Goldilocks syndrome, it has to be just right...

I presume that if i use a fast aperture then the corresponding zone of focus is narrower too for the peaking and with a wider aperture then the peaking occurs across a wider zone of focus thats my thinking, although i cant say i have ever seen anything on youtube to confirm or deny that.

[maxJ4380]

10 hours ago, kye said:

I guess without it having electronics in the lens mount there's no using an AF lens even in manual mode, because focus and aperture both need power.

Lets just remember its basically an action camera that had fixed focus for the longest time. Gopro are to be lauded for giving us a mount that allows different lenses, maybe not every lens in the world, but an improvement on what came before. I look at like, baby steps, its a start.  Getting af and every other modern lens feature would be akin to putting another man on the moon i think.  Probably not doable for $700 us

I suspect electronics and af motors in the lens would probably drain the battery pretty quick. The mission 1 does have better battery life, i guess GoPro didn't want to jeopardise that for a pretty niche product. Well i think of af as a pretty niche product, for the longest time cinema cameras didn't have af, realistically af is a fairly new development. No doubt lots of people will argue about it but i have gotten used to peaking and for me no af is a abit of a non event anyway.

[John Matthews]

4 hours ago, maxJ4380 said:

Good to know, i have gotten used to the peaking on the e-m1 iii. Occasionally  i can still mess it up however but most times it works ok and i have to add its not the camera, its me with my Goldilocks syndrome, it has to be just right...

I presume that if i use a fast aperture then the corresponding zone of focus is narrower too for the peaking and with a wider aperture then the peaking occurs across a wider zone of focus thats my thinking, although i cant say i have ever seen anything on youtube to confirm or deny that.

I'd say it's a similar experience to your Olympus (I've had many of those, too). I will say that the colors look rather strange on the back of the screen when using peaking. I start with the lens's distance scale, then confirm with peaking. If you need critical focus, use the double-tap method.

Of course, it all depends on your resolution. 8K is much harder than 4K. Shallow DOF can be achieved with this camera, but you will undoubtedly miss shots. Still, I prefer the simplicity of being intentional rather than fighting "AI" algorithms. It's far easier for me to live with screwing it up myself than having some engineer "imagine" what I'll be shooting 10000km away and program the computer to do it—and have it fail sometimes.

[John Matthews]

I did a few more tests this morning. I wanted to check the 4K IQ, and I tried everything I could to induce moiré, but to no avail. I scrutinized the Red, Green, and Blue channels as well, and the results were impressive. I'm fairly certain it's due to the image processing because it blows away the already respectable 4K image from my Panasonic GX800.

And all of my tests were done with HyperSmooth on; it only gets better with it off.

I also tried my Konica 300mm f/4.5 on a tripod in 8K. I'm not sure there's much point in using 8K for distant landscapes, but for closer subjects, why not? I still think 4K looks just as good.

One thing this camera is not is a 1080p camera. IMO, they should let us use 10-bit in 1080p, but they don't. Also, when you switch to 1080p, it changes the color profile too. You have to go back and reset it when you resume shooting in 4K or 8K.

I think I'll just stay away from the 1080p modes unless I really need the 480fps and up.