Which sensor is hiding inside the NorthridgeFix Camera v2.3?
Welcome to this teardown video, here i will show you what comes with the bundle and what is inside the NorthridgeFix v2.3 Camera, especially which sensor is used.
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▶ NorthridgeFix: northridgefix.com/?ref=mortendk
NorthridgeFix v2.3 Camera bundle:
northridgefix.com/product/mic...
Lapsun Camera bundle:
www.aliexpress.com/item/10050...
Main parts inside camera:
1 x IMX385 sensor: SONY CMOS image sensor price ?
1 x HI3516ARBCV300: SOC - Camera interface - HISILICON - 5.00 USD
1 x MX25L25645GM2I-10G: 256 Mbit = 32MB Serial NOR Flash - Macronix - 2.00 USD
2 x H5AN4G6NBJR-UHC : 4G bit DDR4 (256x16) = 512 MB SDRAM - SK-HYNIX - 4.00 USD (each)
1 x FE1.1S: USB 2.0 HUB USB 2.0 HS 4-PORT HUB CONTROLLER - JFD_IC - 0.90 USD
#northridgefix
#teardown
#imx385
#imx290
Very well put together. Thanks for the info!
Thank you for the support
Your video has helped me greatly. I needed a camera similar to northridgefix for myself. I have some decent soldering and electronic repair skills but i only fix my own stuff and i don't make money on my hobby so i can't pay those elevated prices that Northridgefix charges. I got myself one of the equivalent cameras for less than 200 and am blown away. I know Northridge is over charging big time for his cameras. Thanks to your videos and expertise i found something very close for a fraction of the price. Your breakdown and take apart videos are very appreciated. Thank you.
@optimumpcyt , Thank you so much for your comments, i really appreciate them alot. This give me inspiration to make much more content in the future
What camera did you end up purchasing?
@@jeffalessi I replied to you with my camera details but nazitube delete my post man. Im sorry but this platform is out of hand.
Yeah, which one and can you share experience using this type of microscope vs traditional.
You deserve more subs, great content! Just subbed👍
Thank you very much, it means a lot to me - thank you for subbing
Thank you for sharing the information. great video
Thank you very much, your comment is very much appreciated and gives energy to make new videos :-)
Good information, thank you. I don't like unboxing much, so I skipped the first part, but the information in the second half is excellent.
Thank you for the comment and support, i will take this into consideration for the next videos, i have a lot of ideas :-)
It's wonderful how we have the ability to scrub the video to the points we are interested in without asking the video creator.
A most interesting video. Thanks for sharing.
You are very welcome, thank you very much for comment :-)
I guessed a long time ago that the sensor in his microscope is imx385 so that is what we use. good work!
Thank you for comment, i like it :-)
Really appreciate your presentation, Technology is evolving 🌟🤖
Thank you for your support, i really appreciate it
Thank you for sharing the information. It would have been so much more interesting had you actually compared the 2 cameras (Northidge & Lapsun) on actual SMD samples using the same monitor.
Thank you woody, really good idea, i hope to get some free funds so i can get hold of the Lapsun camera and do a comparrison.
@@made.by.morten.laboratories Don't worry, woody will buy you one I'm sure ;)
No surprise there, but like anything else, the fact that ge tests and request to the manufacturer certain specs, does add up. Thank you for your video, learned a couple of new and interesting things.
You are welcome, i appreciate your feedback - gives energy to do more content :-)
@@made.by.morten.laboratories please do, as any respectable content creator, there is always something to teach others, knowledge is hard to find and share, and I love people like you that share their knowledge with the rest of the world. I wish I could do that. Unfortunately I'm at a stage where I'm still learning and practicing, and maybe I'll get to share my perspective sometimes in the future. Thank you again for what you are doing.
Thank you for yout kind words, it really gives energy to make more content. Hang in there and keep on learning -)
Nice content keep it up 🙏
Thank you for the support
A concern I have is, regardless of actual sensor, couldn't you simply edit file to spit out any sensor brand you desired? It might state certain number but without actually looking at sensor, how would one know?
Maybe its possible to check it on the sensor itself but it not possible to to take off the base since it must be in dustfree room. I will have a look in the datasheet and check if its possible to read it out via the I2C bus
Does anyone know what brand is the "Premium Desolder Braid Wick " Northridgefix is selling ? Works awesome and I have not been able to find it elsewhere
No idea yet
thank You much! same with the grinding pen you can find same one for half the price
You are welcome :-)
Keep it up 👍
Thank you for the support!
The imx385 is a CMOS sensor, not CCD. The price of these small average specced sensors in china is in range of $10 to $20. The sensor is nothing fancy.. I do design cameras (much more advanced than this) and I can tell you that all these microscope or astro heads (which some uses ripped off DSLR sensors) are rather overpriced - if that was a point of the video. The whole system is at the tech level of a $100 compact camera.
Thank you for the notes and comments. I was thinking of making my own camera since the specifications from the china sources are all over the place and therefore not trustworthy. Which modern sensor would you reccommend for a high quality microscope? I made the video since there are no sensor specification on the NorthridgeFix camera.
@@made.by.morten.laboratories i would base it probably on a imx477 ish 4k capable model (377/477/577) and use something better than a RPi which can not handle the video rate of the sensor at full res. Something like a jetson nano maybe. Even if NVidia is PITA, its more handleable than to hack up a hisilicon board from leaked kernel sources..
@@cameramaker I see that there is already an IMX477R sensor from RPi, it could be an easy job for a FPGA - i would like to convert from IMX477R to HDMI
@@made.by.morten.laboratories I was looking into something like this too !
i also think that these are very very overpriced , you better off with a macro lense and a consumer mirrorless camera than one of these , i am not talking about north ridge fix , i am just saying this about all microscope camera's in general.
great vid thanks
You are welcome, thank you for the support
What connector pins were you connecting to on the device with, to get in those tiny holes? Surely not the hook type grabbers? Couldn't see close enough on the video. I have a camera that has similar tiny holes, and I have hook style grabber pins or the nipper style grabbers, but can't see how either of those would work, so curious what how those are actually connected to the UART on the device.
@jahwni, Thank you, I did solder a 3 pin pinheader to the PCB. On the 3 pin connector J3 you can see where pin 1 is, its marked on the backside with a small dot, pin 1 is RX, pin 2 is TX and pin 3 is GND, this is all seen from the camera side, i hope this will help you, Cheers :-) Pin 1 is also the pin closest to the HDMI connector.
@@made.by.morten.laboratories Ahhh right, you soldered a pinheader on there, that makes more sense! Thanks mate 👍
@@jahwni - you are very welcome 🙂
Could you provide the regulator U12 chip name just below the 12V and inductor please? I seem to have blown up voltage input and need to replace this part but cannot read my damaged one.
On my board its U5, this is a DC-DC converter with the marking IAGPN which turns out to be a MP1495SGJ-Z - do you have a picture ?
OK, i see now U12 on the topside with marking ADJN in SOT23-6 package
I did some research and found that the part is MP1470GJ from MPS, please verify - the part is available from Digikey :-)
@made.by.morten.laboratories Fantastic. DC-DC converter makes much more sense. Thanks so much. 🙂
Thank you for the teardown. I actually went digging on Ali some time ago for the "source" of the camera and came to the same conclusion, that the Lapsun seems to be identical. Are you planning to buy the Lapsun for comparison, or should I order it so we can do some comparison? I'm in Denmark as well :)
I am good with the current camera, i will be very interested in knowing what you think of the Lapsun camera if you buy it
I don't see any reason not to buy it, other than getting a Simul focal stereo microscope instead.@@made.by.morten.laboratories
NRF and Lapsun own camera are the same cameras, the only difference is logo!
@@robertb8636 thank you
hi there... how is this NF microscope based on IMX385 compared to the Lapsun 4K microscope imx 334 that you reviewed 1 year ago?
a, sorry, now i saw that the 4k microscope was done by someone else: kzhead.info/sun/ZaWgZ6lvgn-Iaas/bejne.html
Hi, sorry, i havent had the chance to look at that one yet 🙂
Great video, my friend! I ve buy that IMX385 and I have some doubt about sensor too. But Inside looks like mine totaly. would You give me location of GNG and TX on J3 Header, please ! Cheers from Bulgaria !!!!
@batdido5803 Thank you, On the 3 pin connector J3 you can see where pin 1 is, its marked on the backside with a small dot, pin 1 is RX, pin 2 is TX and pin 3 is GND, this is all seen from the camera side, i hope this will help you, Cheers :-) Pin 1 is also the pin closest to the HDMI connector.
@@made.by.morten.laboratories Thank You, my Friend. You help me a lot. So, I have to use 2nd and 3th pins. 1st pin is not used?And just to ask is there any way to turn on and off by software,or any different way to do that without pull connector out every time.
@@batdido5803 i don't understand what you want to do ? Please explain and i will try and help :-)
@@batdido5803 ok got it - i think there is now way to turn it off by sw. pin 1 is the RX pin of the linux cpu, so if you want to send commands to the camera, then you need to connect this one too.
@@made.by.morten.laboratories I'd like to power on and off camera without every time pluged in and puled out connector in and from camera's 12V jack. My question is Is ther any way different of that what I do to power on and off device? I got cheaper camera with remote control , but here i got nothing.
Lapsun who’s the supplier for NRF I assume learned their lesson scamming everyone on the fake IMX290 microscope cameras. That is why the PCB doesn’t have the 385 marking to show what sensor it is. They will do what they did in the older cameras eventually and change the sensor without telling anyone. That’s why NorthRidgeFix’s old model claimed to be IMX290 yet when you opened it up there was the far less cheaper less superior IMX307 sensor. NRF never actually sold the IMX290 sensor and when I tried to tell them about this they just ignored me.
If you go check NRF forums you will or should still see people posting the screen shots of the IMX307 PCB boards but nothing was ever done. I hope this doesn’t happen with his V2 cameras but it would be good to check down the road with new customers who have the skills to check the sensor like how you did in this video.
Thank you for your inputs. I was also very confused about the sensors. Its also a bit strange that NF does not write which sensor is inside. When it comes to these cameras you also specifictions flying around, its very hard to be confident in what you actually buy
@@made.by.morten.laboratories Definitely ! originally NRF had IMX290 in the description but then one day it was gone after a few videos starting to show up for china companies scamming the sensors for multiple cameras. I can only assume he started seeing the forum post's about his and decided not to specify which sensor to keep him out of trouble. I honestly think he didn't know or even knew how to check after he already purchased 50 - 100 sets. He should have at least address it and said hey this camera is similar to mine but the sensor is not specified. There's no chance he doesn't know that his V1 cameras were not the IMX290 like the one he was using in his videos. You can go back and watch a few comparisons and its night and day. I like the IMX385 but I really like the video quality of the real IMX290. The sensor technology in that one is amazing and there's no other sensor like it. They do have a IMX291 and its really really close to the IMX290 but doesn't have the same tech when it comes to the low light capabilities. Depending on your use you may not even be able to tell with the right setup. That camera only cost around 170 - 210.
Thank you for your insights, it would be nice if we could have a tool that could read out the sensor type via the USB interface.
@@made.by.morten.laboratories I know ! If you find something that can do that please let me know. I have multiple camera's here I would like to read out and verify.
Thanks for very useful video but need to ask are IMX290 Better than IMX385?
Thank you, I dont know the IMX355
@@made.by.morten.laboratories i’m talking about IMX385 Not IMX355
How did you connect to the camera to see the boot info? via wires connect to the board directly or using the usb A jack on the camera?
Via a USB to serial converter, 3.3V level
@@made.by.morten.laboratories I'm trying to do something similar on an IMX334 camera. Did you have the FTDI pins on the board or did you have to solder something?
I soldered a pinheader on the imx board
@@made.by.morten.laboratories do you have a picture of that?
@@andidotro No, sorry, please send me link to picture of your board and i will explain where to connect.
Hi, my hdmi port is bad and I need to replace it but don't know how to tell which to buy. Please does anyone know which port it is? The ps5 hdmi ports legs are too close together and doesn't fit in the holes. Thank you
I dont know the exact type, try and use google and search for images and find the one that looks to be close ....
Who has experience with hayear hy 5299 or hy 6210 camera? Are they good?
Sorry i dont have any experience with those
Very interesting and thank you for sharing. I wonder how do you go about adding a foot pedal with the imx290. I had connected same as you to read the information ages ago. This is as far as I got to. A guy have done the foot pedal but they do not show the full step. I would like to do on mine as it is annoying every time, have to grab the mouse to change auto focus to manual. The guy who did followed the work of charliex with ekins imx290 can be found on google.
What does he use the footpedal for? Its possibe to write you own Linux code if you want to add functionallity.
@@made.by.morten.laboratories Thank you to change auto focus to manual and vice versa other wise you have to use the mouse. I have the imx 290 with auto focus.
OK, i don't know how they do it, this version of the camera does not have autofocus so i can't test it - sorry
@@made.by.morten.laboratories I noted all the links I posted related to the foot pedal have been removed. Never mind.
Still visible for me, strange?
That is a Hiroshima of a price tag.
Thank you for comment :-)
@@made.by.morten.laboratories BTW, I think it would be funny if one of these days instead of Hiroshima, he said 9/11 to describe a board.
@@RicardoCooper Yeah, has has some catchy comments 🙂
LOL
Tak !
You are welcome
İmx385 is around 75bucks FYI im sure manufacturer has lower prices
Thank you, there seems to be a nice profit on this camera
@@made.by.morten.laboratories : he's worked out just stamp 'NF' on everything & the mugs will buy at his inflated prices ....................
3.75 micrometer pixels are good of course, but that thing is only capable of 1080p at 30fps. My 100 bucks hayear can do 60 fps at that resolution and 4K at 30fps. I think IMX334 is more advanced than IMX385?? Sony has funky numbering system. I reviewed HY-6110, tear down and review. Looking at this, I think that camera is more advanced, lul. Whatever's the case, I don't think using digital microscope is neither viable nor compofortable.
Thank you very much for your insights, i will have a look on the HY-6110
Did you notice Lapsun also has a IMX385 with autofocus for $525.00, isn't the Northridge Fix v2.3 autofocus also? Please confirm what you actually have.
Thank you and have a most awesome day!
@@jeffalessi You too :-)
Hi Jeff, there is no autofocus in the Northridge Camera v2.3 that i have
this version he is selling does not even have the autofocus feature...
Most of the time this feature is not needed as you want to fofus on different things on a board
Hmm. Seems like a nice camera but not sure it’s worth that much money.
Yes, you are right - i will release some more videos in the future using the camera
Not worth it for the price I can assure you that. It's decent compared to most of the market but there are those few out in the wild for 1/2 cost that are better. If you can find a old IMX290 MS Camera hold on to it for deal life. Really you only need 2MP for inspections and the IMX290 was and is the best you can get IMO. The only problem is they stopped making them for some reason 4-5 years ago. I haven't found a legit supplier for any IMX290. Rising Cam has a RT5109 - 4K real 60FPS which is actually one of the few good cameras for the price. Almost all of these camera being sold now are using frame interpolation to get the " 60 FPS ".
@@made.by.morten.laboratories Please sir make best camera using good parts . And please share with others . If you can not only camera do same for other tools . New subscriber from Sri Lanka . Thanks for great video
@@nalindisanayaka6220 I will work on it, thank you for being a new subscriber, i appreciate it a lot :-)
@@made.by.morten.laboratories thank you sir
i would not blame north ridge fix for the price. they are also buying it from china and they are importing it paying the shipping paying the duty and then they are keeping it in a warehouse then they are selling it and they are shipping it + paying taxes and all of that adds up. even after all of that if they don't turn a 30-50% profit on each product then there is no point in doing that business. aliexpres is shipping to you directly from china so they would obviously be cheaper .
Thank you for your comment, i really appreciate your input :-)
+ warranty. So yes , you pretty much summed it up and this applies to almost everything imported. With 10-20% margin , selling this stuff would not be economical very quick.
I mean if i sell something i have the choice to set the price to make profit as i see it nothing wrong with it :) this is what bussiness is.
Yes you are 100% right, and then its up to people if they will pay the price when they know exacly what they are buying.
@@made.by.morten.laboratories on point !
This must be a joke camera for $695.00 for 2MP imx385, normal camera is IMX226 12MP sensor one, lens will cost ~600USD more, if you want chinese camera then lens ~70USD camera ~200USD
Yes you can indeed find a cheaper camera than this one
@@made.by.morten.laboratories But why the author uses these tricks to cheat and sell cheap stuff for expensive prices? What about reputation?
If it's too expensive, don't buy it. End of story.
Thank you for the support
yes, I don´t not understand this discussion, if you like the picture quality, need a camera and have 700$, then buy the camera
@@SHINdanny lol, you just made it to a discussion with your comment. He never discussed it, he stated his opinion. But I see, you seem to be the troll 🤣
@@MichaelArlt yes I did ;) ...if someone shares his opinion then I do the same. No trolling intended.
Really don't see the harm in what Alex is doing... The folks that don't have enough money to buy his products will spend time to find out hos Chinese sources to get them at a discount.... The fella takes on all responsibility and offers service and advice that the Chinese doesn't... He also lives in California a communist shit whole and his taxed to hell and his bills will be high due to all orther businesses having to account for such crazy tax laws... The fella has to be one of the best repair specialists on KZhead offering his knowledge to everyone... The amount of repair shops that have gotten better at soldering due to his videos will be crazy. Accounting for expenses his profits per sale isn't anywhere near as good as half the folks think i know because ive sold many hundreds of thousands of pounds worth on ebay shops and websites for different kinds of products... I have no doubt that alex has made me 1000x over what ive paid him for equipment. Do i wish it was a bit cheaper sure i think he should move to texus or something so he can lower his prices a little and still keep the same profit margins... But maybe he loves California who knows... Id imagine his making a happy amount after expensives on products his making so much profit because his videos are good and people think i don't need to spend every night for the next 2 weeks looking into microscopes when i can just order from his site. Bla bla bla your a brokie
@Remote-Key-Repair, I agree, that is why i also bourght my stuff from his shop
If I want to watch a repair specialist I would rather watch "northwestrepair"
@@bobsoft There are many specialists out there :-)
ToupTek
Thank you for that company name, they really have a lot of interesting stuff :-)
Dodgy price camera. 😅🤑
Yes you can indeed find a cheaper camera than this one
build quality on this camera is a bad joke! usb, hdmi connector, not on of them is secured, with a screw or something! if you put smthing in, you stressing the pins on the board what a overpriced garbage
Yes, the manufacturer could have done better here also
@@made.by.morten.laboratories i watching now Your "Mailbag" video It is sooo superscary To see Everything! Is made in China! We know it since years, but watching this video It is soo scary Without China tools, products, i am sure, the hole world business will collapse Stuff from China, have damn good quality (not always perfect) But for a insanly cheap price
It’s fair price if its does the job.
Thank you for the support
Nice explanation! Don't know if any PCB services are needed for your upcoming content, if so, would love to sponsor and achieve any coopeation together! (PCBWay Daisy) 😆
Sure, i have some projects ready, lets talk abot this
@@made.by.morten.laboratories THX! Could you offer us your email address for more details discussion? :)
@@DaisyWang-ss7pl Please send me you email and i will contact you :-)
@@made.by.morten.laboratories Actually, I did, but it doesn't seem to show up here. :(
@Daisy Wang, hello - i have 2 projects ready
I agree that the camera is overpriced. Clearly, they marked up it up a lot to fill their pockets.
Yes, i think that you can find their products cheaper, thank you for comment
100% true and I hope they don’t start switching out the sensor again like they did on the original microscope camera. The “IMX290” was really the IMX307 which was 1/3 rd the cost. NRF never brought up the issue even in the forums on his site of people posting the PCB Screen shots shows 307 markings on the sensor board.
I don´t understand your point, should they sell it to you without making any profit?
@@SHINdanny Obviously not but they don't understand their main audience at that price point. Their viewers are DIYers, makers, and people looking to save a penny by doing repairs instead of replacing the item in question. He markets this overpriced product to us as if we're dumb so its pretty fair that we should criticize him for it. Very few people are going to buy it for practical purposes outside of product reviews. Oh, and would you look at that: v1 of the microscope camera isn't available in the store anymore.
@@classyjohn1923 thank you for your reply. I just checked his shop once and since I live in a different continent I´ve never considered ordering anything due to high shipping costs. I use my phone for this type of work, and it works well since it also has a built-in thermal camera ...it´s just a hobby ;) So you´re right in my case, I would not even think about buying a one-purpose camera priced that high, rather a macro-lens for my DSLR and use that. I just didn´t like the expression "to fill their pockets" because of the mark-up. It´s a business. If it is to high and only a few customers buy the camera, he might adjust it ...or maybe not.