Hi all,
We've finally finished getting the next batch of 2.5K OpenMV Cam M7s ready for sale! Even better, for this production run only we're offering a free OpenMV Cam M7 Case with every OpenMV Cam M7 sold! Finally, new OpenMV Cams will now come pre-focused with no microscopic dirt on the sensor or lens! Woot!
New Products
Moving on, we've got a few new products for sale. At the top of the list is our new OpenMV Cam M7 Case:
The case is made to perfectly fit around your OpenMV Cam M7 and is backwards compatible with the OpenMV Cam M4 V1/2. We had to iterate quite a few times to get the case right for injection molding.
Next up is the Motor Shield:
The shield features a 2-channel 2A per-channel motor driver chip and a beefy 5V regulator to power your OpenMV Cam. It works with any battery that outputs between 6-9VDC. With the motor shield building a robot with your OpenMV Cam is now much easier! Best of all, you can use it with the Servo Shield too.
Finally, we've got a new lens:
The new Super Telephoto Lens above has some serious 8X zoom. It's a 25mm lens that gives you a lot of detail at a distance. Note however, that it does not come with an IR Cut filter for outdoor use.
New Products Coming Soon
Now, for something we're really excited about - polarizing filters!
The polarizing filter is a simple but incredibly useful piece of optical tech that can make the difference between success and failure for computer vision in the presence of the sun. In particular, for DIY Robocar racing its absolutely necessary to be able to follow a line on a shiny floor when the sun is overhead. Best of all, the filter fits right under your M12 lens mount.
Now, no-one sells 14x14mm polarizing lens filters for M12 lens mounts. We tried to source cheap ones from quite a few places. But, we couldn't find any. So, we went to Edmund's Optics for custom samples to test out. Here are the results:
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Without a filter w/ the default 2.8mm lens w/ IR cut filter |
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With a filter w/ the default 2.8mm lens w/ IR cut filter |
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Night and day difference right?
Anyway, we haven't yet purchased a production run of polarizing filters. But, if you're interested in helping us out please place a pre-order for some polarizing lens filters. The filters are not cheap to buy and have to be ordered in bulk (i.e. thousands) to get a decent price per unit. If you do plan to pre-order some filters please don't put anything else in your cart. We don't expect to stock this product for a few months.
Store Upgrades
In addition to the above new products we've also upgraded our online store! All products now have bulk discount pricing! OpenMV will now offer 10% off purchases of 10 or more items, 20% off purchases of 50 or more items, and 30% off purchases of 100 or more items.
Moving on, we've also finished moving our inventory to an integrated shipping solutions provider. We can now offer USPS, FedEx, UPS, and DHL (soon) shipping to all customers. Additionally, once we've finished working out all the bugs we'll be able to offer same day shipping for all orders using our new platform - the store will finally be able to fulfill your order automatically!
And a shout out to MacroFab
Integrating our Shopify store with our new fulfillment backend was not... painless. In the last few weeks we lost several thousand dollars to miscalculated shipping costs, stale already completed orders being automatically shipped again (which is a shipping cost and a loss of merchandise), and surprisingly expensive kitting fees from things not arriving just right from our manufactures. That said, we expected it to be a little bumpy moving to a professional drop shipping company. So... we're fine. But, we'd just like to give a shout out to MacroFab who helped OpenMV get started. Their integrated manufacturing and fulfillment service allowed us to build products, get them kitted, and then shipped to customers all from one place (albeit you'll be clearing orders manually). But, with MacroFab, we never had to deal with any "surprise" shipping/kitting costs. If you're thinking about building an electronic product and selling it we highly recommend you start your business with MacroFab! It's a pleasure working with them.
