Back-Bone Ribcage HERO4 Mod Kit (Black)

I know of no other mod (aside from RageCams - which limits you in certain regard to certain formats of lenses) which allows you to attach pretty much any lens ever made into a GoPro like BackBone Ribcage mod can.Alas, this is not always a "good thing" especially since the crop factor is, gosh, off the scale. a 14mm wide angle lens made for EOS/Canon, now is 35mm or more, but I digress. If this is what you want to do, it does it for you. You can't take marks off this mod for certain lenses being "not proper" to use on it.The one problem I did notice is that, and heed my advice, gird your loins, etc, DO NOT put a heavy lens on this and expect the 4 little screws holding on the ring to which your screwing an EOS --> C-Mount adapter plus a 3lbs lens to attach securely. I literally had the ring fall slide off the screws/faceplate with my $1000 lens attached (into my hands - THANK CHRIST), and had to take apart the mod and reattach the ring to the screws. That should not have happened, but I see how it did happen, the weight of the lens was just too much. But to BackBone's credit, this mod is the Rocky Balboa of mods for GoPro, it takes a lickin' but keeps on tickin' , etc, etc, and I was able to just re-mod it essentially and do it all over again. The caveat being, and luckily I have one of these laying around, use a tripod collar or simply a 15mm lens support piece if you're going to use ANYTHING that weighs more than a few ounces. That's the flip side too, you can (and should) attach the GoPro to some sort of support system, perhaps even a 15mm rail rig to use the aforementioned support pieces and the heavier lenses. But that's not completely necessary, but you can, like me, go all Guerrilla filmmaker on the world with even the cheapest shoulder mount steady cam rigs, with the gopro attached and LCD-Field monitors, shotgun mics, you name it... it all works and looks pretty darn cool...Regardless, I have the best results when using a very small C-Mount 4.4mm lens (which removes the dastardly fisheye from the image) which I purchased from BackBone CA, and roll with that.I in fact do have another GoPro modded BY RageCams and see no real difference in the quality, I'm specifically looking for jelly/jiggle of the lens not being 110% secure to the face of the unit(s), and except with the largest lenses I tried with the RibCage mod, I give it all high marks.So listen, bottom line, if you want to go all crazy and try your grandfather's F-Mount lenses on this (which I've done), then get the ribcage mod and some adapters, F-Mount --> C-Mount, EOS --> C-mount, they have an adapter for almost every type of lens going back many years.Oh, by the way, the mod is VERY simple to do, you will sweat bullets a bit holding your $300-$400 GoPro's miniature life in the palm of your hands, but with the instructional video playing above the assembly area, I did this with one try, in about 45 minutes.If you want to let a pro do it, talk to RageCams, your GoPro is gone for about a week and comes back to you all modded out like a Cadillac Escalade with 24" Spinning Rims, you'll be like, "NICE" and pat yourself on the back, trust me; I think BackBone does it for you too, but the price tag is ridiculous, and surprisingly their turnaround time is very long for being over the border in Canada. I waited about 2-3 weeks for them just to ship a lens to me, no modding, nothing... oh well...

I love the result, but the installation was problematic due to design flaws. First, the extension ribbon does not sit flat on the PCB because the metal backing plate on the ribbon is 1mm wider than the original. This means the connector does not fully snap into place, but rather sits kind of on an angle. This is a really bad design flaw that could be fixed so easily. I had to purchase this kit twice because the first time I got it, it did not come with any of the hardware. Quality control is kind of bad, though the final result is awesome. I am giving 3 stars, but the product could be 5 star with a few design changes and proper quality control.

Nice product. I did the install myself. Pretty simple. One exception. The cable provided in the kit to connect the image sensor was difficult to get right. The install video goes over it correctly, but a little more time should have been taken to express how important bending the cable correctly is to the final assembly. Mine would disconnect, when I closed for final assembly. Very frustrating. The problem was, I didn't bend the cable flat enough. I have to go back several times to get this right. It was a real hassle that could have been avoided with a little more caution expressed for this set in install video.

Its amazing that a smaller company thought to do what much larger companies could have easily done,and that they did it so well to boot. I put an Super 8 Angenieux T/1.4 6-80mm Cine Zoom Lens on my rig (witha custom lens collar of course) and I get shallow depth of field, razor sharp parfocal zooming, low lightperformance comparable to full frame image sensors, and everything from wide shots to sudo-macro shots.It is hard to believe that a simple mod could give me this lens option and performance... but it can, and itdoes. This isn't for everyone. The mod is tricky, and you need steady hands for it. But if you are confidentenough and don't mind tinkering with different rig ideas, then there isn't any reason notto go ahead and buy this mod kit. Make sure you check out the updated installation videobefore installing it, and check out their blog to see what you can do [...]Be creative, there is a lot you can do with this.

Not to bad to install and takes some time. This will allow you to use pretty much any lens on your gopro with the proper adapters.Unfortunately the gopro shouldn't be used this way since the casts a red vignette around the image.

The Back-Bone Hero 3+ mod kit is the way to go for getting that cinema look when shooting amateur video. It's great for those who produce their own YouTube videos being that you can change to different lens. I have my GoPro connected to an Atomos Ninja 2 to even take full advantage of the camera sensor and lens! But not to get off the subject of the Backbone Ribcage I must warn any one who do not have the technical ability or tools to do the mod yourself because you will feel as if you're doing brain surgery and that's real talk. However I am extremely happy with the look and feel of my "New" GoPro Back-Bone Ribcage camera.

The package was missing the screws and Allen keys that were supposed to be included. Now I have a disassembled go pro sitting on my desk and I can't put it back together. Really disappointed.

If you love your GoPro as it came from the factory, you'll REALLY love it with this mod. It took a couple hours to install, and wasn't too complicated. The instructions downloaded from Back-Bone.ca were very clear and well written, and the video was easy to follow.It is just as solid and functional as it appears to be, and adds a whole new world of options to a stock GoPro.I just wish the 3/3+ version was available in red.Hopefully someone will come up with a case that can accommodate the mod plus an LCD bacpac soon.