Milky Way shot with the NANO1. Production update
about 5 years ago – Tue, Mar 19, 2019 at 09:15:33 PM

Milky Way Image Testing

Over the weekend, the TinyMOS Team brought 3 prototypes overseas to tropical Mersing, Malaysia for field testing.

It was pretty cloudy for all 3 nights, but we managed to get quite a few photos from the trip nonetheless!

Here's a comparison with past flagship phone cameras.

The NANO1 is clearly delivering great Milky Way shots in the most compact form factor available.

Development

We're starting the production of a few key components.

As of today, we've approved the camera screen to go into production. The printing position and quality has improved significantly.

We've changed the printing to say TINYMOS instead of NANO1 as well.

We're expected more prototypes of the other parts and accessories in the coming weeks.

Backerkit Locked

TinyMOS Backerkit surveys are now locked. Backers who want to add new accessories, will have to reach us at [email protected] to make changes manually. You can still update your delivery address via the survey until we deliver the cameras.

We'll be posting more photos from the test sessions over the week.

Please follow us on Instagram at www.instagram.com/thetinymos

Cheers,

Grey & TinyMOS Team

Backers Update: New Tripod, Production update
about 5 years ago – Mon, Mar 11, 2019 at 04:43:29 PM

New TinyMOS tripod

One of the most sought after accessory is back in store. We're proud to introduce the new TINYMOS Mini-Tripod!

The new Mini-Tripod features full aluminum construction, which reduces flex significantly, compared to the older plastic version. The enlarged rubber feet also reduce vibrations, reducing image blur, particularly for telephoto applications. The new aluminum ball head is also significantly more sturdy than the previous generation tripod, easily supporting the 75mm F2 lens.

Despite all the improvements, the Mini-Tripod remains highly portable and will be a great fit with the NANO1 camera, to capture time-lapses of the night skies.

The Mini-Tripod is now available for pre-order on your Backerkit link that came with the support email. Otherwise you may go to https://nano1.backerkit.com/ and key in your Kickstarter registered email to retrieve the link.

Be sure to get it before the order lock date 18th March 2019!

 Development update

We're still in the process of finalizing some cosmetic details of the NANO1 camera. We received some samples of the NANO1 screen glass. While the finish is good, we are fine-tuning the size and placement of the NANO1 label.

The camera's production production is pending the finalization of the screen, which we are pushing through as fast as possible. Following the request from a few backers who need the camera for overseas trips, we're requesting more samples to be made for the next iteration.

2nd iteration prototyping is currently in progress for all accessories. 

Production of hardware components is always a process of "measure twice, cut once". We want to ensure as much as possible that we do things right the first time, to prevent a cascading effect down the line. 

Given the current progress, we expect the current delivery timelines to be met.

Backerkit Survey

Please complete your Backerkit Survey and ensure your details are up-to-date before the lock date of 18th March!

Thank you all for your support.

Best regards,

Grey Tan & TinyMOS Team

Production Meetings. New Mini-tripod soon.
about 5 years ago – Fri, Mar 01, 2019 at 04:48:32 PM

This week marked the start of production discussions with the various factories. Before we start, here's a test photo we took with the NANO1 camera.

M42 Great Orion Nebula is one of the brightest nebula. Situated within Orion constellation, it is one of the few eye visible nebula, particularly from light polluted cities such as Singapore. It is also easy to find, situated below the belt of Orion, which is typically the brightest row of 3 stars in the night sky. The Great Orion Nebula forms the Sword of Orion, which appears as 3 dimmer "stars" below the belt.

The image was taken in a single shot at ISO 400, 30s exposure with a 50mm F2 lens, mounted on a Vixen Polarie star tracker.

The 75mm lens prototype went out on a loan. Hopefully we get a more close up look at M42 again some time soon.

Production trip:

We met up with almost all of the suppliers involved in producing NANO1 components and accessories. The main highlight of the trip was the PCB production factory.

The factory spans 4 production and assembly lines and is well equipped and managed to produce the NANO1 electronics. However, the trip happened right after the Lunar New year. Although the company has started work in the R&D and sales department, the production workers have yet to return to their work stations fully.

Regardless, we have confirmed the manufacturing and delivery of the PCB to be roughly at the end of April 2019. The slight push back in the timeline is due to the Lunar New Year disruptions.

The longer time frame also allows us to perform some critical test steps as well.

Currently what the team is working on is as follows:

•  Production design confirmations - placement of logos, matching position of critical components i.e. front plate and chassis (different production process and factories handling their production)
• Certifications and testing for FCC and CE compliance (component level pre-certified)
• Packaging design and manufacturing
• Software R&D - integration of noise reduction module to iOS and Android application
• Pilot production of accessories.

While we were performing the confirmation of orders and timelines, we also managed to get a quotation for a new aluminum mini tripod.

New Mini Tripod

The mini tripod was a highly sought after accessory to accompany the TINY1 in the previous campaign and we're excited to release the new mini-tripod for the NANO1 backers.

The new tripod will be made fully from aluminium and will be sturdier than the previous generation tripod.

We would be posting photo of the mini-tripod, however the finishing house did not get the logo laser engraved in time. Check out our instagram page as we'll post it there first once it is out!

New Order confirmation and charge date

In light of the release of the new tripod, we've decided to push back the order lock date on Backerkit to 18th March 2019. Credit card charge date will also be on the same day.

Complete your survey!

Backers who have not completed their surveys are kindly reminded to complete it before the lock date (18th March)

We'll keep you guys posted on the production on the same weekly schedule. We'll be posting packaging designs to choose from next!

Best regards,

Grey & TinyMOS Team

Moon shot! Production meeting
about 5 years ago – Tue, Feb 19, 2019 at 04:18:50 PM

Hi everyone,

Here's an update on the progress of the project!

Moon shots

We staked out for the Moon for the past few weeks and finally got lucky with a few brief shots of the Moon.

Here's the footage taken in 4K

Apart from the timelapses, here's a photo of the Moon, taken with the NANO1 and Samyang 500mm lens.

The details are pretty crisp. The only edits we did to the image was to add some contrast.

Production meetings

We're heading to the factories from tomorrow until Saturday to oversee manufacturing of the NANO1. We've hit a speed bump with the funds disbursement occurring during the Chinese New Year.

We'll be working closely with the factories and get a production schedule update during this trip and minimize any disruptions.

Communication

Stay tuned for the latest updates here or visit our Instagram or Facebook page by clicking the respective links.

We've enabled our NANO1 owners group for backers to interact with each other. Send us a join request here https://www.facebook.com/groups/tinymosnano1/

Backerkit survey

We've sent out Backerkit Surveys! 76% of Backers have completed the surveys.

Backers who have completed their surveys will have their orders locked on 1st March. Delivery addresses can be changed up till 18th March. We will begin processing payments on 18th March as well.

If you have yet to complete your Backerkit survey, please do so soon to allow us to plan delivery smoothly for everyone.

A survey is only completed when a full delivery address and payment method is given. Missing information can affect delivery scheduling, leading to delays. Please complete the survey as soon as possible!

Thank you everyone!

Best regards,

Grey and TinyMOS Team

Backer Status Update - Happy Lunar New Year!
about 5 years ago – Fri, Feb 08, 2019 at 09:56:40 AM

A very Happy Lunar New Year to all our backers!

We hope everyone is having a good time for the Lunar New Year holidays. We're just back from the holidays ourselves and here's a quick update of what has been happening.

1) Backerkit survey

We've started sending out Backerkit surveys for fulfillment of backer rewards. Please keep an eye out for the reward surveys in your email and junk mail sections. Timely completion of your Backerkit survey will help us plan manufacturing timelines as well as shipping service providers. We appreciate your help on this!

2) Demo 4K footage

The weather in Singapore and SEA as a region is still pretty bad. We've decided to do a day time shoot to showcase what can be done with the NANO1 camera in the day (and still we got caught in the rain).

Here's the footage for your viewing pleasure!

3) Night Test footage

We've received confirmation that the camera reached our beta tester in Europe just the day before the trip. Hopefully we'll get some test shots soon, as he's in pretty inaccessible regions now and internet could be a problem.

Cheers,

Grey & TinyMOS Team