DJI O3 Air Unit Lens Replacement Adapter Mount M12

If you're here, thank you for your personal dedication to repairability and E-sustainability. 

DJI designed their cameras to be thrown away if you crack your lens. They don't sell a replacement lens, a replacement camera is $110 and the mount that they designed for their lenses is an M11 .25 thread…… Let's fix that. 

This is a model I put together so that you can replace the M11 .25 threaded mount that DJI put in their O3 Air Unit cameras and use any M12 .5 lens that you think will work. Although I do recommend lenses that have a shorter barrel. 

This is the lens that I used and it produces too wide of an FOV for it to be terribly practical but it works.

https://shop.runcam.com/lens-for-runcam-split-mini-2-split-2s-split-3-micro-mipi/

V2 IS PUBLISHED NOW

Changelog: 

Lens guide added to the last 1.5mm of the lens thread to try and help lens go in straight

Improved fit to decrease vulnerability to vibes and light leakage 

NOTE: THE ADAPTER NOW ONLY FITS WHEN INSTALLED CORRECTLY - THE NOTCH INDICATES THE TOP 

 

Printer settings:

I printed mine on an ender 3 with PLA+ on 100% infill

I printed it with the forward facing opening flat on the bed so that the little pegs stick straight up. No supports. 

Assembly:

First you have to find the seam that separates the lens mount from the sensor plate and separate them. A guy on FB said that he used a heat gun to loosen the epoxy bond between the two pieces, but below is a video of a more destructive method that works just fine. 

Be very careful not to smudge or damage your image sensor.

When screwing in the lens for the first time I would suggest that you hold the lens with a pliers and twist the adapter on with your fingers. Be very careful not to cross thread it or thread it on crooked because it basically guarantees that you wont ever be able to get it in straight. 

It takes some forcing to get the sensor plate into place in the adapter mount, this is so that it has a tight hold. 

I recommend putting the mipi cable into the harness before pressing the sensor board into place so you don't bend any part of the harness.

This adapter removes the need for the 4 screws that held the original mount into place.

Once you put the whole thing inside the housing and put the screws in the side it should squeeze everything together so it's holding tight. 

SEARCHING FOR THE PERFECT LENS REPLACEMENT

If you use this model please post a make with a sample image from your repaired camera that includes info about the lens you used so we can find the perfect replacement for this setup. 

According to a post I saw, there are replacement lenses available sometimes. The DJI action 2 uses the same lens, so if you can find one used then it might work.