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Here are my desired specs for an FPV camera - let me know if they are impossible:

5.8 Ghz

Digital rather than Analog, for less interference/artifacts?

CCD instead of CMOS, because a global shutter would be better. This can be flexible if not possible.

Could anyone point me in the right direction?

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It sounds like what you are wanting isn't actually an FPV system, but rather a wireless video downlink. There are a number of systems used in commercial video production capable of streaming video from basically any HD source to an HDMI endpoint. If you're using a device with an HDMI capture you can then use it for your image processing on the computer. Unfortunately most of these systems are quite expensive as they're primarily used for video production. There's a few in the $600-800 range such as the CVW Swift 800Pro, which I've seen used on cinema drones for libe video feeds. There's also the Hollyland Mars 400. Some of them actually transmit the video to an app over wifi as well, so there may be a way to use that for your image acquisition. Check out B&H for other options as well. They're a knowledgeable distributor and could probably help you look into options.

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Right now, your best (and pretty much, only) option is the DJI FPV system. Fat Shark have announced a competitor based on similar looking technology, but you can't buy it yet.

Note that you don't need to use their transmitter, the goggles and air unit work fine on their own.

There are a variety of cameras, but the 120fps ones are better.

Caddix make an alternative VTX known as the Vista, which is a little cheaper and smaller, but doesn't have an SD card slot. The DJI air unit (VTX) is quite large and can be tricky to fit into many frames, leading to a number of specially designed frames. Similarly the cameras are a little narrower than standard cameras. Note that Caddix now also make the official DJI air unit.

There are some flight controllers designed to plug directly into DJI air unit, which simplifies the set up, but you can just solder the various power and UART wires to pads on a normal flight controller.

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  • $\begingroup$ Thanks for the answer. One concern I have is that the DJI goggles are expensive. All I want is being able to view it on a laptop. Is there a way to do that without first going through the goggles? $\endgroup$
    – kevinlinxc
    Commented Jun 13, 2022 at 17:23
  • $\begingroup$ You can't really fly by viewing the picture on a laptop (or phone). All the digital processing causes too much lag - and most screens aren't bright enough to see outdoors in sunlight anyway. Yes, DJI goggles are expensive, but they aren't much more than high-end analogue goggles. Compressing HD video into the available bandwidth without adding lag is hard, and the market isn't big enough to justify a lot of development. $\endgroup$ Commented Jun 14, 2022 at 18:45
  • $\begingroup$ Hi, perhaps I should have clarified this - I'm not flying by viewing the picture on a laptop, this is part of a data acquisition system and the video is not used for flying $\endgroup$
    – kevinlinxc
    Commented Jun 14, 2022 at 19:56
  • $\begingroup$ Could you just record the video on an action camera like a GoPro? Otherwise there's not really an off-the-shelf solution in the hobby world. Most photography drones (e.g. the DJI Mavic) have something like this but it's all proprietary. $\endgroup$ Commented Jun 15, 2022 at 8:13
  • $\begingroup$ I need live streaming. I am looking for objects on the ground for real-time object detection $\endgroup$
    – kevinlinxc
    Commented Jun 15, 2022 at 16:39

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