Polaroid hack.

I found this amazing Polaroid body hack yesterday, I realize it is old at this point, but still very, very cool. mark, the author, took a Polaroid One Step (1000) and gutted it, but added a web cam inside. (the author has passed away too, so sad, look around his site for other amazing stuff). Click the link for more pictures and build out.

This would be even greater with a nice lo-fi .3 megapixel sensor inside, and a nice small screen on the back side, for a portable camera. If you could jam a Polaroid printer inside, even cooler!

If anyone tries this, please e-mail me. I might even try it myself.

via. 

Toy Camera 3D.

This Takara Tomy 3D Toy Camera was a bit all over the web the past few days, an interesting concept. Lo-fi digital 3D, that must be printed and viewed with a special viewer. I would be interested in overlaying those images in Photoshop though, that might be much cooler, and more 'portable'. Hooray for .3 Megapixels. At $70, it is definitely not an impulse buy, though it is fair for what it does, and uses SD cards, so that helps a bit.

Add to the want list.

via Engadget. 

game changer - the digital harinezumi

Over 10 years ago, when Lomo first started to make it's push into the USA. Digital photography was still in its infancy. Digital cameras were still only around 1-2 megapixels at the consumer level, if that. Cell phones lacked cameras. Previous to that the 'fun' cameras the toy cameras of the 90's were really the Pop Cam, and those disposable cameras that shot '3d' that required a special form of processing that created lenticular coated prints. Then you had the actual toys that happened to be cameras, the Fisher Price 'fax' camera, the PXL2000 video camera, etc.

Pop Cam at the Four Corners Dark store. 

It is very interesting then, roughly 10 years into the toy camera game, a Japanese company, Powershovel would introduce the incredible Digital Harinezumi in 2009. Mainly because, most people aren't even checking for vintage digital cameras these days. Not to mention, they are slow, hard to export pictures out of (or impossible) and most of the card readers are way out of date by now. It isn't impossible though, more on that another time.

However, Harinezumi not only  took care of many of those issues, like the media card, and speed. It also brought it to you in a fun, familiar package. The body is basically a roll of 110 film, highly pocket-able. It has an incredible color saturation, video (v1 no sound, v2 with sound) the second version also has a black and white option, even more fun. The sensor also does weird things when pointed at strong light, creating even weirder other worldly effects. Not to mention -and I think they changed this on v2- when taking photos, you cant actually see the framing in the photo, all the more to heighten the 'magic' of the film like experience.

If you don't have a Digital Harinezumi, and they ARE pricey, I would suggest you consider it at some point, it is a fun little camera, and a great addition to any collection. Factor in the cost of film and development these days and it will easily pay for itself over time.

Side note, the Four Corner's Dark store is fantastic, and they are great people, check out their great selection.