With
smartphone cameras improving at a breakneck pace, point-and-shoot manufacturers are desperately
working to stay afloat. As a result, some innovative firms are de-emphasizing traditional technology features and ignoring the no-win megapixel arms race. Instead, they're introducing cameras with niche functionality and novel designs intended to complement, rather than compete with, the best of phone-based photography.
Ubi-Camera: With the ubiquity of
Microsoft Kinect, and now the debut of the
Leap Motion, gesture control is becoming a coveted technological feature. The
Ubi-Camera utilizes a classic hand gesture from the pre-LCD screen era, requiring fingers to be positioned into a double-L shaped frame in order to take the shot. The discreet cube device’s zooming and focusing functions are manually determined by how close or far the user’s hands are from their face, and the image within the finger-frame viewfinder is captured by pressing the side-mounted shutter button. Although rapidly garnering attention, developers at the
Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences are still working out the kinks on this prototype.
The Socialmatic Camera: Just weeks ago,
a “leaked” advertisement spoofed a fictional Instagram camera that was virtually a rebranded Polaroid. The joke is becoming a reality, however, with
ADR Studio’s
Instagram Socialmatic Camera. The square concept camera resembles an enlarged Instagram icon and features a touchscreen LCD display, 16GB of internal storage, and a built-in printer. Just like with the app, users can apply filters to snapshots, but they can also now print the photographs instantly. Each picture will include the photographer’s Instagram username and a QR code for smartphone scanning. The device will also pair with the iPhone and Android apps for seamless uploading to Facebook.
The KNÄPPA: IKEA’s venture into the electronics market isn’t limited to its highly-anticipated
UPPLEVA HDTV. During
Milan Design Week 2012, the Swedish home design giant introduced the
KNÄPPA cardboard digital camera which, though lacking in technical innovation, is a marvel of clean design. The
minimalist device contains just a lens, single circuit board, cardboard body, two plastic screws, and two AAA batteries. It holds only 40 images on its built-in memory stick, so a snap-out USB port allows for the transfer of the photos onto users' computers (and thus reuse). IKEA stores are giving away, as part of the launch of its
PS 2012 Collection, a limited number of KNÄPPAs to encourage consumers to photograph their recent purchases.
