The Apple iCam is a concept camera by Italian designer Antonio DeRosa that imagines a future where cameras are modular and powered by smartphones. Smartphones have already invaded the compact camera market in recent years, but their small lenses and sensors keep them from being seen as suitable alternatives to more advanced cameras. The iCam camera changes that by adding a large sensor and interchangeable lens system to the mix. Simply attach your iPhone 5 to the case and you’ll have yourself a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera with a huge LCD screen, fast processor, internet connectivity, and countless photo apps!
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What if framing a scene with your fingers actually caused photos to be created? Air Camera is a clever camera concept by designer Yeon Su Kim that would make that idea a reality. It consists of two components: a ring-like camera worn on the thumb, and a tension-sensing device worn on the forefinger. If the tension unit senses that you’re making a camera gesture, it triggers the camera to snap a photo. Make a video camera gesture, and it begins recording video! The resulting photos would also be synced automatically with your smartphone.
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If for some reason you hate both buttons and touchscreens, then Rotor is a camera for you. It’s a concept camera designed by Charlie Nghiem that bases its entire user interface around a stack of physical mode dials. Rotate any of the dials, and the corresponding settings appear on the screen.
charlie nghiem: rotor digital camera (via Geeky Gadgets)
Sling Shot is a concept camera that’s designed to capture expressions of fear on people’s faces. It’s shaped like a slingshot, and the camera’s shutter release is the elastic band: pretend like you’re about to shoot the slingshot and the camera snaps a photo. It could make for a fun gag camera, and luckily it’s nowhere near as morbid as this 1938 revolver camera.
Candid Camera with a Sling [Yanko Design]
The WVIL concept camera that made the rounds on the Internet featured a lens that could operate separately from the camera body, but Or Leviteh‘s MMI camera is even simpler: it’s a small screen-less camera that uses a smartphone as its “camera body”.
MMI enables you to see what the camera sees on your [smartphone] screen, to adjust the settings as needed, and to see the results without getting up and even to upload the pictures online. From the application you can control all settings: white balance, focus, picture burst, timer and even tilt the camera lens, all without having to reach the camera.
Separating the lens and sensor components of a camera from its LCD screen and controls seems to be a pretty popular idea as of late (Nikon even showed off a similar concept camera recently).
MMI cam (via TrendHunter)
The Canon EOS-0 is what you get at the Apocalypse when all the major camera, software, and operating system companies get together to unleash unspeakable evil into the world. It’s a camera with a little bit of everything: support for every major lens mount, a drive for various kinds of discs, Windows Vista as the operating system (shudder), Photoshop available on the giant widescreen LCD, etc… Pretty much the only thing you won’t find on this camera is a toaster.
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Illinois industrial design student Ned Mulka created this Nikno D5R concept camera for his senior thesis design project. While the design itself may be pretty iffy for a camera, the main idea behind it is pretty interesting — instead of having to rotate the camera itself for portrait orientation photos, why not only rotate the sensor, mirror, and viewfinder? An even crazier design would involve only rotating the sensor, allowing the camera to shoot any orientation without having to change how you hold the camera — though this would probably be an engineering nightmare for the camera makers.
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Rather than using traditional instant film that develops on the spot, newer instant cameras are using a special ZINK technology that prints digital photos rather than exposing special paper. As more and more consumers rely solely on their mobile phones for shooting casual snapshots, perhaps the Sophie concept iPhone case is the next step in instant film’s evolution: it’s a case with a built-in printer that turns your iPhone into a Polaroid-style instant camera. What do you think of the idea?
(via Yanko Design)
The Leica i9 is a concept camera case dreamed up by design firm BLACK Design Associates for the iPhone 4. Unlike the Slow Photography Camera we shared last week, the i9 is actually an independent camera that simply uses the iPhone as a giant touch screen and as a modem for the web.
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With the recent craze on mimicking retro photography through phone apps, it’s only natural that someone would take it a step further and design a retro way to shoot with the phone as well, right? The Slow Photography camera concept by photographer David McCourt is a medium format-style box that lets you use your phone as a digital back.
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