Nikon Made a Doggy Camera Mount That’s Triggered by Heart Rate

Photographers often take pictures of things that touch them emotionally. Nikon wanted to help dogs do the same.

As part of a new “Heartography” project, the camera company has created a doggy camera mount that uses a built-in heart-rate monitor to snap photos of things that excite the dog.

The mount system features two sides: the heart rate collar and the special camera case. The collar is worn around the dog’s neck, monitor’s its heart rate, and constantly sends the number to the camera case wirelessly.

The camera case displays the current heart rate on an OLED screen. Buttons next to the display let you choose the baseline heart rate that triggers photos.

Whenever the dog photographer’s heart rate goes above the threshold — indicating a spike in emotions and/or activity — the case will snap a photo with the Nikon compact camera contained within.

Nikon tested out the device on a fun-loving dog named Grizzler and captured a number of photos from his point of view that show things that interested him:

Here’s a short video Nikon created about its Heartography project:

You can find out more information about it over on the project’s website. There’s no word yet on whether Nikon would turn this into a commercially available device for dog photographers.