11 ms·

Game Boy Camera Canon EF Lens Mount

492 points by rainbowmverse 8y ago

amlib 8y ago
Now all we need is a professional gimbal for the gameboy... RED better watch out!
lathiat 8y ago
That is amazing. I love it.
chris_wot 8y ago
What dithering technique did the Game Boy use?
- dsamarin 8y ago
  The Game Boy Camera has an analog output (a technical data sheet for the chip is available[1]), so the dithering is done in software. Although I am speculating, at first glance it appears to be ordered dithering[2]. EDIT: I did find a document detailing the dithering algorithms and registers used for this purpose reverse-engineered here[3]. [1]: https://people.ece.cornell.edu/land/courses/ece4760/FinalProjects/f2012/qs44_twc55/qs44_twc55/datasheets/MITSUB_image_sensor.pdf https://people.ece.cornell.edu/land/courses/ece4760/FinalPro... [2]: https://web.archive.org/web/20130512190753/http://white.stanford.edu:80/~brian/psy221/reader/Bayer.1973.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20130512190753/http://white.stan... [3]: https://github.com/AntonioND/gbcam-rev-engineer/blob/master/doc/gb_camera_doc_v1_1_1.pdf https://github.com/AntonioND/gbcam-rev-engineer/blob/master/...
  - ashleyn 8y ago
    That absolutely is ordered dithering. Not only does it have the characteristic cross-hatch pattern but ordered dithering is relatively efficient even on very limited resources. I can't picture the Game Boy's Z80 or even a toy-market ASIC of the era having the horsepower to do Floyd-Steinberg or anything more modern.
    - pjc50 8y ago
      Floyd-Steinberg dates from 1976 and is fairly simple to implement, but it does require storage of a source image; ordered dithering is however easier to do statelessly from a scanning analogue input.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
TeddyBones 8y ago
Really cool project.
cateye 8y ago
Great example that photography is not about buying the newest or most expensive gear. Maybe an idea to sell some photos as posters. They give a very authentic and retro digital feeling.
- skorbenko 8y ago
  A great example indeed. Photography is about capturing the moment- to do that, one often needs to capture the sentimental feeling, and while the Game Boy does not capture the feeling, it gives the photo its own vibe. Susan Sontag would argue that the above is not a photograph; it is art.
  - ekianjo 8y ago
    > Photography is about capturing the moment- Not always. When you do studio photography for example, you are hardly "capturing the moment", you are pretty much setting up the whole architecture leading to it.
    - semi-extrinsic 8y ago
      Indeed one can argue that any form of photography beyond "pull out your cellphone and take a quick snap" are not "capturing the moment". For a good picture, you've identified a good subject, moved about to find some good whitespace for your background, selected a focal point, aperture and shutter speed etc., maybe even instructed your subject or moved a distracting item away, captured O(10) images, chosen the best one and then postprocessed it in the digital darkroom.
- dzmien 8y ago
  That lens is not exactly inexpensive. I think it says more about the importance of a good lens.
  - roemerb 8y ago
    Haha true, but since the resolution is 128x128, you probably won't see a quality difference with a cheaper lens.
throwaway77384 8y ago
Love this. Best thing I've seen in photography in a while!
Kattywumpus 8y ago
Makes me wonder what a similar mod would do for video shot on a Fisher-Price PXL-2000: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=pxl-2000 https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=pxl-2000
- munificent 8y ago
  > Fisher-Price PXL-2000 Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time.
michrassena 8y ago
This is wildly impractical, but I suppose the creator has no illusions about that. There's a link on the page to a more practical version using a cell phone accessory lens. I'd like to see an adapter for CS mount CCTV lenses. These lenses are inexpensive, small and lightweight, actually intended for something like the GameBoy's 1/4" sensor format, and available in a wide variety of focal lengths, including wide angle lenses.
djsumdog 8y ago
The 8-bit guy did a video on the GameBoy camera a while back. It's pretty interesting. What's amazing about this post is just the quality of the images. They're really good for the medium. They look like some of the drawing demos the old Commodore artists (and current demo scene people) do; amazing images with really simple color sets and low resolutions.
zodPod 8y ago
This is ridiculous and I love it.

492 points by rainbowmverse 8y ago

amlib 8y ago

Now all we need is a professional gimbal for the gameboy... RED better watch out!

lathiat 8y ago

That is amazing. I love it.

chris_wot 8y ago

What dithering technique did the Game Boy use?

dsamarin 8y ago
The Game Boy Camera has an analog output (a technical data sheet for the chip is available[1]), so the dithering is done in software. Although I am speculating, at first glance it appears to be ordered dithering[2]. EDIT: I did find a document detailing the dithering algorithms and registers used for this purpose reverse-engineered here[3]. [1]: https://people.ece.cornell.edu/land/courses/ece4760/FinalProjects/f2012/qs44_twc55/qs44_twc55/datasheets/MITSUB_image_sensor.pdf https://people.ece.cornell.edu/land/courses/ece4760/FinalPro... [2]: https://web.archive.org/web/20130512190753/http://white.stanford.edu:80/~brian/psy221/reader/Bayer.1973.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20130512190753/http://white.stan... [3]: https://github.com/AntonioND/gbcam-rev-engineer/blob/master/doc/gb_camera_doc_v1_1_1.pdf https://github.com/AntonioND/gbcam-rev-engineer/blob/master/...
- ashleyn 8y ago
  That absolutely is ordered dithering. Not only does it have the characteristic cross-hatch pattern but ordered dithering is relatively efficient even on very limited resources. I can't picture the Game Boy's Z80 or even a toy-market ASIC of the era having the horsepower to do Floyd-Steinberg or anything more modern.
  - pjc50 8y ago
    Floyd-Steinberg dates from 1976 and is fairly simple to implement, but it does require storage of a source image; ordered dithering is however easier to do statelessly from a scanning analogue input.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

TeddyBones 8y ago

Really cool project.

cateye 8y ago

Great example that photography is not about buying the newest or most expensive gear. Maybe an idea to sell some photos as posters. They give a very authentic and retro digital feeling.

skorbenko 8y ago
A great example indeed. Photography is about capturing the moment- to do that, one often needs to capture the sentimental feeling, and while the Game Boy does not capture the feeling, it gives the photo its own vibe. Susan Sontag would argue that the above is not a photograph; it is art.
- ekianjo 8y ago
  > Photography is about capturing the moment- Not always. When you do studio photography for example, you are hardly "capturing the moment", you are pretty much setting up the whole architecture leading to it.
  - semi-extrinsic 8y ago
    Indeed one can argue that any form of photography beyond "pull out your cellphone and take a quick snap" are not "capturing the moment". For a good picture, you've identified a good subject, moved about to find some good whitespace for your background, selected a focal point, aperture and shutter speed etc., maybe even instructed your subject or moved a distracting item away, captured O(10) images, chosen the best one and then postprocessed it in the digital darkroom.
dzmien 8y ago
That lens is not exactly inexpensive. I think it says more about the importance of a good lens.
- roemerb 8y ago
  Haha true, but since the resolution is 128x128, you probably won't see a quality difference with a cheaper lens.

throwaway77384 8y ago

Love this. Best thing I've seen in photography in a while!

Kattywumpus 8y ago

Makes me wonder what a similar mod would do for video shot on a Fisher-Price PXL-2000: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=pxl-2000 https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=pxl-2000

munificent 8y ago
> Fisher-Price PXL-2000 Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time.

michrassena 8y ago

This is wildly impractical, but I suppose the creator has no illusions about that. There's a link on the page to a more practical version using a cell phone accessory lens. I'd like to see an adapter for CS mount CCTV lenses. These lenses are inexpensive, small and lightweight, actually intended for something like the GameBoy's 1/4" sensor format, and available in a wide variety of focal lengths, including wide angle lenses.

djsumdog 8y ago

The 8-bit guy did a video on the GameBoy camera a while back. It's pretty interesting. What's amazing about this post is just the quality of the images. They're really good for the medium. They look like some of the drawing demos the old Commodore artists (and current demo scene people) do; amazing images with really simple color sets and low resolutions.

zodPod 8y ago

This is ridiculous and I love it.