If you're into tinkering gear and customizing things to the way you like them then this might be your kind of video. Be prepared though as it requires quite a bit of technical know-how to fully understand and that's before we even start talking about trying to replicate what he achieved! However even without trying to attempt your own version I am sure you'll find this to be a rather interesting video to watch.
Tim Alex Jacobs wanted to create a camera that couldn't be purchased off the shelf and in this video he guides us through exactly how he did that. So what does he do exactly? He modifies an old broken Polaroid into printing on thermal paper instead of the usual pricey films. Awesome, right? He takes apart the camera and manages to squeeze a Raspberry Pi along with a thermal printer and cheap webcam into the casing. By the time it was ready for reassembly a good portion of the original components were removed and replaced.
He ran into challenges such as the camera being unacceptably slow and shares about how he got the boot time dramatically down. After working on this project on and off for a couple of months he was able to bring his new toy to a New Year's Eve party to show it off with friends and it worked perfectly. Even after a successful trial run though he wanted to keep adding more tweaks and final touches to the camera which he seems to have achieved as well! With the final product, he shows us a standard looking Polaroid that has an impressive ability hidden inside. Printing on thermal paper? Yes, please!
You can check out his step by step how-to guide on his website.
well at least it looks better than Impossible Projects film?
and much faster to develop!
That's a riot! Definitely a party camera.