Twenty-five years after the Recreation Boy Digital camera first debuted again in 1998, followers should not solely nonetheless having fun with lo-fi, black and white, pixelated pictures, they’re additionally re-engineering the digital camera to make it higher, even going as far as to shrink it all the way down to the scale of a daily Recreation Boy cartridge.
Panic’s Playdate Handheld is Virtually Right here
The final time we had checked in with Christopher Graves, a Recreation Boy Digital camera fan who is aware of their means round a 3D printer and a circuit board, they have been displaying off a customized creation referred to as the Recreation Boy Digital camera M. It turned a sacrificed Recreation Boy Pocket right into a mirrorless shooter with swappable lenses, a customized shell with a leatherette wrapped end, a chargeable battery, and a repositioned motion button repurposed as a shutter set off.
On the time, the Recreation Boy Digital camera M appeared like the right instrument for many who choose capturing pictures at simply 0.001434-megapixels (128×112 pixels), however after seeing Graves’ newest creation, we’re not so certain any extra.
Those that spent any period of time capturing with Nintendo’s Recreation Boy Digital camera will do not forget that it was a chunky accent with a bulbous lens protruding excessive of the Recreation Boy it was connected to. There’s little question Nintendo did every little thing it may to shrink the scale of the unique Recreation Boy Digital camera, however the firm was restricted by the know-how in 1998, when all digital cameras have been pretty cumbersome. By leveraging 1 / 4 century of technological miniaturization, Graves’ was in a position to create a a lot sleeker various they’re calling the Recreation Boy Mini Digital camera.
Beginning with schematics for a customized reflashable Recreation Boy Digital camera PCB made by Martin Refseth, Graves created a customized board that carried over the unique Recreation Boy Digital camera’s sensor, reminiscence map controller, and “just a few capacitors that have been simply simpler to reap,” which all matches inside a customized shell the identical measurement as a regular Recreation Boy recreation cartridge. The Recreation Boy Mini Digital camera can really run two totally different ROMs, and is upgraded with flash reminiscence in order that there’s no threat of saved pictures disappearing when a backup battery dies.
As for the Recreation Boy Mini Digital camera’s lens? If it seems to be oddly acquainted to you, barely protruding of the highest nook of the cartridge, that’s as a result of it’s really a lens from an iPhone XR. The lens is screwed right into a customized threaded sleeve, permitting its place to be adjusted to alter the digital camera’s focus. Graves can be testing different iPhone lenses, together with one from the iPhone 14 that may stick out even additional, and probably one from an iPhone 5S, which might remove that small digital camera bump altogether.
Regardless of borrowing some optical {hardware} from the iPhone, the photographs captured by the Recreation Boy Mini Digital camera are nonetheless unmistakingly low decision and missing intimately and shade: which is precisely the aesthetic Recreation Boy Digital camera photographers are after. However with the redesign, the Recreation Boy Mini Digital camera can really be slipped right into a pocket when used with a handheld just like the Recreation Boy Pocket.
Don’t whip out your bank card and begin screaming at Graves to close up and take your cash simply but. As with their Recreation Boy Digital camera M, the Recreation Boy Mini Digital camera is described as one other egocentric mission they made just for themselves, however they aren’t fully ruling out someday designing their very own PCB schematics from scratch and making them obtainable to different hobbyists who wish to deal with a DIY mission like this on their very own.