360 degree analog camera hat

Forget Instagram, bring back that retro look to your pictures by using classic analog film in a fun new way. This camera hat was made using leftover single-use 35mm film cameras and several small servo motors, all powered by two AA batteries. With the camera array sitting on your head, you're able to capture a 360° panorama view of your surroundings. This project requires no special electronics knowledge and can be assembled in about an hour.

I designed this camera array off something I saw on the "Radar Detector" music video by Darwin Deez. But, after making the camera hat, everyone kept asking if it was a low-fi version of Google Street View. It's more the former than the latter, but people can draw their own interpretations. There's also Chindogu.

Of course you can always just buy (or win) a 360° panorama camera, but it's no where near as eye-catching as this one.

Enough talk, let's make a 360° panorama camera hat!

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Step 1: Tools + materials

tools: hobby knife soldering iron wire strippers screwdrivers

materials: 6-8 x single-use film cameras plastic garbage can (large enough for your head) cable ties (assorted) 6-8 x hobby servo motors (I used 5gram servos) 2 x AA batteries 1 x double AA battery holder Normally-open (N.O) momentary switch thin-gauge braided wire heat-shrink tubing

Comments

[ychen9]

thanks for sharing.
I made this camera hat preference by your blog.
and it's success!!!! thank you.
I changed the electrode design for the switch that can mack servos turn back by itslef :)

i'm from Taiwan , Taipei
http://www.youtube.com/user/carol1989818?feature=mhee

[mikeasaurus]

That's really great!
For sharing your version I've awarded you a 3-month Pro Membership to Instructables.com and given you a digital patch.

[Canoeman]

Would you please photograph yourself trying to get by the TSA, getting on a plane? :-) I'll pay to watch.

what ever you do, stay out of sight, of the NYPD.

cool idea.

[Misac-kun]

what about a pedestal for proper alignment? it should help a lot!

[hertzgamma]

That is cool!

[KGuy]

I had this idea once when I was young, I just never came around to doing it and knowing what to do........

.......saying that, you did a great job! 5*

[zootboy]

You should give the software Hugin a try. It lets you stitch panoramic photos together graphically, and has all sorts of algorithms built in to compensate for differences in exposure, white balance, lens distortion, etc.

http://hugin.sourceforge.net/

[mikeasaurus]

Thanks for the link, I deliberately left these shots unaltered to show the edge definition and what you can expect from a typical 6 camera setup.

[gempje]

haha this is fun!
great results

[depotdevoid]

Cool idea! I love the panoramas!

[awi]

Wow Great effort and great results!!

I photograph panoramas with a fancy roundshot camera, but this surely gives nice results. Maybe your next project will involve a battery of digital cameras.

Andre

[MoritzB]

Wouldn´t it be easier to set all the contacts of the camera´s push buttons in parallel, instead of wasting 6 servos?

But nevertheless, great project :-)

[yellowcatt]

I don't see that you could do that with these single-use 35mm film cameras, the buttons are mechanical.

[kbhasi]

Or if you wanna wire directly you can use these el-cheapo digital cameras instead:

http://www.aliexpress.com/product-fm/547794456-Free-Shipping-Fast-Delivery-Cheap-New-Original-Mini-Smart-Digital-Photo-Camera-Cam-Wholesale-Retail-Drop-wholesalers.html

By the way I don't know if there's such a thing as a photo shield for arduino

[yellowcatt]

Those would probably work out cheaper than the processing on the 35mm film.
Providing there is enough overlap in the images you can use panorama software to stitch them together.

Finished panoramas can be uploaded to http://youvr.com/ for sharing.

Here is one that I did (you will need Quicktime to view it):

http://youvr.com/showpiczoom.html?piczoom=admin/placeimages/1093-parkpan3.mov&piczoomimageType=mov

[kbhasi]

Go put it in the analog camera challenge

[themostwonderfulplaceonearth]

this is great ive been trying to figure out a cheaper way to do this instead of buying a panoramic camera

[ChrysN]

That's really cool, great idea!

[derte84]

Great hack!

[iceng]

I agree this is a super hat very imaginative !!!
Gave you five.

Have look here for a panorama of a desert event :-)

A