Top Ten Disposable Camera Mods
I have been looking at mods and hacks for a while now, and I always save them when I see something cool. I have done several DIY projects using a disposable camera, and so they have always peaked my interest. I decided to take all of the mods that I have seen over the last few years and make a top ten list of what I think are the coolest mods for a disposable camera. These hacks are in no particular order.
10. Macro photography with Disposable Camera
This is something I did a while back while working on a project of mine. I actually stumbled upon it. It is nothing special, and the pictures are not even that great, but the point was to me at least was that it worked, and it was cool. You just take the lens off of a disposable camera and place it in front of your lens, and then move close to an object until it is in focus and take a picture.
9. Grafitti Light
This is a project that I believe I found from Makezine a while back, and I just saved it. It inspired my flash slave. This project makes an automatic timer circuit that charges the flash, and then flashes it repetitively. This guy made a stencil that says a message, “no war” in this case, and places the flash behind the stencil shining through the lens. I am convinced that I can use this concept to make a slide projector, and have worked on it, but I need a bright light source and finally gave up.
8. RFID Zapper
This project was big a few years back, but I never paid much attention to it. I don’t have any reason to zap RFID tags, and I actually could not tell even if I did zap one. This project is cool though, and basically sends out a large electromagnetic wave to zap them. Don’t get your ipod too close.
7. Disposable Camera Flash Slave
This project is one of my own creations. I really like photography, and know the values of an external flash slave. It can allow the photographer to do a lot of neat things with the lighting. To buy one is expensive, so I decided to make my own. It has a photocell detecting light, and has a microcontroller that charges the flash for you, and then gets everything ready. When the camera sees an external flash, it fires the disposable camera adding light during the exposure. You can even take a picture of the flash going off.
6. Taser
Here is a project that makes a small taser out of the disposable camera flash system. Basically you charge the large capacitor, and connect wires to it, bypassing the flash. Touch somebody with these wires and it is not a happy day. You can see what happens to you if you touch this capacitor. The below picture is from my own demise. Actually the small dot is where the capacitor got me, the top finger was from battery acid.
5. Reusable Disposable USB Digital Camera
Here is a classic hack. You can get disposable digital cameras now. Some places to get them are like CVS pharmacy. Here is a hack showing how to add a USB port to the dakota digital camera. You can then use it for free always.
4. Mini Rail Gun
We have already seen how much power is in one of those capacitors for a disposable camera. If you take a small tube, and wrap wires around it which are then connected to the capacitor, you can make a mini rail gun. You just put a small BB in the tube, and when you discharge the capacitor through the wires it creates a magnetic field that propels the BB.
3. Kite Photography
Here is a nice hack done by Phillip Torrone over at makezine.com. He took a small digital camera, and connected a timer circuit that went off like every minute. If you stick this camera on a kite, you get nice aerial photography every minute.
2. High Speed Flash
Here is another project going on over at makezine.com. This is a high speed flash. This project uses a flash circuit connected to a microphone. Whenever a loud noise is heard it fires the flash. You just have your camera on a long exposure in a dark room, and it will record whatever it sees on the flash. This is similar to the same circuit used on my flash slave.
Get your own high speed flash kit from Make here.
1. Disposable Stereo camera
The last project is stereo photography using 2 hacked dakota digital cameras. Place two cameras side by side, and take a picture at the same time and you get a stereo image. If you cross your eyes you can supposedly see a 3D image. I can not get it to work though.
18 Responses to “Top Ten Disposable Camera Mods”
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Just a tip, you need to reverse the imaged on your stero photograph test. In the currect configuration, the 3d is inverted, so things that are far away apear closer and vice versa… It makes for a brain-hurting image when you cross your eyes to view it.
Switch the two images around, cross your eyes, and you should see it. I reversed the two positions myself in photoshop and it looks fantastic!
Just a tip, you need to reverse the images on your stere photograph test. In the current configuration, the 3d is inverted, so things that are far away appear closer and vice versa… It makes for a brain-hurting image when you cross your eyes to view it.
Switch the two images around, cross your eyes, and you should see it. I reversed the two positions myself in photoshop and it looks fantastic!
If you use the technique for magic eye posters on the stereoscopic image, then yes they need reversing, BUT I could never do those posters but found going cross eyed gave me an inverted 3d image. Same technique works here.
Can any of you make this picture look 3d? Is there some sort of program that will combine these pictures and make a 3d image using 3d glasses?
Actually there’s two techniques for viewing stereo images. One is to look through the image until the pictures merge, and the other is to cross your eyes until they merge. I have a book called “Stereograms” with some images set up one way, some the other. Once I got finished leafing through the book, I got the techniques down, and now I can see both types without any trouble.
Greg, you can use Photoshop or a similar program and it’s actually really simple, you simply copy the red channel of one image and paste it into the red channel of the other image. Check it out with 3D glasses. If the perspective is inverted, undo and try it the other way around.
The railgun has my vote!
I tried the red channel thing, and got it to work. I just don’t have any 3d glasses, so it was kind of worthless.
It also helps if both of the images in a 3D shot like this are the same size. In this case, the right images is quite a bit wider than the left.
Yeh, i can cross my eyes to make it look 3D.
It adds SO much to a photo, I was looking at the back-yard photo for ages, once you’ve “locked in” your eyes, its easy to look around the whole photo.
Bloody amazing, I only wish I could get hold of disposable digital cameras in the UK. Anyone know of a place?
Well, I guess I will have to keep looking then. I have a correction, the rail gun is actually a coil gun. I call it a rail gun because it is a similar idea, and I have seen a large rail gun at Auburn University. Oh well, it is the same to me.
The stereo picture definitely works. It looks really cool. I want to try this out! Good work…
I am trying to do a project using disable camera flashes and could really use some advice!! I am an art
student and so I’m not very experienced in electronic projects. I read that you can make a strobe light
effect with disposable camera flashes. I’m working on making a board with many flashes, all strobing at different,
hopefully controlable speeds. I’m willing to pay to ahve it made but have no idea where to look or what business
would make this for me. Help!
for all disposable cameras needs you can go to
http://www.thegiftmallonline.com
good luck
Thanks for sharing
I’d prefer reading in my native language, because my knowledge of your languange is no so well. But it was interesting! Look for some my links:
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Great Post! You can pick up a pair of 3D Glasses for free at Rainbow Symphony. They will send you almost any kind of 3D ( I did not realize there were so many different kinds of glasses for different 3D applications)