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A camera made of 23,248 coffee stirrers, powered by a Raspberry Pi, and controlled with a Nintendo controller
This is the story of how I created one of the strangest cameras you may ever hear about. I’ve been working on the design for over a year and I’m finally ready to share it with the world. It’s a long story, but first I want to jump to the end. Here’s what the final camera looks like as well as what a photo take with it:
When I tell people that I made a camera out of coffee stirrers I get an odd reaction. They want to know why. Where did the idea came from? The idea is strange, even for me, and I’m the guy who invented the Lego camera. There’s a drawing in my sketchbook that shows the first inklings of the idea. I mentioned the idea to a fellow photographer friend (thanks Natalie!) over lunch and we brainstormed whether it would be possible. Before long I was assembling a proof-of-concept in my basement.
How does it work? Imagine if you created an array of straws all pointed in the same direction. Each straw will “see” a different point of light. In theory, if you put a piece of light sensitive photo paper behind the straws you would be able to record the light from each…
