Modder Crafts Camcorder From Game Boy Camera

Earnest Cavalli

New member
Jun 19, 2008
5,352
0
0
Modder Crafts Camcorder From Game Boy Camera



The Game Boy Camera may have been a terrible camera, but thanks to one intrepid modder, it's now a terrible camcorder.

Cobbled together by an 8bitcollective member using the nom de Internet "kraettz," the rather unwieldy hack couples the optics and image capture abilities of Nintendo's add-on with the video output abilities of a Game Boy Advance TV converter. The real-time footage is then piped through a portable video player, while simultaneously being recorded to an on-board 40GB hard drive.

Admittedly, the footage this thing takes isn't exactly on par with James Cameron's Avatar rig, but given the quality of images captured by the Game Boy Camera originally, it's rather impressive. Especially considering that it can snag nearly an hour of 320x240 video on the power provided by a single 9-volt battery.

To wit, a recent snowboarding trip captured by kraettz's camera:


There are a lot of DIY modding projects that add functionality to a device. This is not one of those.

This hack is of the "I did it because I could" variety, so even if the video captured by this makeshift camcorder isn't in glorious 1080p high definition, the lo-fi aesthetics and sense of "this is a machine that should not be" give the whole project an aura of geek cool.

Source: GameSetWatch [https://8bc.org/images/kraettz/GameBoy+Camcorder/]

Permalink
 

stupiddrummer

New member
Apr 2, 2010
12
0
0
That's pretty sweet. I used to take my GB camera with me skateboarding. If you mashed the button to take pics you could get at least 3-4 frames of someone doing a trick, which was awesome.
 

GiantRaven

New member
Dec 5, 2010
2,423
0
0
The game boy camera? Now that is a nostalgic blast from the past. I remember having a lot of fun with it.
 

Mister Benoit

New member
Sep 19, 2008
992
0
0
"The Game Boy Camera may have been a terrible camera, but thanks to one intrepid modder, it's now a terrible camcorder."

That sums it up and made me laugh out loud.
 

Fiad

New member
Apr 3, 2010
572
0
0
Wow, I thought I was the only one who still had one of those laying around. That thing was just terrible. Fun, but terrible.
 

emeraldrafael

New member
Jul 17, 2010
8,589
0
0
I remember that thing. And kids today tell me I'm crazy. XD

I like how moddable all the old stuff is.