The “cassette futurism” aesthetic may be very scorching proper now. It’s distinct from the cyberpunk aesthetic, which is extra about private model and cityscapes. Cassette futurism is all concerning the design of know-how by means of the lens of ’70-‘80s merchandise and sci-fi. The Alien movie is stuffed with that model and this DIY Raspberry Pi-based digicam appears to be like prefer it may have come instantly from that set.
This digicam, referred to as SATURNIX, oozes cassette futurism. From the geometric chunkiness to the weathered, yellowed-plastic end, it appears to be like like a product that may really exist on the planet of Alien or Complete Recall . Even the buttons and branding parts adhere to the aesthetic.
However this isn’t only a prop; it’s a fully usable system, with performance much like what you’d discover on a circa-2010 point-and-shoot digicam from Canon or Sony. There isn’t any viewfinder, only a small preview LCD panel. It has a max decision of 16 megapixels and prioritizes full-auto snapshots (although handbook settings can be found). It additionally has autofocus and HDR bracketing. The UI has the suitable model, full with glitchy artifacts. And there’s immediate/burst mode, which saves the preview photographs at a pace of about 1/fiftieth of a second.
The perfect half is you could construct your individual SATURNIX with a 3D printer and a few off-the-shelf parts. These parts embrace a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W single-board laptop, an IMX519-based Arducam module, a 2” Waveshare IPS LCD, and a Waveshare UPS HAT for battery energy. Mechanical key switches give the management buttons a pleasant tactile really feel.
The photograph high quality is fairly first rate—simply on par with most digicams made up till 2010 or so. There are filter choices, however commonplace images look fairly impartial and so SATURNIX is usable as an EDC digicam. It may possibly additionally seize RAW photographs for max flexibility.
So when you just like the model and wish to soar on the digicam bandwagon, this can be a nice strategy to do it.