We’re used to cheap software mimicking expensive hardware, and nowhere has that been truer than with tilt-shift photography. What was once an effect needing super-expensive and unwieldy architectural camera gear is now a free filter in many free apps.
But the trend sometimes goes the other way. Here’s the Tilt Shift camera from Photojojo, an actual physical digital camera with a tilt-shift lens. For $150.
“Shift” is meant to be used to correct converging verticals, a “problem” which anal retentive architectural photographers really, really hate. By keeping the film plane (or sensor) parallel to the building, and raising the lens to include the top of the building, those pesky convergent lines can be kept from attracting each other.
Tilt is the ability of the camera to tilt the axis of the lens in relation to the film plane. The original idea was to let, say, product photographers get everything on a table in focus, by choosing the plane of that focus. Now it’s used to make full-sized scenes look like miniatures.
The Tilt Shift camera is a 5MP digicam which also shoots video, and features a tilt lens (no shift).
It has a digital zoom (8X), a 2.4-inch LCD screen and a fixed-focus lens. In short, it is every bit as crappy as a Lomo, only it doesn’t need film.
It also looks like a helluva lot of fun, and for just $150 its cheap, too. Buy one now, or give one to your dorky photo-nerd friend for Christmas.
Source: Photojojo
