Following the construction of the prototype Vigatrope (Video Game Zoetrope), I wanted to find a way of documenting this, which was in keeping with (or at least in the spirit of) the Vigatrope; it is a victorian aesthetic prototype device, but using out of date [more modern] technologies. I didn’t want to ‘steampunk’ a 10 mega pixel digital camera – as this would be using high technology. Rather, I wanted to combine low technology with some victorian device principles. So, I though about whether an old flatbed scanner could be mounted on the back of pinhole/box camera obscura.
Upon searching the internet, I found a few people who have got this to work successfully, and documented how they made the device, also showcasing some images they have taken. This inspired me to have a go at making one myself.
These images show the prototype camera I have made, and one of my first photographs ‘scanned’ on it.
The prototype is made from cardboard, with a magnifiying glass as a lens, and using a Canon LIDE20 USB bus-powered scanner. The camera is essentially a pinhole camera, with 2 card boxes that can be moved over one another to focus the image. I have yet to add a working aperture control – at present it is using a 4cm hole cut directly into the box. I will be replacing the ‘pizza box’ card construction with black card within a few days. As this is just a prototype, I will then investigate the possibility of constructing the device as a permanent fabrication.
As the Scanner is bus-powered, it will power directly from the USB port of a laptop; therefore, it would be truly mobile as long as the laptop battery is charged up. Furthermore, if within Wi-Fi range, the laptop could instantly be used to upload images onto the internet – a practice I plan to try out.
This is exactly the kind of hybrid product I wanted to make, combining out of date computer technology with pre-computer ideas and procedures. Plus, it is, I believe, potentially a product which would demonstrate an ‘inverse remediation’ of the internet; here, the internet is being used as an instant distribution platform for a lower-tech image-making device. Therefore, the pinhole camera has, effectively, remediated the internet, rather than the other way around.
Tags: Aaron Kay, camera obscura, hybrid, internet, pinhole camera, Remediation, scanner, scanner camera, Steampunk, vigatrope
