Cool post on Makezine about Bigshot Cameras, now available on the Adafruit site!
Building your own digital camera from a kit is a fantastic way to learn about optics, mechanics, electromagnetism, electronics and image processing. Shree Nayar, a professor of computer science at Columbia University, is the creator of Bigshot, a build-it-yourself camera kit meant for learning, creativity, and fun. I had the chance to talk to Shree at World Maker Faire New York in September as the camera kit made its Maker Faire debut.
After building the camera and learning how it works, you can then experiment with framing, lighting, motion, and lens selection.
“What’s unique about the kit is that it allows you to juxtapose an experience in the sciences with an experience in the arts,” said Shree. It also has a crank on the side to charge the battery. “The whole idea here is to include features that would expose the kids to not just how a camera works, but rather a variety of science and engineering concepts related to the camera.”
Bigshot Camera – DIY Digital Camera Kit: Build your very own digital camera with the Bigshot camera kit. It’s a no-solder clip-together kit to help anyone understand the electronic and mechanical systems required to build a digital camera. Read more.
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.