Nikon Heartography: Nikon once turned a dog into a photographer using a compact camera and a heart rate monitor

Photographers often take photographs of the scenes that spark emotions – but did you know that Nikon once gave that ability to a dog? Using a compact camera, a 3D printed case, and a heart rate monitor, Nikon once gave a dog the ability to photograph anything he was excited about.

Nikon Heartography was an adorable marketing stunt where the camera company gave a dog the ability to trigger photos by connecting the camera to a heart monitor. The stunt came out of Nikon Asia back in 2015, but thanks to some recent social media posts – and perhaps the upcoming Valentine holiday – the canine photo stunt has resurfaced.

Nikon Heartography utilized a custom 3D-printed case to mount a compact camera – specifically the Nikon Coolpix L31 – to a dog named Grizzler. Mounting video cameras on dogs to get a pet’s-eye view is a longstanding practice, but what was unusual about Nikon’s 2015 campaign is that Grizzler didn’t take videos, but snapped still photos.

Nikon gave Grizzler the ability to take photos of what he was excited about by attaching a heart rate monitor to the dog. When Grizzler got excited about something, the system triggered a shot from the Coolpix.

Naturally – especially back in 2015 – many of the shots were blurred as Grizzly ran with the camera, but Nikon shared a handful of photos that the dog took as he sniffed around on his walk.

The Nikon Heartography campaign didn’t extend beyond the initial publicity stunt – but I certainly wouldn’t mind having the ability to see what gets my dog excited during the day. (I would probably end up with lots of photos of food and squirrels.)

Nikon Heartography may be from 2015, but I enjoyed watching the old ad more than some of this year’s Super Bowl commercials.

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