In a fantastically creative turn of events, a man has used a GameBoy camera to photograph a rap concert. Strap in, because there’s plenty to talk about out here.
Michael Rosa, a self-proclaimed “digital future nerd”, used the original GameBoy console (released in 1989) with its camera accessory (released in 1998) to snap the rappers performing.
Not only that, Rosa 3D-printed a custom rig to attach his camera phone to the Game Boy so he could record himself in the act.
From the ingenuity to the challenging light conditions and surprisingly interesting images captured, it’s hard to believe what Rosa did was feasible. Check out his handiwork below:
To start with, the GameBoy Camera he used can hardly be considered a camera by today’s standards. It features a whopping 0.014MP 128x128 pixel CMOS sensor, capable of producing 2-bit grayscale images using only 4 shades of gray. Yes, you read that right.
But one nifty feature of the GameBoy Camera, which arguably was ahead of its time, is the 180° swivel that enables selfies (although Rosa didn’t use it to picture himself).
While Rosa is yet to share the final stills captured with the retro console, his Instagram video from the event clearly shows how the camera sees light.
The Matrix-esque monochrome rendering looks good for this specific type of event, in my view capturing the rappers’ energy surprisingly well. Rosa said he achieved this without “plugin(s)” or “fake retro filters”, just “8-bit pixel hardware”.
But it’s this next part that strikes me as genius. To get the Instagram footage, he attached his smartphone to the Game Boy using a custom 3D-printed rig, freeing up his hands to operate the game console.
Rosa’s next challenge is getting images off the console. Unlike a DSLR or mirrorless camera, this requires specialized hardware as the Game Boy camera has no direct digital output.
He’ll have to use a GameBoy cartridge reader, like the GB Operator or Joey Jr, or a GameBoy Printer emulator, such as Retrospy, to "print" the images digitally.
Rosa hasn’t mentioned when we can expect to see the finished results, but what an unbelievable feat of creativity regardless. It's a shame the same can’t be said for the music…
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