Camera shutters, when triggered together at exactly the right time, can make for some fascinating musical compositions. Something that was discovered by innovative photography manufacturer MIOPS, having collaborated with a sound artist to create a small-scale symphony of shutter sounds.
Different brands of camera were chosen and used in the project to provide alternate sounding shutters, using MIOPS' own camera triggers and smartphone app as a technological maestro to conduct the timed sound and shutter release perfectly.
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The video below shows the orchestrated cameras coming together to create a shutter sound symphony. Brands such as Canon, Sony, Nikon and Fujifilm all have cameras used for the project, and their shutter sounds all differ to create a unique soundscape.
“This idea suddenly came to my mind during an internal meeting, when one of our employees said that our triggers ensure cameras to take pictures at the right time, like a maestro," said Erkan Yigiter, MIOPS' co-founder.
Watch the video below and you're likely to recognize some of the cameras used in the creation of the musical masterpiece, such as the Fujifilm X-T3, Fujifilm X-S10, Sony A9, Sony A7R, Canon EOS 6D , Canon EOS-1D X, Nikon D850 and the Nikon Z6 II.
MIOPS collaborated with Berlin-based sound artist and designer, Kuntay Seferoglu, as well as regional Canon, Nikon and Sony brands in the creation of this video. Kuntay has curated remarkable musical projects in the past using various objects in the replacement of musical instruments.
For this endeavor, Kuntay first recorded the shutter sounds of 27 different camera models, analyzing them in detail. After a month of effort, he later composed this wonderful composition by using sounds from nine specific cameras.
“The idea of making music with the sounds of everyday life always excites me," he said. "The shutter sound of the cameras was one of the sounds that especially caught my attention… Each object has its own unique sound and character, and when we approach them as instruments, there are special ways to play them. In fact, we encounter many of them every day, I believe that all of them can have a place in music.”
A mechanism consisting of different MIOPS products to trigger each camera shutter was created by Kuntay, with smartphones running the MIOPS Mobile application that controls these triggers, and solenoid valves that enable the camera to be triggered by pressing the buttons in this application.
Kuntay also developed computer software entirely by his own means to ensure that the solenoid valves were activated at the perfect time.
"As a camera equipment design company, we try to develop our products to be compatible with as many different brands and models as possible," added Onur Celik, MIOPS co-founder.
"Therefore, we take care to keep all brands as equidistant as possible. We know that if all these brands are in the market and continue to compete with each other, better photography products will be available and we as photographers will benefit most from this.
"This competition between brands not only enables better products to be released, but also allows photographers with different needs to reach the right equipment, thanks to the diversity that has emerged. This diversity acts as a complete orchestra. Instead of a piece of music played with a single instrument, it creates magnificent music that includes dozens of different instruments playing in harmony with each other.”
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