Ikea_cardboard_camera-e1335643019213-224x136As if low-cost furniture and a TV set weren't enough, it looks like IKEA has created their own still camera. Probably the greenest still camera ever made, it was handed out at a design expo in Milan. Supposedly this will end up being sold in stores (whether that includes U.S. stores or not isn't clear), but the fact that they've simplified and reduced the cost of something as complicated and expensive as a digital camera shows just how far we've come, as it's no thicker than a folded piece of cardboard.

Check out this video demonstrating the IKEA camera, which was designed by Jesper Kouthoofd and Teenage Engineering:


Lomography is not just a community of people dedicated to analogue (film) photography, but a company that makes simplistic, plastic film cameras (and a motion picture camera called the Lomokino). The images have a baked in look that is due in large part to the low-quality optics. This camera won't have quite the same aesthetic, since it's basically a cell phone camera, but it's going to give much lower quality results than a DSLR like the 5D Mark III or D800. The reason I make the comparison is that the camera is as simple as one can be made. There are no complicated electronics or screens, and you can't see what you've done until much later when you upload your photos - just like Lomography. Just aim the camera and press a button. As much as I like highly technical gadgets and cameras - and consider myself a technical person - there's something incredibly freeing about just being able to aim a camera and shoot without any other distractions. Only being able to store 40 photos also forces you to be selective with your subjects if you're on the go.

If the price is right they'll sell millions of these, and I'll go out of my way to get one just because the concept is interesting enough. The video, while humorous, is a perfect example of what happens when we get too wrapped up in the technology of our cameras. Too often hundreds of settings get in the way of capturing a moment or a scene. By removing the endless options, and just leaving a lens, a USB connection, and a couple of buttons and batteries, image capture is only limited by our imaginations.

What do you guys think - would you want one of these if it was cheap enough?

[via The Verge & Gizmodo Italy & PSFK]

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