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Camera with transparent display launches for the equivalent of $29

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Re: Camera with transparent display launches for the equivalent of $29

#21

Post by henvic »

ThrowawayTestr wrote: post #20
henvic wrote: post #18

> Thanks to its very affordable price, the camera is also an attractive option as a light meter. Tell me you're writing AI slop without telling me you're writing AI slop. Why is this news outlet with some low-quality post even on Hacker News? Product site: https://www.godox.com/product-e/C100.html

Why does that sentence strike you? This product seems to be a light meter with a camera attached.

Sure, but that is despite of / or not because it's very affordable. Not thanks to it. Or am I being too picky?

Re: Camera with transparent display launches for the equivalent of $29

#22

Post by daniel_reetz »

circuit10 wrote: post #10
mikestew wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the idea is that the display kinda represents the shot, but not well, but if you cared you wouldn’t be shooting with a $29 camera. I mean, it takes 1920x1080 pics, don’t get too picky there, Ansley Adams. :-) But I agree with you, I don’t see how the “viewfinder” is all that useful, other than “nifty!”.

But if it’s giving you no information about what will actually be in frame you might as well just look in front of you and guess

Or develop thesense & skill of using it. It clearly has a fixed FOV that's being cropped based on what's on the display.

Humans can learn this stuff, cameras with crude viewfinders have appeared in the past.

Re: Camera with transparent display launches for the equivalent of $29

#23

Post by codazoda »

I had the most fun taking pictures with a cheap, low-quality camera that I only owned for a few months before it died. This one might fit the bill nicely. The skill or unknowns of the viewfinder might be part of the charm.

I want one, but they don’t seem to be available yet.

Re: Camera with transparent display launches for the equivalent of $29

#24

Post by verall »

henvic wrote: post #21
ThrowawayTestr wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does that sentence strike you? This product seems to be a light meter with a camera attached.

Sure, but that is despite of / or not because it's very affordable. Not thanks to it. Or am I being too picky?

If it was not very affordable, it would not be interesting as a light meter, because it would make no sense to spend any more money on a very basic light meter. Light meters on amazon start at about $15-30 (and go to ~$700), so at it's current price point, it's not much more expensive then a basic light meter without the camera.

Re: Camera with transparent display launches for the equivalent of $29

#26

Post by tantalor »

zerobees wrote: post #6

I don't understand how this works. If it's a transparent display that just passes through light and adds some overlay information (like a viewfinder on d/SLR cameras of the old), then doesn't the frame change completely depending on the distance you're holding the device at in relation to your face? It can't be meant to be used with your arm fully outstretched, because that would be an impractically narrow field of v…

It likely comes with instructions like "hold directly in front of you, at exactly 15cm distance, with your left eye closed".

Re: Camera with transparent display launches for the equivalent of $29

#27

Post by circuit10 »

daniel_reetz wrote: post #22
circuit10 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But if it’s giving you no information about what will actually be in frame you might as well just look in front of you and guess

Or develop thesense & skill of using it. It clearly has a fixed FOV that's being cropped based on what's on the display. Humans can learn this stuff, cameras with crude viewfinders have appeared in the past.

Could you not develop the same sense by just looking in front of you without the viewfinder? I don’t see how a frame that doesn’t actually have any relation to what the camera is capturing helps you at all

Re: Camera with transparent display launches for the equivalent of $29

#28

Post by cge »

zerobees wrote: post #6

I don't understand how this works. If it's a transparent display that just passes through light and adds some overlay information (like a viewfinder on d/SLR cameras of the old), then doesn't the frame change completely depending on the distance you're holding the device at in relation to your face? It can't be meant to be used with your arm fully outstretched, because that would be an impractically narrow field of v…

A perhaps similar sort of finder existed on a number of older (eg, first half of the 20th century) cameras, usually as a secondary option or an accessory, for quick shots. They tend to be common additions built into waist level finders because WLFs are slow to use and adding them is cheap; there’s one on the 1939 Praktiflex, as a random example, an early 35mm SLR with a pretty tiny WLF as its primary viewfinder.

Those usually work by having two square windows, the back larger than the front: you know you are looking at them the right way when they line up. They’re very approximate, but they’re meant to be.

Here, the camera has a thickness that is obscured by the face-on photos of it, so I expect it works by a similar principle: if you see the sides of the inside of the screen, you’re misaligned.

Re: Camera with transparent display launches for the equivalent of $29

#29

Post by russdill »

ortusdux wrote: post #12

I wonder if you could sandwich two polarized lenses in a way that would make it only transparent when your eye is in the correct position. Would make for an elegant & simple WYSIWYG viewfinder.

I would argue for some form of head tracking to always display the appropriate frame.

It would be nice if you could use hud display tech so it would automatically track, but I don't think it's possible in this form factor

Re: Camera with transparent display launches for the equivalent of $29

#30

Post by K0balt »

zerobees wrote: post #6

I don't understand how this works. If it's a transparent display that just passes through light and adds some overlay information (like a viewfinder on d/SLR cameras of the old), then doesn't the frame change completely depending on the distance you're holding the device at in relation to your face? It can't be meant to be used with your arm fully outstretched, because that would be an impractically narrow field of v…

I don’t know but it’s either completely vibes driven or, maybe, it uses a TOF sensor to know how far from your face it is . It has framing cues that seem to adjust, so it’s plausible that it gives you an approximate framing based on the distance from your face. Even multizone TOF sensors are less than $2 these days, so it’s at least plausible.
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