Ben's Blog NOW in 3D: [OBDF 110] A Camera That Is Round?!

For the first assignment in my 3D Object Design course, we have been instructed to watch Gary Hustwit's documentary: Objectified and create a virtual object inspired by/in response to one or more of the objects from the film using Tinkercad.

Hustwit, Gary, director. Objectified. DocumentaryHeaven, 2009, documentaryheaven.com/objectified/.

The screenshot above presents a camera that was shown before designer, Karim Rashid, was talking about revisiting archetypes in design. He specifically mentioned how the digital cameras still retain their horizontal rectangular forms, which are based on the design of the original silver film cameras. Rashid said, "The film defined the shape of the camera." and asked why do digital cameras have the same shape they have?

I chose to create this camera because I have never truly conceptualized a camera having organic and spherical aspects. Thus, I find this design to be intriguing. This film has helped me realize and understand that there are considerations, meanings, purposes, and reasons behind every design. It has made me perceive and ponder at how everyday-objects function.

The flash overlapping with the camera gives it a realistic effect.

One of the first things I wondered about this design is how will the camera feel in the users' hands. Personally, the underside of my hands naturally forms a curvilinear shape, so for me, this camera would fit comfortably in my hands. However, when I brought this up to one of my classmates, she mentioned how people with arthritis would have trouble grasping this shape. This was alluded in Objectified as the importance of designing something usable for the extremes in the human race. In other words, if people with arthritis in their hands are able to use a camera, then theoretically that camera can be used by anyone. In this case, a spherical camera can be perceived as an inconvenience for said people. Therefore, I believe this is one of the reasons why most digital cameras have kept the rectilinear shape.

Since this is a concept camera, there is not an abundance of reference photos available, so the only reference I used is the screenshot from Objectified. This is what I imagined what the back of the camera looked like. It is an homage to my Canon digital camera that I stopped using ever since I got my first smartphone.