After the recent debate regarding the correct pronunciation of GIF, this camera is exactly the device that the world needs, as it both records animated GIFs and prints them as flip books.
Just to make sure we get over this, the G in GIF is soft, like in geometry, not hard as in girder. It’s even simpler in my mother tongue (Romanian), as the G is also soft if followed by a vowel. Back to this interesting concept though, I should mention that it was envisioned by Jiho Jang, an industrial designer from South Korea. GIFTY was part of his college thesis, and at this point it is still a concept, even though the world could use such an ingenious product.
The end product would use a camera to capture between 1 and 5 seconds and then would print the frames instantly, much like a Polaroid camera does. As mentioned in the description of the above video, what we see is only an aesthetic mock-up. The working version did not come with a Z-ink printer, like the one the final product should feature. Instead, it employed a receipt printer and a webcam that made the thing look rather bulky. Assuming that a proper camera sensor is used, along with the aforementioned Z-ink printer, the final design would be a lot sleeker.
GIFTY prints the photos in the form of a strip that needs to be ripped by the photographer. The frames are then put together into a tiny flip book that overall represents a unique way of storing short moments and memories.
Judging by the instructions listed in the above picture, using GIFTY would be very easy. There is no shutter, so users wouldn’t have to do much besides setting the timer using a knob. Toggle buttons are used for storing the images and for printing them, so things could not have been easier. All we have to do now is hope that this concept becomes reality in the near future.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmHU1qmtGfA]
The logical thing to do for Jiho Jang would be to bring the concept to a crowdsourcing site (I don’t know, maybe Kickstarter?) where he would be able to raise the funds required for mass producing the gadget. In case you want to see more concepts coming from this talented designer, please check his Coroflot page.
If you liked this post, please check the diorama enclosed in a laser-carved booklet and the iPhone app that makes custom flip books.
