Jana
Another baffling thing I saw recently was this shop selling phone cameras basically by the kilo. I would love to know how many modules are in the first photo
May 9 at 3:24pmWeb
Show threadJanaMay 9
there is so much more inside btw.. just an insanely specific shop on the street
Show threadiliazeusMay 9

@janamarie saw the second photo first and thought it was tea at first glance

wild that such a shop even exists

Show threadJanaMay 9
@iliazeus oh there is more, this shop is in a mall of such shops! There is more than just this one and stores that sell displays in a similar fashion, or main boards, or the tiniest ICs (images from 2019, one of my other visits to the market)
Show threadKris\SlykaMay 9
@janamarie i want to stick my paw into the big bag of tiny BGAs and wiggle it around…
Show threadZuthalJun 17
@janamarie @iliazeus I know these things are called jelly bean parts, but I didn't expect to see them literally sold like jelly beans
Show threadvandorb12May 9

@iliazeus @janamarie Asian electronics markets are WILD. My father recounts his brief vist to an Akiahabra mall and it was stuffed with highly specialized electronic componet shops. "You need a specific transistor? Oh, you're at the resistor shop, go down 3 stalls and you'll find them".

And my experience there 30 some-odd years later... Random Yamaha sound chips from classic synths and sound cards in a gatcha machine.

Show threadstefanMay 9
@janamarie like buying a bunch and bringing the back home.  

Customs be like: Whats inside your luggage?
Jana: Oh just a bunch of cameras....
*Customs checks bags*
*finds a bunch of cameras indeed*
~ silence ~
Customs: Have a good day
Show threadJanaMay 9
@stefan :’D could be me
Show threadKurt WeiskeMay 10
@stefan @janamarie I knew people who went to Ukraine with a suitcase full of levi's, and came back with a suitcase full of lomo lc-a cameras. Import/Export is quite a lucrative business when you play your cards right!
Show threadStéphaneMay 9
@janamarie are they from old phones?
Show threadJanaMay 9
@sirber likely!
Show threadStéphaneMay 9
@janamarie with every phone breaking every two years 💸
Show threadIsocatMay 9
@janamarie …and whoever comes closest to guessing how many cameras, without going over, gets six more weeks of winter?
Show threadantimagic heart-sicknessMay 9
@janamarie i love how from a distance it looks just like a herbalist shop with containers full of dried ingredients
Show threadPeterMay 10
@janamarie
🤯
This is amazing.
Show threadFurbland's Very Cool Mastodon™May 10
@janamarie there’s a select couple shanzhai iPhones from way back that use actual Apple screens, this shop made me think of that. I presume it’s a similar deal. a lot of old iPhones (and smartphones in general) are sent back to China to be parted out and that’s probably where some of these cameras are from
Show threadHannekeMay 10

@GroupNebula563 @janamarie That is my assumption too but who’s buying thousands of no longer current second hand camera modules? Wild.

And there’s probably a market for them because why else would they take the effort etc, so this is just my ignorance, but I find it mystifying.

Show threadFurbland's Very Cool Mastodon™May 10
@h5e @janamarie I presume spare parts. When you order a spare original iPhone camera on AliExpress, that's where they come from more often than not.
Show threadHannekeMay 10
@GroupNebula563 @janamarie Yes, but. That many? I guess? I’m surprised that many of the same part get salvaged to start with, let alone sold. But again, ignorance.
Show threadAdam ♿May 15
@janamarie I can't buy that big of a bag, I'll just keep snacking too much
Show threadJonathanMay 15
@janamarie are these all the same modules
Show threadJanaMay 15
@jonbro should be
Show threadJonathanMay 15
@janamarie that's astounding
Show threadGraham Sutherland / PolynomialMay 9
@janamarie imagine how big an FPGA you'd need to ingest video from a whole bag worth at once
Show threadhalcy​ May 9
@gsuberland @janamarie i desire the biblically correct phone camera wart
Show threadGraham Sutherland / PolynomialMay 9
@halcy @janamarie BE NOT AFRAID
Show threadInter-Integrated CatgirlMay 9
@gsuberland @halcy @janamarie yeah we do a little bit of lightfield capture 'round here
Show threadsimonbpMay 10
@G_glop @gsuberland @halcy @janamarie SO (an optical engineer) got a new-old-stock Light L16 cheap. Day 1 she was saying "this is so cool why don't they sell this anymore?" By day 3 it was closer to, "why would anyone ever buy this?".
Show threadJonasMay 22
@simonbp
What the issue with the L16? (Genuine question, I heard about them like a decade or so ago and never after, so it my mind they flopped but I never knew why or how)
@G_glop @gsuberland @halcy @janamarie
Show threadsimonbpMay 22
@magnetic_tape @G_glop @gsuberland @halcy @janamarie It's very slow to to mechanically converge on a nominal focal point (literally gimballing all the cameras) and the sensors on the cameras are somehow both low resolution and poor at dynamic range. So it's great mainly for bright, static scenes. I.e. the kind of situation where it's easy to focus a normal camera.
Show threadJonasMay 22
@simonbp
I see. But regarding the focus, wasn't the point of these cameras was to be able to focus after the picture *after* it was taken?
@G_glop @gsuberland @halcy @janamarie
Show threadsimonbpMay 22
@magnetic_tape @G_glop @gsuberland @halcy @janamarie The effective focal point, yes. But they all need to be at the same nominal focal point to start, so that you can do a uniform correction.
Show threadPxl PhileMay 10
@G_glop @gsuberland @halcy @janamarie TBH I would love to build an art installation with 4K cameras each boiling down to a single pixel which then would be reassembled into a live 4k image
Show threadcurtmackMay 10
@gsuberland @halcy @janamarie
BE NꙮT AFRAID
Show threadchrysnMay 9
@gsuberland @janamarie You're joking maybe, but have you ever heard of a light field camera?
Show threadGraham Sutherland / PolynomialMay 10
@chrysn @janamarie yeah. I was also thinking about something along the lines of the camera system they built for The Matrix.
Show threadJonasMay 22
@gsuberland
Toshiba used such a setup but with video ; the resulting commercial (along with the Crystal Castles song) is really nifty : https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gA8GM6HdvJA
@chrysn @janamarie
Toshiba Time Sculpture Commercial (HD)

YouTube
Show threadmiunauJun 17

@magnetic_tape @gsuberland @janamarie ah, another Tango homage! the camera pan definitely adds another dimension to it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z27z7oLQb3o

Tango 4K - Zbigniew Rybczyński

YouTube
Show threadГригорий КлюшниковMay 10
Graham Sutherland / Polynomial, I feel like powering them all at once will also be quite challenging
Show threadGraham Sutherland / PolynomialMay 10
@grishka @janamarie this is what polyphase buck converters are for :)
Show threadIgnas KielaMay 15
@gsuberland @janamarie wondering how that cern antimater detector out of a bunch of sensord did it
Show threadGraham Sutherland / PolynomialMay 15
@ignaloidas @janamarie if it's the board I remember seeing, it had four big FPGAs on it.
Show threadKris\SlykaMay 9
@janamarie 👀
Show threadjnpnMay 9
@janamarie do they all send data in the same binary stream format ?
Show threadJanaMay 9
@jnpn I guess so? seems to be mostly the same model
Show threadAmber May 9
@janamarie I don't even know what the fuck I would do with a bag of cameras but I want a bag
Show threadDr. Quadragon ❌May 9

@puppygirlhornypost2 Make a panoramic 3d scanning chamber with insane texel resolution.

@janamarie

Show threadAmber May 9
@drq @janamarie i was thinking about just sticking them to random places like googly eyes. completely unplugged just to be a menace
Show threadKevin CheekMay 10
@puppygirlhornypost2 @drq @janamarie I like your style
Show threadHendiMay 9
@puppygirlhornypost2 @janamarie distributed telescope ofc
Show threadJanaMay 9
@puppygirlhornypost2 emotional support bag of cameras
Show threadEfi (nap pet) 🦊💤May 9
@puppygirlhornypost2 @janamarie I'd make a giant artificial fly head that can see you
Show threadMatilda LoveMay 9
@janamarie that's gotta be on the order of 100k units in the photo damn
Show threadBlake C. StaceyMay 9

@janamarie "What do you need? Besides a miracle."

"Cameras. Lots of cameras."

Show threadJake in the desertMay 9
@janamarie 🤯 woww
Show threadTrammell HudsonMay 9
@janamarie it's amazing that desoldering components and selling them by the kilo is viable. who is buying chips that way?
Show threadJanaMay 9
@th the customers are partly in the same building, creating new phones from broken ones. It’s a skill that is just admirable, repairing a phone to the point where you cannot distinguish it from a factory new one