Whether your idea of a good time involves tossing a ball around or doing backflips, it’s often inconvenient to bring out the camera. It’s also a guaranteed way to make people more self-aware and take away some of the energy at the gathering. As the person behind the camera, you’re going to miss out on participating in the fun as well.
Related: See here for the Narrative Clip 2
In recent years, we’ve seen an increase in cameras designed to be less of an attention-demanding nuisance and more of a useful freeloader. But these devices have often lack the convenience they promote. Instead of simply having all your photos stored on your phone or camera for instant viewing, you have to go through a step-by-step process to get the footage from your camera online.
In comes the 61N, a small camera launched on Kickstarter that clips onto your clothes, takes regular photos, is controlled from your phone, and automatically uploads recorded footage to the cloud. The 61N is being co-developed by two South Korean development teams: Seers Technology and Biologdevice. The first is a company focused on wireless communication technology and the other on high quality camera modules.
Specifications are available, and if the 61N lives up to its promise, users shouldn’t be disappointed (though we’ve all seen what can happen in the Kickstarter swamp). A single charge on the camera’s 210 mAh battery is supposed to last up to 12 hours on average, but this ultimately depends on how you use it. The camera transfers data via either Wi-Fi or Bluetooth to your phone, which in turn uploads the material online and automatically deletes it from local storage when a file has been uploaded. You can choose whether that will be done via Wi-Fi or mobile data in the accompanying app.
The camera has an 8MP camera sensor, with a maximum resolution of 3264 X 2448 (4:3). It has an aperture of 2.42, which should be suitable for the evening, but it might not be as reliable as it grows darker. It can record at 720p with 25FPS and weighs a less than an ounce. A dual LED with three different colors notifies you when the camera is active or not, and a built-in accelerometer, gyroscope, and GPS helps the camera keep track of where you are for localized albums. The gyroscope is used to help adjust the camera angle to make sure you don’t take a photo of your friend’s face one second and their their hair the next. You can also handle that via the app itself.
Transferring all of that data can, as mentioned earlier, be done via Wi-Fi or mobile data, but you can also opt to transfer data via a USB port to your laptop or desktop computer. And like so many companies that offer free server storage (in this case 10 GB), you will also have the option of subscribing to expand your online storage capacity for the content saved online. According to the company, there may be some hurdles to simply transfer the content over to your phone though, as it’s all synchronized via the application towards the server.
A unique feature to 61N, and something to compete against Narrative’s Tiny Clip 2, is its “Timeline-WITH” feature. By linking two units together, you can have synchronized photos taken by two different 61N cameras, and those photos can then be synced towards a shared album on the cloud.
The team hit its funding goal of $50,000 on May 18, roughly three weeks after starting its campaign. The idea for the product was initially conceived in 2014, and having worked on it since then, the team intends to ship the product by September this year. An ambitious goal perhaps, but the developers acknowledge that obstacles may present themselves as they progress towards the targeted shipping date. “Our team has already secured a vital manufacturing line in Korea for Kickstarter backers with production being initiated in June. We have a strong team; however, unexpected component delays and shortages can occur. If this happens, you will be the first to know and we will work diligently to quickly solve any issues that might arise.” Four days are left as the Kickstarter closes in on $60,000.
If you’re curious how it looks like in action, the team released a video celebrating the recent birth of two babies. While it looks steady, we can’t see if the other hand is holding the camera. We’ve pasted it below for all your cozy viewing pleasure:
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