Canon is crowdfunding a tiny clippable camera that connects to your phone
Canon is turning to Indiegogo to crowdfund the Ivy Rec, a tiny outdoor camera built into a keychain carabiner. It's about the size of a USB flash drive, and it wirelessly connects via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth to the companion CanonMini Cam App to show a live preview on your phone. The empty square space of the clip doubles as a viewfinder, and there's a single dial on the back that lets you switch between modes.
The Ivy Rec has a 13-megapixel 1/3-inch CMOS sensor that can record 1080p / 60 fps video, and it's waterproof up to 30 minutes for depths of up to three feet. With no pricing information yet, it's hard to say if it'll be worth the buy or who it's really for. Canon says the camera is shockproof and great for the outdoors, so it could be useful if you clip it onto your backpack while you ride a bike. Or maybe clip it onto your dog or cat's collar so you can see the world from your pet's POV? (I mean, GoPros are already a thing.)
Too vibrant, not small enough to work as a spy camera.
Also at Engadget.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Rupert Pupnick on Wednesday July 03 2019, @10:40PM (2 children)
TFA says:
“DPReview cites a previous interview to speculate why Canon is going the crowdfunding route for its latest camera, in which the company revealed that it’s looking to capture as many new customers as it can, particularly casual photographers.“
How does crowdfunding capture new customers? Why not just fund the product internally, make it something that people want to buy, and then sell it?
The supposition is that people will want it more because it’s crowdfunded? Is it FOMO? I don’t get it.
(Score: 4, Informative) by NotSanguine on Wednesday July 03 2019, @10:53PM (1 child)
It's called external "budget" for R&D.
1. Get some
suckerscustomers to front cash to develop a new product;2. Develop the product and see how things go;
3a. If it goes over big, move to bulk manufacturing;
3b. If it's a flop, produce just enough to fulfill the
suckerscustomers who paid for it;4a. Sell millions of the new product. Profit!
4b. Deliver the product to those who paid;
5b. Move on, after all it didn't cost us anything to develop, and now we have a list of
suckerspotential customers -- so profit!Note that there are no '????' anywhere.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 03 2019, @11:52PM
6. It skirts around the real use that these can be clipped onto a shoe for the perverts.